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 ...
his will not end well.
There are a few women who are up to being in the combat arms and capable of performing at the level of an average man in those roles. Damned few, but they exist. But, even the best women are not up to the standards of elite troops
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Agreed. There were invaluable services rendered to the underground in many countries during the second WW by women, especially France. The SOE from England and our own OSS used women, many of whom did not “come back.” Some women are very effective, but their use should be specialized, not placed in positions that can endanger our fighting capacity and safety of the men in the unit.
Same here.
“Said it before and will say it again: If I was the new President, I would fire every three and four star officer for putting their careers ahead of their country. No exceptions.”
That a sergeant is punished for stopping the ongoing war crime of pedophilic rape of a captured civilian, justifies a purge and series of tribunals through that entire chain of command. It also serves to illustrate how corrupted and degenerate some personnel and perhaps institutions have become. After a point, self interested careerism becomes sedition when it is injurious to the nation’s interests and security.
Even that wouldn't help. The average infantry soldier in front line combat is about 19 years old. Not so mature, raging testosterone, little experience in romantic relationships or interpersonal relationships in general. I spent 18 months in a combat arms position in an infantry division as a 19 year old, so I'm speaking from experience.
You don't want young soldiers thinking about sex and competing for female attention when they should be totally focused on their mission; it is a biological imperative, so they will. Men will also biologically act to protect women no matter how much they try not to. Women will be attracted to some men, and not others. Even if they don't act on this, they will still behave differently, more favorably towards some while rejecting others; men will pick up on this and it will lead to significant loss of unit cohesion. If there are actual romantic relationships going on, it will cause utter chaos on a small team. If some women with no moral compass are banging multiple guys at the same time, it will completely destroy the entire team. If women use their influence to get special favors from their leaders, or alternately to punish by false claims of harassment/assault, that will destroy cohesiveness as well. During my time in the Army I have seen all of the things I mentioned (and worse) happen in integrated combat support units, but it isn't life or death there. These units can tolerate poor command climates, reduced cohesion, lukewarm morale, and no espirit de corps. In an infantry unit the focus is on a small team performing under very high stress as one entity, like a well oiled machine, with high confidence and energy. They can't tolerate even a small loss of cohesion, lack of confidence in their team and leaders, and need a high state of espirit de corps.
So no, even if women can meet exactly the same minimum physical and psychological standars as men, this will still reduce combat effectiveness. If you search online you can find an article from a female Marine who is a combat vet who substantiates every single point I'm making, if you think I am biased because I am a male.
Sarcasm? Yep.
I see a potential Common Core math problem here.
The mad dash of Mike Hanks
On the third day of the battle, Gunnery Sgt. James Conner, then a sergeant, and one of his team leaders, Lance Cpl. Mike Hanks, found themselves moving down a side street alongside Iraqi soldiers and their Marine advisers. Making their way into the courtyard of a two-story building, they came under heavy attack. A brutal gunbattle began, leaving a Marine and an Iraqi soldier shot and trapped in the open courtyard.
As the gunfire subsided, Hanks and Conner could hear the screams of injured men and so they entered and immediately came under heavy fire. Conner dove behind the dead body of an enemy insurgent as Hanks hurled himself behind a lone tree in the center of the yard.
Seeing the two injured men in the open, Hanks sprung into action and darted across the killzone as enemy fire raked past him. Conner, who was laying down suppressing fire, watched as Hanks ran forward, leaned down, and in one fluid motion, grabbed the wounded Marine, threw him over his shoulder and darted out of the courtyard, kicking open a side door. Seconds later, Hanks was back, grabbing the wounded Iraqi soldier and repeating the same movement as Conner laid down suppressing fire.
Hanks returned a third and final time just as another Marine from their squad got a clear line of sight of their attacker, opened fire, and killed the shooter. Hanks was killed a week later on Nov. 17 while providing security and was posthumously awarded a Silver Star for valor.
Watch video of his brothers sharing his story:
Another reason this former Marine mom, and Gold Star sister will protest any woman in a combat unit.
Nice to know there are others that feel the same way I do, and I'm not just a disgruntled former ADA Captain. Your typical 3/4 star general is so far removed from the troops, they forget who they are. And let's face it, their "experience" came from fighting the last war, not the current war, or the war to come.
Our current crop of generals are Courtney Massengales and bureaucrats, not warriors. Who in their right military mind is in favor of building an aircraft that's going to run half a billion a pop? With today's drone technology, you can put hundreds in the sky for less than what you'd pay for one of these newer planes.
As a young Captain, I was put in an Operations Officer job that was slotted for a Lieutenant Colonel. The CO was my Battalion Commander back in Germany, and I was his S-4 for about 18 months. I was proud to be part of a team that took a C-3 battalion to a C-1 in less than two years.
There is no doubt in my mind that a hard-charging, energetic Colonel would do a great job as a Division or Corps Commander. I served with several LTC's and COL's that would go on and get stars. THAT's the part of the Army I miss.
And it will destroy unit cohesion in small combat units and lead to more casualties.
DoD Sec. Carter wouldn’t even protect his wife against VP Joe Biden.
The Jihadis must be laughing their asses off.
It’s always about the infantry.
I want to see all female tank and artillery crews. They will perform superbly.
But if I was a gravel cruncher squad leader I would have my female trooper walk point. She will be sharper, smarter and better in every way than a male.
I have absorbed the lessons of 40+ Years of indoctrination from our feminist masters. They know best. ;<}
The final nail in the destruction of the U.S. Military.
A lot of good men and women are going to have to
pay the price of this foolishness.
The final nail in the destruction of the military.
This is not about equality this is about destroying everything in the US that makes us strong from our faith, money and armed forces then allowing an foreign invasion on to our shores of people who want to harm us or bring no value to society and stirring up segments of American society to attack whites.....
Sedition and treason.
I'm of the opinion that they should form a frontline division that is 50/50 men/women and that they be deployed first to any hotspots as a "proof-of-concept" demonstration. Embed a lot of female journalists with them when they go into combat, too.
Joe Galloway ("We Were Soldiers Once...and Young") with his camera and a Swedish K 9mm SMG in Vietnam.
“See how easy this is, boys and girls.”
And she’ll get a medal and/or promotion for it.
I think every physically demanding profession where there are real tests remain exclusively male. Even the NYFD is being bullied into taking the gals in.
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