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The Marines Are Looking For A Few Good (Combat-Ready) Women
National Public Radio ^ | July 7, 2014 | Tom Bowman

Posted on 07/07/2014 6:32:11 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

The challenge for the Marines, and for the Army, is how to open up ground combat jobs to women in January 2016, without lowering standards.

And here's where things stand in the Marines.

Eighty-five female Marines already made it through an infantry training course last fall at Camp Lejeune, N.C., which included drills such as attacking a mock enemy force, hidden in a pine forest. That course lasted eight weeks, and the men and women all completed the same training.

Now the Marines have a more ambitious plan that will take a new group of volunteers from the deserts to the beaches to the mountains during the next year.

More than 160 women will be taking part in a training exercise that will start this summer that will stretch well into next year. It will include simulated combat exercises in the Mojave Desert, Pacific Coast beaches and the Sierra Nevada mountains.

The Marines will march with 100-pound packs, mount an attack that will include tanks, then dig a defensive position. They'll practice pulling a wounded Marine to safety. They'll crawl over obstacles. Climb mountains and cliffs....

(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...


TOPICS: Government; Military/Veterans; Society
KEYWORDS: feminism; marines; military; usmc
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1 posted on 07/07/2014 6:32:11 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I had the impression that the exercise was a colossal failure.

Was I wrong?


2 posted on 07/07/2014 6:38:03 PM PDT by x1stcav ("The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

just don’t believe those women are carrying 100# backpacks or that they will be carrying them any time in the future for any length of time - these are not big women in the picture- All the best to ‘em!


3 posted on 07/07/2014 6:38:14 PM PDT by Sioux-san
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To: x1stcav

It will succeed because it has to succeed.


4 posted on 07/07/2014 6:39:43 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself.)
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To: Sioux-san

The women in the pic are carrying 55# packs but the article talks 100# packs. It looks like a puff piece to me.


5 posted on 07/07/2014 6:39:54 PM PDT by jazusamo (Sometimes I think that this is an era when sanity has become controversial: Thomas Sowell)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

If you can’t pass the final obstacle course at Parris Island on you own, you don’t deserve to be in the Marine infantry. Upper body strength is mandatory. What’s a quick force Marine unit carrying 100lb packs for anyway. BS.


6 posted on 07/07/2014 6:43:45 PM PDT by OftheOhio (never could dance but always could kata - Romeo company)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I could not see anyone volunteering to put their lives on the line for the current commander in chief


7 posted on 07/07/2014 6:45:20 PM PDT by oldbrowser (We have a rogue government in Washington)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“is how to open up ground combat jobs to women in January 2016, without lowering standards.”

Why is there an imperative to open combat jobs to women? What actual benefit to the military could be procured from this effort? None. Its social engineering.


8 posted on 07/07/2014 6:46:21 PM PDT by Viennacon (Rebuke the Repuke!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
This is nothing less than insanity. It is likely treason.

The idea is not to create a group of warrior women. It is not to create amazon fighters who will be as effective as the men.

There is one purpose and only one purpose to the exercise. It is the undermine and ultimately destroy the effectiveness of what is now the best fighting force in the world. It is to create a situation where good marines get killed or injured and are put in positions where they are compromised.

Just as Obama invited the parents of a deserter to be honored in the White House this is meant to undermine our military and weaken America.

Every time a courageous marine is killed or injured liberal Democrats in America cheer and celebrate. It is what they want.

9 posted on 07/07/2014 6:47:01 PM PDT by detective
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To: x1stcav

Marine Infantry Officer Course.


10 posted on 07/07/2014 6:47:56 PM PDT by Theoria (End Socialism : No more GOP and Dem candidates)
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To: x1stcav

None of the female officers they’ve sent to the infantry officers course have completed it. But the ones on the enlisted side have done quite well so far.


11 posted on 07/07/2014 6:48:16 PM PDT by GrootheWanderer
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

That’s strange. I distinctly remember reading that none of the women had passed the course.


12 posted on 07/07/2014 6:57:48 PM PDT by MNnice
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To: jazusamo

they may be 55# packs but I would bet you money there isn’t 55# in the packs - Puff on Marines - sorry you had to go over to the Other Side.


13 posted on 07/07/2014 6:57:49 PM PDT by Sioux-san
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To: GrootheWanderer; Theoria

That makes sense. I think the officer course is more physically demanding.

Thanks.


14 posted on 07/07/2014 7:02:02 PM PDT by x1stcav ("The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.")
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To: Sioux-san

Other side? Read the caption under the pic.


15 posted on 07/07/2014 7:02:30 PM PDT by jazusamo (Sometimes I think that this is an era when sanity has become controversial: Thomas Sowell)
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To: MNnice

that’s what I read, too - let the misinformation fly!


16 posted on 07/07/2014 7:03:14 PM PDT by Sioux-san
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Yep. The Marine Corps has its orders.


17 posted on 07/07/2014 7:03:21 PM PDT by skeeter
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To: jazusamo

The Other Side - I realize the Marines must do this by edict, I just wish they would have held out and said No to it. Not their fault, I realize.


18 posted on 07/07/2014 7:06:12 PM PDT by Sioux-san
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To: Sioux-san

You can bet the Marines at the Chosin reservoir weren’t carrying 55# packs trying to evade our most favored trading partner. (sic) I opened the door for an old Korean vet the other day, he said thank you young man. Normally I wouldn’t let this slide, but he put a grin on my face this time.


19 posted on 07/07/2014 7:09:57 PM PDT by OftheOhio (never could dance but always could kata - Romeo company)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The pusification of our Military is embarrassing.


20 posted on 07/07/2014 7:10:24 PM PDT by MaxMax (Pay Attention and you'll be pissed off too! FIRE BOEHNER, NOW!)
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