Free Republic

Only 52 percent of active-duty enlisted women, compared to 92 percent of the men, were able to pass the Army Combat Fitness Test.It was gratifying to watch Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton questioning Christine Wormuth, the first female Secretary of the Army, at a recent Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.Sen. Cotton, a Ranger-qualified infantry veteran, respectfully chastised Wormuth for the “fiasco” that the new Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) has become. For the past three years, the Army has tried but failed to implement “gender-neutral” standards in the new Combat Fitness Test — mainly because of high failure rates among...

While this subject has largely fallen into the “settled” category for the most part, it’s still being brought up for discussion among the public. We’re once again talking about women in combat. Back during the Obama administration, Ash Carter was directed to open all combat roles to women. At the time, we were assured that female recruits would have to meet the same physical standards as their male counterparts. Slowly but sure, however, that principle was eroded.As Heather Mac Donald writes in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), the standards did indeed change. But even with those relaxed standards,...

The Obama-era policy of integrating women into ground combat units is a misguided social experiment that threatens military readiness and wastes resources in the service of a political agenda. The next defense secretary should end it. In September 2015 the Marine Corps released a study comparing the performance of gender-integrated and male-only infantry units in simulated combat. The all-male teams greatly outperformed the integrated teams, whether on shooting, surmounting obstacles or evacuating casualties. Female Marines were injured at more than six times the rate of men during preliminary training—unsurprising, since men’s higher testosterone levels produce stronger bones and muscles. Even...

[THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE'S AUTHOR WAS REQUESTED TO POST THIS "TIP" WHEREVER IT MIGHT GET "COVERAGE." IT COMES FROM ANOTHER PERSON WHO IS WELL-QUALIFIED TO TALK ABOUT THE UNITED STATES ARMY'S GREEN BERETS---AND WHO BRINGS WHAT IS FELT TO BE A "DIRE WARNING."] I recently spent some time at the Special Forces Decade Association Headquarters, talking with a few generations of our finest. There were some serious allegations about the first woman to pass the Special Forces “Q,” Assessment and Selection Phase course, recently. If these allegations are true, they represent to me significant corruption, ethical and leadership failures, and potentially...

...Jim Mattis has largely avoided the major controversies that have plagued his fellow Trump cabinet members. But if the reaction to his recent remarks at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) are any indication, his luck may have begun to run out. During a September visit to the military school, Mattis offered his thoughts on women serving in combat infantry jobs, later interpreted by the Associated Press as a “dim view” of their prospects. The comments were further panned by those advocating the integration of women into combat, who characterized Mattis as “poisoning the well” and “sabotaging” efforts to integrate women....

The Marine Corps is on the defensive for a second time this month over changes to its famous Infantry Officer Course (IOC). Military communities were abuzz in early February when officials confirmed that successfully completing the Combat Endurance Test (CET) — the rigorous first stage of IOC — would no longer be a requirement for passing the 13-week course. The Corps answered criticism on Feb. 7, but found itself in the same position this week as new standards for IOC’s training hikes were revealed. The course previously required a Marine to complete nine hikes, of which six would be evaluated...

US military policies and operations are now being run on a fantasy, the fantasy of women successfully serving and fighting with the combat arms and special operations forces. The fantasy was legally authorized by former Secretary of Defense, Ash Carter, in December of 2015, and which is largely propagated by Pentagon lies, Pentagon cowardice, Generation Rationalization on active duty, Hollywood liberal morons and the feminist lobby, which consists of women who think that it’s really cool Kaylee wants to be in Delta, but who themselves will be 10,000 miles from the nearest round going down range when Kaylee is bisected...

It was only a matter of time… Since 2015, no woman has successfully made it through SFQC, or the Special Forces Qualification Course since Ash Carter, with a stroke of a pen, created the single greatest disaster in US military history, the authorization for women to serve in the combat arms and special operations units. But, that is about to change… The army’s leaders, which in 2017, consist mainly of social justice warriors, flaming liberals and back-stabbing ticket-punching, perfumed princes, have consistently demonstrated that they possess neither the warrior ethos nor the moral courage to challenge the social engineering insanity...

The young Army infantry recruits lined up in full combat gear, guns at the ready. At the signal, a soldier in front kicked in the door and they burst into the room, swiveling to check around the walls for threats. “You’re dead!” one would-be enemy yelled out from a dark corner, the voice slightly higher than the others echoing through the building. It was 18-year-old Kirsten, training to become one of the Army’s first women serving as infantry soldiers. “I want to be one of the females to prove to everybody else that just because you’re a female, doesn’t mean...

