Posted on 10/19/2018 5:20:53 AM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
...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. Other reactions, some from veterans, were even less flattering.
Are these reactions justified? Better yet, what exactly did Mattis say? A male VMI cadet, who went to bat for his female classmates, asked the secretary about his thoughts on women in combat. The following quotations are part of a longer reply, but these appear to be the most contentious points:
"It’s a very, very tough issue. Because it goes from some people’s perspective of what kind of society do we want… it goes to the almost primitive needs of a society to look out for its most vulnerable."
"How did the infantry get its name? Infant soldier. Young soldier. Very young soldier. They’re cocky, they’re rambunctious. They’re necessarily macho. And it’s the most primitive, I would say even evil, environment—you can’t even explain it."
"This is an area we are going to have to resolve as a nation…the military has got to have officers who look at this with a great deal of objectivity, and at the same time remember our natural inclination to have this open to all. But we cannot do something that militarily doesn’t make sense…"
(Excerpt) Read more at theamericanconservative.com ...
In this day of missiles and air strikes and the like how far back do you want them to be to be safe?
LOL!
I CONCUR!
“Safety” of the women is not the issue here!
Combat effectiveness is the issue!
No the MOS is a choice. A lot of women come through the college ROTC program.
Oh... I thought you were referring to the enlisted force and regular officers. The ROTC is a whole different animal.
Academy grads have a different career path out the gate. There concentrations and post grad opportunities come later and are at the needs of the service. Not everybody can be pilot’s, so to speak.
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