Posted on 06/17/2013 3:18:27 PM PDT by jazusamo
The Pentagon is planning to open the ranks of the Navy SEALs, the Army's elite Ranger units and other specialized combat outfits to female soldiers for the first time, according to reports.
The first opportunity female soliders will have to join the military's elite combat units will be with the Navy, according to Pentagon plans outlining the transition, obtained by the Associated Press on Monday.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel could officially announce plans to expand access to those units as soon as Tuesday, according to the AP.
Hagel's pending announcement builds upon former Pentagon chief Leon Panetta's decision in January to end the military's long standing ban on women in combat.
The time lines set by the Department of Defense (DOD) to open Ranger and SEAL units up to female soldiers and sailors are still being reviewed by senior military leaders.
Navy officials will open up the service's Riverine Forces to eligible female candidates, beginning next month, the Pentagon plan states.
Women sailors who fit the service criteria will be able to enroll in the Riverine Combat Skills course, a rigorous 33-day program designed to teach "basic expeditionary combat training necessary to ... perform high risk operations when assigned to Navy Riverine Force Organizations," according to a service website.
Next up will be the Army, whose leaders plan to open up the service's Ranger School at Fort Benning, Ga. to female candidates beginning in 2015.
The service's vaunted Ranger regiments specialize in small-unit combat tactics, airborne assault operations and are seen as the main entryway into Army Special Forces.
Service leaders expect to have new training and qualification requirements for female Ranger candidates by July 2015, the AP reports.
A year later, according to the Pentagon's plans, women sailors will be able to participate in the Navy's Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training program at the Naval Special Warfare Training Center in Coronado, Calif.
BUD/S is seen as one of the most intense training programs in the U.S. military, with roughly 70 percent of SEAL candidates failing to complete the program.
SEAL teams are responsible for some of the most sensitive counter terrorism and combat operations conducted by American armed forces.
Members of the Navy's Special Warfare Development Group, also known as SEAL Team Six, conducted the May 2011 raid in Abottabad, Pakistan that ended with the death of al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.
While allowing female soldiers and sailors the opportunity to join Ranger or SEAL teams is major milestone for the Pentagon, female soldiers have already begun to play a key role in U.S. special operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
All-women units, known as Female Engagement Teams, already work alongside American regular and special forces units to train and equip U.S.-backed local militias in Afghanistan.
Female soldiers and officers have also risen through the intelligence and personnel fields within Special Operations Command and the command's service components.
But with special operations forces set to grow, in both size and operational tempo, the opportunities for women within the command to take part in operations worldwide will only increase.
Those opportunities will likely fall under "indirect action" missions, such as long-term training and advising efforts with foreign militaries, rather than direct combat-type operations, like the Bin Laden raid.
What was missed, or swept under the rug, is that black’s muscle density disqualifies them for the extensive swimming requirements of either force. SEA air and land. Rangers swim too. It has to be all three in the capabilities.
Extensive cost increases for negligible benefit if any. All in the name of what exactly?
They can make the babies the men can rip the guts out of the enemy. Deal?
“”indirect action” missions, such as long-term training and advising efforts with foreign militaries”.... yeah, right... we’ll see how long that lasts and if these same are decorated as “combat” when they are in the theater but not the action.
The point of the spear is being dulled.
Or shopping for camo bikini underwear for ghillie suits.
“Ewww..... bugs... I’m not doing THAT!”
I was an armor platoon leader and company XO before being branch transferred to the MP Corps. During one NTC rotation, there was a soldier in one of our platoons, a tank driver, who had been born and bred a NYC street kid. When the OC's gave the initial safety brief, all this kid needed to hear where the words, "rattlesnake" and "scorpion," to make him decide to spend the whole rotation in his driver's hole.
He perfected the art of crapping in a .50 cal ammo can, which then conveniently "fell" off the side of the tank during engagements...
I have no problem allowing people to attempt to earn a place in one of these elite units as long as the highest standards are met. If they fail then they fail. There should be no quotas. We as a nation want only the very best of the best to earn their place in the units. That also means, that the regular units only put forward their best soldiers/sailors irregardless of their gender. I repeat, standards have to be met. Hopefully those standards will address your second paragraph. I have to admit the older I am getting the more I like the Four Seasons' amenities. IOW, where is the Spa? ; )
And who made you the fascist all knowing God?
The most amazing things happen when you google camo & bikini.
GT scores, water confidence, map reading and more.
Units that require a 110 GT score which is what is required for OCS, are already eliminating quite a few people, and my memory is that the Special Forces used to require a 115, back in the 60s and early 1970s.
That is the takeaway you took from his post? He said that men got a little randy when in difficult situations. You never heard of make-up sex? How you extrapolated his remarks to get to yours is an exercise in feminine logic.
We haven’t actually done what it takes to win a war in 68 years, why start now?
Any society that sends its women to fight before it sends its cane-borne old men and its non-shaving boys deserves to be destroyed.
I think everyone here would agree with that sentiment. Unfortunately, the Army has already signaled that is intends to modify the standards to accommodate women, and I would be surprised if the SEALs and other units don't do the same.
You know, Hollywood keeps pumping out these movies and TV shows where 120-lb. women take 250-lb men and easily defeat them, etc. It seems like the Pentagon is now thinking that Hollywood reflects reality...
So if you could ask John, Jesus, Paul and Mary if allowing women in combat was a good idea, what kind of response do you think that those individuals would give you?
I have to agree with you. A few years ago, when my nephew was in 8th grade I was preparing him for his English class. He was reading Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. He did good, but things changed so much since I was his age. In those days kids could play rough. They were allowed to build tree houses, play tag and Dodge Ball, go to practice by themselves without Mom driving them all over the place. We could roam the world literally.
Now, in those days no one told me nothing. And I'm betting my little sister could take you. She wasn't called the ferocious beast for nothing. ; )
Oh, you made a double entendre, so funny! And so funny because so true. Exactly like one out of hundred guys is a pole smoker, so me and nine-eight others have to bend over? I don't think so.
That's his lifelong most-cherished goal; he lusts after it with every fiber of his being.
No woman alive can pass Navy Seal training or Ranger training. Most men cant. Standards WILL BE LOWERED.
I am sure you are correct. Standards will be lowered. BTW, don’t you mean SEAL as opposed to Seal? Just sayin. ; )
As long as they have the same physical standards necessary to be a SEAL - good luck with Ol’ Misery
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