For the first time in its 250-year history, a woman will be joining the ranks of the Marine Corps as an infantry officer, the U.S. military said Thursday. The lieutenant, whose name was not revealed, is expected to graduate from the grueling, 13-week infantry officer course Monday, the training center said in a statement released to The Washington Post. ABC News confirmed the historic first. Three dozen women have attempted to complete the course, and all but one have failed. About 25 percent of all trainees do not complete the course. The Pentagon opened up all ground combat roles in...

In 2013, the US military lifted its ban on women serving in combat. Shortly after, the Marine Corps began what it calls an “unprecedented research effort” to understand the impact of gender integration on its combat forces. That took the form of a year-long experiment called the Ground Combat Element Integrated Task Force, in which 400 Marines — 100 of them female — trained for combat together and then undertook a simulated deployment, with every aspect of their experience measured and scrutinized. All branches of the military faced a January 1, 2016 deadline to open all combat roles to women,...

Are recruiters, particularly in the Army and Marines, lying to (or at least misleading) young women who they try to recruit into military service? That’s a question which is asked and answered in the LA Times this week by two people who should know. Julie Pulley is a former West Point graduate Army captain and Afghanistan veteran. Rear Adm. Hugh P. Scott was a Navy medical officer and is an expert in medical physical standards. They discuss the current push to drive up the number of women going into combat roles and the unique stresses which the demands of those...

Young Swiss women will be obliged to attend an “information day” about military service from 2020 in order to encourage more to join the army, according to reports. Currently, military or civil service is compulsory for all Swiss men over 18, who must pay an exemption tax if they are excluded due to health reasons or refuse to serve. It is not compulsory for women, but they may choose to volunteer. Last year, only around 65 women out of 7,600 recruits began their service. In February this year, army commander Daniel Baumgartner said in an interview that he wanted to...

A new TV ad from the U.S. Marine Corps focuses on a woman in combat, the first commercial of its kind for the military branch. The woman starring in the new spot, Marine Capt. Erin Demchko, has served in Afghanistan and was a logistics officer on a Female Engagement Team, according to the Marine Corps website. “FETs build trust with local civilians to gather information and improve relations with the community,” says the website. “Capt. Demchko worked side by side with her fellow Marines to complete missions in the region.” The ad follows a young girl who stands up...

Captain Or Ben-Yehuda of the Israeli Defense Forces has cemented a legacy that will endure well past her lifetime. The young, decorated IDF Captain was in charge of a company of soldiers when they were violently attacked by nearly two dozen terrorists near the Egyptian border. Due to her leadership and bravery, she and her men were able to survive. Captain Ben-Yehuda was in charge of the Caracal Battalion which was stationed near the Israeli / Egyptian border. Three suspicious vehicles quickly approached the battalion’s position and Captain Ben-Yehuda along with a driver went to check them out. As they...

“If you train the same, if you can keep up, you can mentally do it, why not?” one veteran said.Women can hold any job in the U.S. Military under the Obama Administration, a policy that may change under the Trump Administration. Last year, after a series of intensive studies that took years to complete, Defense Secretary Ash Carter ordered the military to open all combat jobs to woman, allowing them to serve in some of the military's most demanding and difficult jobs, including special operations forces, such as the Army Delta units and Navy SEALs. Some female veterans, including Marine...

A key congressional supporter of Donald Trump says the president-elect’s defense secretary should move quickly to reverse a number of social engineering policies adopted in the Obama years that “have cut down on the warrior mentality.”Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican, told The Washington Times that the armed forces need a counterrevolution. It should reverse at least three policies: women in the infantry, open transgender troops and the near-banishment of the word “man” from Navy and Marine Corps titles.

WASHINGTON — Ten women who were commissioned Army officers in the spring graduated from the initial infantry training course Wednesday, becoming the Army’s first female infantry lieutenants. The women were among 166 soldiers to complete the Infantry Officer Basic Leadership Course at Fort Benning in Georgia, a 17-week class that provides new officers the basic skills to lead a rifle platoon into combat, said Army Lt. Col. Matthew W. Weber, the commander of the unit that oversees the course. Officers are commissioned through ROTC, Officer Candidate School or the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. The infantry officer course...

The U.S. Army’s first gender-integrated infantry office course has been completed by 10 of 12 women who took the challenge. A graduation ceremony was held Wednesday in Fort Benning, Georgia, to celebrate 166 officers who attained the infantry’s iconic blue cord. Many of the female officers will now move on to challenges that include Ranger school and Airborne school.

Marine Corps headquarters has sent out a Communications Playbook that says top brass in Washington, not local public affairs officers, will control press statements about women in combat. The edict was issued in the aftermath of strong disagreements with civilian leaders on gender integration. The Corps normally gives wide latitude for spokespeople worldwide to discuss all sorts of Marine issues — but not in this case. Under “[public affairs] posture,” the playbook says: “Proper PA coordination both up to the Office of United States Marine Corps Communication (OUSMCC) and down to lower division and Recruiting District PAO’s will be due...