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Mabus: No Exemptions to Keep Women Out of Infantry, SEALs, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus
Military.com ^ | Sep 16, 2015 | Gretel C. Kovach

Posted on 09/16/2015 5:44:56 AM PDT by robowombat

Mabus: No Exemptions to Keep Women Out of Infantry, SEALS Secretary of the Navy Ray MabusSecretary of the Navy Ray Mabus

SAN DIEGO Sep 16, 2015 | by Gretel C. Kovach

The Marine Corps infantry, Navy SEALs, and all other combat jobs in the Navy Department will open to women by the end of this year, and no exemptions to the new gender-neutral employment policy in the Defense Department will be granted despite results of a Marine Corps study on women in combat, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus reiterated during a speech Monday in Cleveland.

Mabus expanded on his earlier remarks criticizing the lengthy Marine Corps experiment that compared all-male combat units to ones that included women. The Marines released a four-page summary of results last week indicating that all-male units performed significantly better on 69 percent of tactical tasks, and female troops were injured at more than twice the rate as men.

"This study served a very good purpose. It's come up with the standards, standards that have something to do with the job. Once you've done that I just see no reason to say 'because the average person, woman, cannot meet these, we're not giving anybody a chance,'" Mabus said.

(Excerpt) Read more at military.com ...


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Here is the official text of the great man's remarks:

REMARKS BY NAVY SECRETARY RAY MABUS: "I will say a word about the Marines, and women in combat arms. It's coming up on Leon Panetta when he was Secretary of Defense, reversed the presumption and said everything is open. Every occupational specialty in the military is open unless you request an exemption, and if you request an exemption both the chairman (of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) and the Secretary of Defense have to sign off on it. Nobody is asking for an exemption in Navy. My senior military aide here, Bob Smith, is a SEAL. The SEALs aren't asking for an exemption. Our notion is set standards, make sure those standards have something to do with the job, and then if you meet it, you meet it.

"The Marines did a very long study, about six months, looking at women in things like infantry, armor, artillery. And at the end, they came out -- and I've read the study pretty carefully a couple times -- in a different place than I do, because they talk about averages, and the average woman is slower, the average woman can't carry as much, the average woman isn't quite as quick on some jobs or some tasks. The other way to look at it is, we're not looking for average. There were women that met this standard, and a lot of the things there that women fell a little short in can be remedied by two things -- training and leadership.

"And so I've been pretty clear, and I've been pretty clear about this for a while -- I'm not going to ask for an exemption for the Marines. It's not going to make them any less fighting effective. In fact, I think they will be a stronger force, because a more diverse force is a stronger force. And it will not make them any less lethal. And those are the two things you have to protect in the Marine Corps."

In response to a question from the audience by a man asking Mabus to expand on his comments about the Marine Corps study, Mabus said: "In the Marine study, number one, I knew about the study of course, but I don't reach down and say do this kind of study, do that kind of study. That came up from the Marine operating forces, the Marine staff. But the way it was structured was they asked for female volunteers to go do the closed occupations now. Infantry, artillery, armor, AAV drivers -- amphibious assault drivers. And the standards for women getting into those were very minimal standards -- basically volunteer, and you had to do a certain number of pull-ups and a run, but it was pretty standard. Then they went through the thing with assigning women with Marines who were already in the infantry, already in the artillery, already in armor. And they did the results. And some of the results -- on average women dropped out more. On average women couldn't carry as much or were injured more from carrying. On average, teams of women were slower. Not much, but a little bit. But these were all on average. There were women who met every test in this.

"So one of my concerns about it was, we didn't do a very good job of screening people before the volunteering. One of the things that came out of this was there were no standards, zero, for most of these jobs. You just assumed that if somebody went through boot camp, a man went through boot camp, that they could do it. A lot of men can't. And so the one great thing that came out of this is all of a sudden there's standards. So male or female, you're not going to get to be in the infantry, you're not going to get to be in armor, or whatever, unless you meet these standards up-front. That is a tremendously good thing that came out of the study. Once you're past that and that these standards have something to do with the job at hand, they're not just arbitrary -- you know, you've got to be able to do 100 pull-ups to be in the infantry, which has very little to do with the infantry -- then you got to quit looking at averages. Then you got to start looking at the individuals. Women got injured a lot, or more than men, on duty. Men got injured four times as much as women off duty! (Laughter from audience.) So we've got these knuckleheads who are out there: 'here, hold my beer and watch this.' (Laughter from audience.) So do we keep men from being in the infantry because they get hurt so much, off duty? I don't think so.

