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The Reality That Awaits Women in Combat
The Wall Street Journal ^ | Jan 24, 2013 | Ryan Smit

Posted on 01/27/2013 12:05:23 PM PST by KeyLargo

The Wall Street Journal

OPINION January 23, 2013, 7:01 p.m. ET

Ryan Smith: The Reality That Awaits Women in Combat A Pentagon push to mix the sexes ignores how awful cheek-by-jowl life is on the battlefield. By RYAN SMITH

America has been creeping closer and closer to allowing women in combat, so Wednesday's news that the decision has now been made is not a surprise. It appears that female soldiers will be allowed on the battlefield but not in the infantry. Yet it is a distinction without much difference: Infantry units serve side-by-side in combat with artillery, engineers, drivers, medics and others who will likely now include women. The Pentagon would do well to consider realities of life in combat as it pushes to mix men and women on the battlefield.

Many articles have been written regarding the relative strength of women and the possible effects on morale of introducing women into all-male units. Less attention has been paid to another aspect: the absolutely dreadful conditions under which grunts live during war.

Most people seem to believe that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have merely involved driving out of a forward operating base, patrolling the streets, maybe getting in a quick firefight, and then returning to the forward operating base and its separate shower facilities and chow hall. The reality of modern infantry combat, at least the portion I saw, bore little resemblance to this sanitized view.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Government; History; Military/Veterans; Society
KEYWORDS: combat; equalrights; military; pentagon; sex; women; wot

U.S. Marines rest in an amphibious assault vehicle.

Mr. Smith served as a Marine infantryman in Iraq. He is now an attorney.

1 posted on 01/27/2013 12:05:33 PM PST by KeyLargo
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To: KeyLargo
The relationships among members of a unit can be irreparably harmed by forcing them to violate societal norms.

Well ... yeah. That's the plan.

2 posted on 01/27/2013 12:12:25 PM PST by ClearCase_guy (Nothing will change until after the war.)
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To: KeyLargo

I would think artillery and combat engineers would be even more hostile to weak soldiers than infantry.


3 posted on 01/27/2013 12:12:46 PM PST by yarddog (One shot one miss.)
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To: KeyLargo

Since the clear goal of the Obama MALadministration is to eonomically, culturally, morally and MILITARILY weaken and destroy the America he as clearly HATES, this is but one more element of the plan.

And since the service academies have been infested with PC/diversity BS starting around 30 years ago, the brass hats in the Pentagon will go along with it either because they do, in fact, been brainwashed into a belief in his plan or will just keep their yaps shut rather than risk those all-important promotions.

And Obama’s fundamental transformatio(i.e. DESTRUCTION) of America continues apace...


4 posted on 01/27/2013 12:26:14 PM PST by Dick Bachert (An ARMED society is a POLITE society!)
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To: KeyLargo
vaginal and urinary tract infections to start with, then it's all down hill form there...
5 posted on 01/27/2013 12:27:41 PM PST by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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To: KeyLargo
Its really simple.
Anyone in a combat MOS needs to be spending time on the line.
Period.
No exceptions.
Stateside base postings and billets in allied nations provide respite for warriors between combat tours.

If a woman is filling a slot in the MOS, she needs to be pulling her whole weight.
All of it.

That means combat too.

Don't like that?

Too effing bad. That is the reality of it.

Putting women in deployable MOS fields was a bad idea. This is why. Keeping them in those fields but immune to deployments is worse than sending them to combat. It is a desirable compromise for people too stupid or too dishonest to address reality.

6 posted on 01/27/2013 12:28:27 PM PST by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: MrEdd
So now women will have to sign on for selective service or face the consequences or would that level the playing field too much!?
7 posted on 01/27/2013 12:45:02 PM PST by blaveda (blaveda)
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To: MrEdd
So now women will have to sign on for selective service or face the consequences or would that level the playing field too much!?
8 posted on 01/27/2013 12:45:06 PM PST by blaveda (blaveda)
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To: KeyLargo

I keep hearing that women are now “allowed” on the battlefield. How long will it be before women in the military are required to go into battle?


9 posted on 01/27/2013 1:03:01 PM PST by Fiji Hill (Io Triumphe!)
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To: KeyLargo
The BFLAN knows exactly what he is doing. He wants a compromised military. What better way than to insert women, no matter how good they may be at carrying their packs and shooting the enemy. A good male soldier will always defer to a female because of his protective sensibilities. The bowel and bladder issues, and the male-female sexual attractions all work to disarm unit cohesion which is the ultimate goal..

This president will go down in history as the WORST ever.

