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.
This is nothing more than the further destruction of this country and one of its most respected institutions, the military. It took the election of Obama to accomplish what 60s radicals only could dream about. Leftists have always hated the military and no amount of insincere praise from leftists/progressives is going to change that fact. Now that they have control of military, they will do everything they can to change its culture to the point where it is rendered ineffective.
This is all well and good, as long as the standards aren’t lowered.
If a woman can do it, let her. But don’t lower what makes these teams so efficient.
And I say this as a woman.
Both of my brother in laws were naval officers and one is buried at Arlington. Thats not who the men in the military are and its just too bad you are ignorant about it. Fortunately for the US I feel sure you aren’t in uniform. The intellectual standards are too high.
This is also going to cause a lot of good men in these elite forces to leave because they don’t want to risk having sexual harassment charges being filed against them.
So you think females can do it?
Time to Alinsky them. If combat rolls are now open to females, there there is no reason why women are not required to register with selective service and be draft eleigible.
So much for the best on a battle field!
Don’t want to insult the Ladies; but if you can’t carry my wounded ass across 300 meters of hip deep mud and wire, under live hostile fire, please DO NOT APPLY FOR THE JOB.
My wife is damn tough, but she ain’t that tough.
It’s announcements like this that make me glad I was OLD CORPS and not part of the new military.
“Female soldiers and officers have also risen through the intelligence and personnel fields within Special Operations Command”
Well gosh,, THAT clearly means they are capable of direct action missions! LOL
It’s so ridiculous, it’s laughable. Sad that Americans sit back and let this loser bastard destroy the country. He
does anything he feels like doing and no one says a damn word.
Will butt buddies McCain and Ms. Lindsey be on the talk shows saying what they really feel about him destroying the US military with these social experiments. Both think they are military experts. I guarantee you hardly anymore mentions this latest BS on any news network. The same way they barely covered the sodomite takeover of the Boy Scouts. “The Five” tomorrow on Faux News will tell us how great it is and how women should not be excluded from anything. That little sawed-off Gumfeld will crack a few jokes about it. If Obama wants it, then dammit it’s the greatest thing in the world. Can’t we all get along. I feel like throwing up.
Ate they going to give them hystorectomies or just calendar their missions?
The times have changed and standards will likely change as well so that things are more fair and egalitarian, making ability less important.
Remember the Ballad of the Green Berets? Now what could possibly go wrong?
Those articles of the UCMJ and associated regulations have been in place for as long as I can remember, but the announcement to the entire retired Army population as a “friendly reminder” is a first in my association with the Army over the past 40 years. It comes off as a veiled threat to clamp down on dissent and whistleblowing. Really makes me wonder what new surprises are about to unfold on us from Dear Leader.
I really don't. I've known a lot of guys who did Ranger school and it's one of the toughest schools in any military. That said, there might be a handful of women who could get through.
The other problem is a debate we apparently have lost, which is these units are not appropriate for women. The main thing this school teaches is how to do small unit long range patrols behind enemy lines. A patrol in that situation can't function properly if the men are being protective of women. And there is no way to accommodate women in sleeping or sanitary arrangements. A patrol slowed down by women is much more at risk of exposure and engagement. That's just off the top of my head.
If people fail then they fail. There are standards and they have to be met. Period.
I remember decades ago (sigh), my sister and I were backpacking along the Norwegian and Swedish border by the Arctic Circle. After hiking 20 miles, I put up the tent, with the doorway facing uphill. I crawled in and thanked my lucky stars I wasn't in the military and asked to fight. Told my sister they would have to start the battle without me. Me, EPIC FAIL had I been in the military.
FYI, my pack weighed 55 pounds, by sister's weighed 60. Like I said , epic fail had we been in the military, but we weren't and we had a great time. The night before we found an empty Lap hut and had a nice toasty nights sleep. ; )
Yep
they’ll need special blood for transfusions. It will be rich in Homophobic and pink blood
It's a thorny problem. I love the Army dearly, in the same sense everyone remembers their favorite ex. I do wish it well, I remember the good times (plus some choice nights in Iraq and Afghanistan), and my criticism is generally with the best of intentions.
Still, there are certain realities we need to consider. The Founders would be horrified at the scope of the military we've created, despite its largely noble execution and track record. A war machine this powerful is bound to be trouble as the society that supports it begins to devolve. Based on our current societal trajectory, it's probably best that we cut spending on sharp objects sooner than later.
As to the topic at hand, let me say that I worked with some great female troops over the years. Skilled. Competent. I don't mean to disparge their individual efforts or often valiant service. Still, a nation that means serious business at warfighting doesn't send women, and that's largely from a psychological standpoint. We don't mean serious business, at the command and civilian level, or as a nation, which is why we win battles and lose wars.
Women don't belong in combat, but more to the point, a nation that is okay with sending women to war ... shouldn't be sending people to war.
Our lack of seriousness is turning warfare into a business, and the military into an increasingly emasculated federal jobs program. By the time our nation 'gets serious' again, it will probably be just as well that the State's scissors are short, dull and child-proofed.
I don't believe they will ever find that woman (unless they adapt the standards to make that happen artificially as they have done for decades), but in the meantime, the entire culture of special ops changes as the training must integrate the females applicants and exclude male applicants and as the female influence enters their world and standards of training and daily life and diminishes the masculinity of the elite world (the culture will change, and careers will be ended).
All in the hopes that they may find a super woman who can pass the minimum standard during the best days of her life at the peak of her motivation and personal training and special diet, etc, which gives them someone near the bottom of the barrel on their best day, and someone with no reserves or natural physicality to keep them going as the years and injuries and bad diet and sleepless nights mount up.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.