Posted on 12/03/2015 10:16:18 AM PST by NKP_Vet
In a historic change for the American military, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter on Thursday announced that the Pentagon will open all combat jobs to women.
"There will be no exceptions," Mr. Carter said at a Pentagon news conference.
The groundbreaking decision overturns a 1994 Pentagon rule that restricts women from artillery, armor, infantry and other such combat roles, even though in reality women often found themselves in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mr. Carter said that, after a three-year review, the Army, Navy, Air Force and Special Operations Command agreed that all combat positions should be open to qualified women.
Only the Marine Corps, he said, requested some exemptions.
But Mr. Carter said he overruled the Marines to open all combat positions to women because the military should operate under a common set of standards. The Marine Corps has long held concerns that integrating women into combat units could erode morale in all-male platoons and lead to increased sexual tension that would undermine fighting capability. But a Marine Corps study made public by a women's advocacy group this week found that after months of testing mixed-gender combat units, troops reported morale equal to that of all-male groups and higher than noncombat integrated groups.
In addition, the study found sexual assault levels no higher than in the Marines as a whole.
Nancy Duff Campbell, co-president of the National Women's Law Center, praised the announcement.
"It's a thrilling day for women serving in the military -- and for women across the country," she said. "We applaud today's announcement that knocks down the last remaining official barrier to women's military service and ensures the full integration of women into all military jobs, positions and units."
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
No I think the draft issue is. I’ve never been I. The armed forces but I will sure as hell go to war against anything or anyone that wants to enslave my daughters.
No I think the draft issue is. I’ve never been I. The armed forces but I will sure as hell go to war against anything or anyone that wants to enslave my daughters.
I think you are right.
We had overlap, I was in the Army from 77-94, early retirement after Desert Storm. Jay Garner came to 2/29th ADA outside Nuremberg where I was. He took over command after the BN CDR was relieved by the 1AD Commander. Garner retired with three stars. I was the A Btry XO there until time to pcs back to the advance course and then Ft Campbell where Vinny Tedesco was our BN CDR, the best officer I ever worked for. After an ROTC slot in Georgia, I went back to Germany, to the 108th HQ in K-Town and was project officer to field the last Patriot BN that went to Germany, to Bitburg AFB. After that, I was S1 for 18 months until returning to another ROTC job at the Univ of KY. Then my last year was at Ft Knox in 2nd ROTC Region HQ where I retired. It was fun, the benefits and pay good and since then, I have not looked back.
I will not allow my daughters to be Janissaries for the Saudis.
Some of the places I was stationed at in the early 70s had NO WOMEN. No facilities whatsover for them. Hell holes in the middle of the jungle.
Think there might have been a better outcome?
I heard a lot of good things about Colonel Tedesco.
Believe it or not, I made the drive from Kleber Kaserne to Spangdahlem in 55 minutes (approx. 90 miles, of which maybe 60 was autobahn back then...lol). One of my passengers was the new S-3 who had never been in Germany. It all started when a meeting wrapped up at 5, and he blurted out, "I promised my wife I'd be home at 6 tonight." The other passenger, who was my eventual replacement, saw the gleam in my eye and said, "you shouldn't have said that."
I had a Volvo 242 GT, my favorite car of all time. I took it up to 115 on the autobahn, and was going 70-80 on the back roads to Spangdahlem. Damn, that was fun.
Amen. Over my dead body.
Yes, jay Garner was the first military governor of Iraq after the invasion. I believe that was his last official function in the military. Tedesco was wonderful to work for, he knew his stuff, was fun and got the job done. We did not have a battalion at Spangdahlem so I didn’t get there too much. 94th Brigade was the other ADA brigade in K Town, they were at Ramstein and we were at Kleber, they had a BN there at Spangdahlem.
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