"And so, you know I think this study served a very good purpose. It's come up with the standards, standards that have something to do with the job. Once you've done that I just see no reason to say 'because the average person, woman, cannot meet these, we're not giving anybody a chance.' "

1 posted on 09/16/2015 5:44:56 AM PDT by robowombat
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To: robowombat

It wouldn’t have worked with armor in Vietnam, and it won’t work now.


2 posted on 09/16/2015 5:47:48 AM PDT by onedoug
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To: onedoug

You are being very diplomatic. Just another bit of leftist social engineering to marginalize conservative males and screw up the most military of the services, the USMC.


3 posted on 09/16/2015 5:50:01 AM PDT by robowombat
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To: onedoug

Sure it will work. The enlightened ones have decreed it to work. /s


4 posted on 09/16/2015 5:51:21 AM PDT by Tupelo (Trump is no Reagan, But by God, he is a fighter.)
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To: robowombat

As a USMC Grunt, I can only say, LOL.


5 posted on 09/16/2015 5:53:29 AM PDT by GeneralisimoFranciscoFranco (I love liberals. They taste like chicken.)
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To: robowombat

How about quadriplegics? Shouldn’t they also be put in the front lines?


6 posted on 09/16/2015 5:54:02 AM PDT by SampleMan (Feral Humans are the refuse of socialism.)
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To: onedoug
because a more diverse force is a stronger force.

No you freaking idiot, 2000 years of military training and history has showed us that a unified force, in which individuality is removed and discipline and obedience are prioritized, is the strongest force.

7 posted on 09/16/2015 5:54:08 AM PDT by LambSlave
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To: onedoug
They want to weaken the US Military any way they can, this is another example of it.

Within the last week The Marine Corps has released their study of women in combat. It didn't work.

Now comes the latest kick in the teeth to the people who protect our country.

The anti-American agenda is still rolling right along.

8 posted on 09/16/2015 5:56:26 AM PDT by TYVets
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To: GeneralisimoFranciscoFranco
Unfortunately with the feminazi influence what ‘may’ be permitted gets turned into ‘you will do it and figure out how to make it work’. In one Army unit I saw the First Sgt. carrying a step stool on obstacle runs so female members could stand on it to surmount barriers. NS. So that sort of c-ap is coming to the Corps.
9 posted on 09/16/2015 5:57:51 AM PDT by robowombat
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To: robowombat
There was a Supreme Court case, Rostker v. Goldberg (1981), about women being exempt from the draft.

(b) The question of registering women was extensively considered by Congress in hearings held in response to the President's request for authorization to register women, and its decision to exempt women was not the accidental byproduct of a traditional way of thinking about women. Since Congress thoroughly reconsidered the question of exempting women from the Act in 1980, the Act's constitutionality need not be considered solely on the basis of the views expressed by Congress in 1948, when the Act was first enacted in its modern form. Congress' determination that any future draft would be characterized by a need for combat troops was sufficiently supported by testimony adduced at the hearings so that the courts are not free to make their own judgment on the question. And since women are excluded from combat service by statute or military policy, men and women are simply not similarly situated for purposes of a draft or registration for a draft, and Congress' decision to authorize the registration of only men therefore does not violate the Due Process Clause.
Allowing women into combat jobs has just eliminated the reason to not include women in any draft.
10 posted on 09/16/2015 5:58:20 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 (You don't notice it's a police state until the police come for you.)
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To: robowombat

A toadie who wants to keep his job.


11 posted on 09/16/2015 6:01:45 AM PDT by Attention Surplus Disorder (This space for rent.)
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To: Tupelo

The underlying concept is that in their “knowing” of good and evil,

it SHOULD work, and therefore, in order to advance their definition of good,
they’ll make it work, or declare it working when it’s not,
and decry those who point out its failure.

This is the same thing that happens with all leftist policies.
It even gets to the point where, historically, those who point out how the policies are not working are blamed for them not working and put to death.


