My son is a Marine, and went through Parris Island.
He said the women there got treated differently, and during the final phase called the crucible there were some women who never carried their packs, and yet graduated.
He said the Corps is under pressure to have more women , and the problem is that many women suffer injuries during MCT, and basic.
Now his combat unit is waiting to get a couple of women,and all the guys he is with did not want them as they are known to be useless.
The problem is General Neller who is a little more PC with women etc.
Back in the day I had a female lance corpuscle doe-eye me before a nasty working party told me not to treat her any different than the male Marines, so I did exactly that.
She found another NCO who was more receptive to her doe-eyed routine and somehow avoided that kind of duty. In a way, I didn’t blame her, any decent Lance Corporal will play any goofy angle to avoid *%$# details.
Human nature dictates that there will always be receptive men, as unfair as that is to the Marines of either sex who refused to play that game.
Had other female Marines who were dedicated and damn good at what they did, but back then they weren’t allowed in the combat arms, and having them in combat service support positions was a novelty.
Finding women to fill infantry billets is a luxury that can be indulged in peacetime, but once the meatgrinder of war starts in earnest again, I wager it will cease.
EVERY branch of the Military has had to lower its standards to accommodate women.
The “If your standards are too high, lower them” syndrome began back in the 1970s and has gotten progressively worse through the years.
Commanding Officers who fought “The Program” were summarily relieved, and the word quickly spread that if you wanted to get promoted, “Duck and Cover” and don’t fight “The Program.”
Promotions being more important than mission accomplishment, “Duck and Cover” for ambitious male (and female) officers became the accepted standard.
They just hoped and prayed that no SHTF sexual charges or poor performance ratings occurred on their watch.
Senior Enlisted and Officers who tried to uphold standards were cashiered.
Today’s “gendered” military is not what it was before this crap all began!
The problem is, I have not a clue how to fix the problem.
If the pre-PC standards were re-imposed, the services would lose a lot of men as well as a lot of women. Standards have been lowered across the board, and quotas have become more important than quality in recruiting, both Officer and Enlisted.