10 posted on 01/27/2013 1:05:23 PM PST by Slyfox (The key to Marxism is medicine - Vladimir Lenin)
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To: blaveda

Muslim women will NEVER have to sign on for selective service.

You can bet your last round on that.


11 posted on 01/27/2013 1:08:23 PM PST by 353FMG ( I refuse to specify whether I am serious or sarcastic -- I respect FReepers too much.)
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To: Slyfox

>This president will go down in history as the WORST ever.<

.
There won’t be any US history left after this president.


12 posted on 01/27/2013 1:11:40 PM PST by 353FMG ( I refuse to specify whether I am serious or sarcastic -- I respect FReepers too much.)
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To: 353FMG

“Muslim women will NEVER have to sign on for selective service.”

Yes, because they willingly volunteer for duty.

Al-Qaeda’s Female Suicide Bomber Death Cult

Posted By Frank Crimi On November 6, 2012 @ 12:30 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 23 Comments

Islamist terrorists have long used women as suicide bombers, but now their combatant role has expanded with al-Qaeda’s formation of an all-female jihadist fighting unit whose primary mission is purportedly to attack Coalition targets in Afghanistan.

The discovery of the all-girl military group, dubbed the “Burkha Brigade,” came to light in a recent online video that showed a bevy of fully covered women firing off a wide selection of heavy weaponry, including machine guns, assault rifles, and rocket-propelled grenades.

The women enlistees are thought to have been recruited from Chechnya, the semi-autonomous republic in the Russian Federation and a state which has long provided fertile ground for producing female jihadists.

http://frontpagemag.com/2012/frank-crimi/al-qaedas-female-suicide-bomber-death-cult/print/


13 posted on 01/27/2013 1:17:09 PM PST by KeyLargo
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To: KeyLargo

The IDF learned long ago to keep women out of combat positions such as the special forces, armor, and infantry because of what the Arabs would do when they captured them.

Plus, we have to deal with women being on submarines.

The Left will do anything to get a female general.


14 posted on 01/27/2013 3:08:46 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: KeyLargo

From the article for those who are too busy to read it:

“The invasion was a blitzkrieg. The goal was to move as fast to Baghdad as possible. The column would not stop for a lance corporal, sergeant, lieutenant, or even a company commander to go to the restroom. Sometimes we spent over 48 hours on the move without exiting the vehicles. We were forced to urinate in empty water bottles inches from our comrades.

Many Marines developed dysentery from the complete lack of sanitary conditions. When an uncontrollable urge hit a Marine, he would be forced to stand, as best he could, hold an MRE bag up to his rear, and defecate inches from his seated comrade’s face.

During the invasion, we wore chemical protective suits because of the fear of chemical or biological weapon attack. These are equivalent to a ski jumpsuit and hold in the heat. We also had to wear black rubber boots over our desert boots. On the occasions the column did stop, we would quickly peel off our rubber boots, desert boots and socks to let our feet air out.

Due to the heat and sweat, layers of our skin would peel off our feet. However, we rarely had time to remove our suits or perform even the most basic hygiene. We quickly developed sores on our bodies. ...”


15 posted on 01/27/2013 5:58:27 PM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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To: MrEdd

Ask any old time sailor about women in the Navy and they will tell you they did a great job—ashore. The billets they were serving in were all on land which kept many a brown bagging career sailor at sea for extended periods because the ladies were holding down the land based billets. Preferential treatment was often given to the females in that they did not have to go on working parties, participate in field days (cleaning duties)shore patrol,security watches, etc. For the most part it was accepted by the males but the wives surely didn’t like it.


16 posted on 01/28/2013 4:33:20 AM PST by BTCM (Death and destruction is the only treaty Muslims comprehend.)
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To: Jack Hydrazine
The IDF learned long ago to keep women out of combat positions such as the special forces, armor, and infantry because of what the Arabs would do when they captured them.

Are you under some misapprehension that the Muslims treat woman and men whom they capture in war different?

17 posted on 01/28/2013 8:48:20 AM PST by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: MrEdd

As a matter of fact they do!


18 posted on 01/28/2013 7:56:25 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

Your idea of a fact and the dictionary definition of fact do not in any way match. Likely never have.

What happened with the ambassador recently was not anything different than normal warfare in the Muslim world.

It was a change for the American press not to be able to hush it up, but this is how things were over there when I entered the military back under Carter.

If you thought that wasn’t a threat troops over there must face, well, lots of people harbor delusions that make the world seem safer to them than it actually is.

Welcome to reality.


19 posted on 01/29/2013 1:59:56 PM PST by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: MrEdd

If you understood what the IDF learned from putting women in combat positions then you would understand why they don’t let them anymore.


20 posted on 01/29/2013 9:39:27 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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