12 posted on 09/16/2015 6:02:01 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: MrB; All
,This is the same thing that happens with all leftist policies.
It even gets to the point where, historically, those who point out how the policies are not working are blamed for them not working and put to death.,

There is quite a bit of that described in Viktor Kravchencko’s “I Chose Freedom’. Kravchenko was a trained engineer and he saw a lot of instances of that mindset in Soviet industrialization All should get a copy (plenty at Amazon) and read it as it gives a very good depiction of the totalitarian left mentality in action.

13 posted on 09/16/2015 6:06:11 AM PDT by robowombat
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To: robowombat
Mabus: No Exemptions to Keep Women Out of Infantry, SEALS Secretary of the Navy Ray MabusSecretary of the Navy Ray Mabus

This kind of ignorant policy just provides more evidence that leftists have disordered minds. Men and women are NOT interchangeable, no matter what Mabus or other mad pipers say! They have different emotional cycles, different hygiene needs, different hormones.

Maybe a few women can meet standards such as number of pushups, pull-ups, sprints, etc., but you cannot get rid of the intrinsic differences between men and women so you can have bragging rights.

Military cost effectiveness and readiness have been compromised probably by 40% by leftist politicians with all the added costs for facilities on ships, education and re-education, dealing with pregnancies, with incidents and clashes, etc.

This foolishness has hollowed out the readiness of our military, thanks to the Democrats.

14 posted on 09/16/2015 6:09:08 AM PDT by olezip
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To: olezip

So, do women have to register for Selective Service now?


15 posted on 09/16/2015 6:13:39 AM PDT by massgopguy (I owe everything to George Bailey)
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To: robowombat

A 6’3” Marine, shot and unable to crawl from the line of fire. A 5’11’ buddy picks him up and carries the wounded,under fire to safety. RESULT: The awarding of a Bronze Star for the BRAVERY UNDER INTENSE FIRE in the rescue of a badly wounded comrade”.
A 6’3” Marine, shot and unable to crawl to safety away from the line of fire. a 5’4” FEMALE Marine tries, but is unable to carry him off the field. RESULT: Mr. & Mrs. (whoever), it is with deepest regret that I must inform you that your son...........”


16 posted on 09/16/2015 6:14:50 AM PDT by CaptainAmiigaf (New York Times: "We print the news as it fits our views.")
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To: robowombat

“This study served a very good purpose. It’s come up with the standards, standards that have something to do with the job. Once you’ve done that I just see no reason to say ‘because the average person, woman, cannot meet these, we’re not giving anybody a chance”This study served a very good purpose. It’s come up with the standards, standards that have something to do with the job. Once you’ve done that I just see no reason to say ‘because the average person, woman, cannot meet these, we’re not giving anybody a chance,’”

This tells me that across the board standard lowering is coming so not just women, but sissy boys and maybe even handicapped persons can be in the units.


17 posted on 09/16/2015 6:19:34 AM PDT by Resolute Conservative
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To: robowombat

Some possible comments in the middle of an important and dangerous combat mission: I think I’m pregnant, I’m having my period, I feel bloated, I have to pee where is a tree?


18 posted on 09/16/2015 6:25:55 AM PDT by ImNotLying
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To: onedoug

From personal experience as an Infantryman 505/PIR in a weapons platoon. As part of a Mortar Crew every member of that crew is integral to it functioning properly, and every part of that mortar is necessary in order for it to work. I have done my share of humping and whether carrying the Baseplate, Tripod, Sights, Barrel or Ammo you had better be strong and fit or one of those pieces of equipment won’t be there when you need it. That little intangible thing called unit cohesiveness is what makes a Infantry unit so effective, throwing a weak link into that chain destroys that platoons ability to support the rest of the Co. and down the line affects Hundreds of Infantry. This is a bad idea that is going to cost lives of good men needlessly.


19 posted on 09/16/2015 6:27:23 AM PDT by ABN 505 (Right is right if nobody is right, and wrong is wrong if everybody is wrong. ~Archbishop Fulton John)
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To: ABN 505

The girl will be carrying the sight and the Mortar Ballistic Computer, that’ll be fair. Except when she’s pregnant, she won’t be carrying anything.


20 posted on 09/16/2015 6:34:35 AM PDT by centurion316
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