Posted on 02/06/2013 5:41:08 AM PST by NKP_Vet
A senior Defense Department official said the ban on women in combat should be lifted because the military's goal is "to provide a level, gender-neutral playing field." I'd like to think the goal of the military should be to have the toughest, meanest fighting force possible. But let's look at "gender-neutral playing field."
The Army's physical fitness test in basic training is a three-event physical performance test used to assess endurance. The minimum requirement for 17- to 21-year-old males is 35 pushups, 47 situps and a two-mile run in 16 minutes, 36 seconds or less. For females of the same age, the minimum requirement is 13 pushups, 47 situps and a 19:42 two-mile run. Why the difference in fitness requirements? "USMC Women in the Service Restrictions Review" found that women, on average, have 20 percent lower aerobic power, 40 percent lower muscle strength, 47 percent less lifting strength and 26 percent slower marching speed than men. William Gregor, professor of social sciences at the Army's Command and General Staff College, reports that in tests of aerobic capacity, the records show, only 74 of 8,385 Reserve Officers' Training Corps women attained the level of the lowest 16 percent of men. The "fight load" -- the gear an infantryman carries on patrol -- is 35 percent of the average man's body weight but 50 percent of the average Army woman's weight. In his examination of physical fitness test results from the ROTC, dating back to 1992, and 74,000 records of male and female commissioned officers, only 2.9 percent of women were able to attain the men's average pushup ability and time in the two-mile run"
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
My son met her when he was doing contract work on a base near Be'er Sheva.
They should have a few all-female combat units to see how it’s going to work out, so as to achieve a true gender-neutral baseline.
Obviously.
Freegards
That's not true. That only happened in 1948.
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The experience of the Israelis, a democratic nation that has deployed women to combat zones, is instructive. Phyllis Chesler reported in a symposium on Islamic Terror and Sexual Mutilation:
"Soon after the establishment of the IDF, the removal of all women from front-line positions was decreed. Decisive for this decision was the very real possibility of falling into enemy hands as prisoners of war. It was fair and equitable, it was argued, to demand from women equal sacrifice and risk; but the risk for women prisoners of rape and sexual molestation was infinitely greater than the same risk for men."During the same symposium, Dr. David Gutman said:
"During the Israeli War of Independence Jewish fighters, including female soldiers captured by Arab irregulars, were routinely tortured and mutilated in the most obscene ways (by contrast, water-boarding would have furnished a pleasant interlude), and IDF officers warned their troops against being taken alive."John Luddy of the Heritage Foundation cites the demoralizing effects on unit cohesion, another vital consideration. Male soldiers who saw their fellow women soldiers mutilated in obscene ways were devastated. Luddy writes:
"For example, it is a common misperception that Israel allows women in combat units. In fact women have been barred from combat in Israel since 1950, when a review of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War showed how harmful their presence could be. The study revealed that men tried to protect and assist women rather than continue their attack. As a result, they not only put their own lives in greater danger, but also jeopardized the survival of the entire unit. The study further revealed that unit morale was damaged when men saw women killed and maimed on the battlefield."
I'm not saying that the US needs to follow this model, Israel of course is vastly out-numbered by the Arabs and needs all the personnel they can muster.
The source claims to be an IDF blog. That company is not co-ed. Do they need an extra year of physical training?
By contrast, 60 percent of Caracals soldiers are women.
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That's not co-ed. Both the company and the battalion sound more like the exception and not the rule by organization, not just by sex.
Is this an infantry battalion with the usual number of personnel? I have to wonder if there are any mixed gender rifle companies, rifle platoons, rifle squads or fire teams. How about mortar platoons or antitank platoons?
In the U.S. it may vary slightly whether it's Marine Corps or Army, e.g. airborne, airmobile, mechanized, motorized, etc., but the typical infantry battalion has three rifle companies each with three rifle platoons. Assorted crew served weapons are distributed according to their particular tables of organization and equipment.
Women in combet roles in the IDF are a direct result of left wingers in the Knesset forcing the change. The leadership of the IDF are under fire for dragging their feet to get more females in combat positions. The generals don’t want them there.
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