Posted on 12/09/2015 10:25:53 PM PST by pboyington
One of Shakespeare’s most famous passages comes from actual history and the words of England’s King Henry V, on the eve of the Battle of Agincourt in Northern France in 1415.
Rallying his severely outnumbered men, Henry V said:
“From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remember’d; We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brotherâ€
Nearly 600 years ago, Shakespeare knew about the power of camaraderie among fighting men. So did those who went before him: the Crusaders, the Romans, the Carthaginians, Robin Hood and William Wallace. Flash forward to the 20th Century and the men of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, made famous first by the late Stephen Ambrose and then by HBO in the mini-series, Band of Brothers.
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter’s decision to allow women to serve in the combat arms and special operations is a catastrophic kill for the military on many levels, but it is especially destructive of the age old, indefinable, but everlasting feelings of camaraderie, often referred to as the Band of Brothers bonding.
Camaraderie among men in combat units is first fostered in peacetime; in garrison, in field exercises and in the places where soldiers like to hang their hats on the weekend. Combat units carry this bonding with them to war, where strong feelings of brotherhood in peacetime, forge into the Band of Brothers camaraderie that lasts a lifetime.
In the lead-up to the Gulf War, after learning that I had orders to a military intelligence unit, I begged my commander to stay in the 7th Cavalry, knowing full well that my chances of getting killed were higher in an armored reconnaissance unit than in a rear with the gear MI unit. That is the power of the Band of Brothers lure. The thought of leaving my brothers was stronger than the fear of possibly being in a unit where I could get killed.
These feelings were certainly replicated millions of times by soldiers in past wars. Stories of wounded soldiers escaping field hospitals to rejoin their buddies in much more dangerous environments fill volumes of military history.
Thankfully, the good Lord and my commander allowed me to ride with the 7th Cav to the sound of the guns.
Soldiers in combat units in war simply endure things that are so inexplicable and unimaginable to the normal, civilian world that it is often only through these bonds that they survive the circumstances.
The civilian world fails to produce the circumstances that create the Band of Brothers esprit de corps. Most civilian jobs don’t have the larger than life characters that walk through your door every day in the military. Civilian jobs are usually mundane. It is the lack of excitement, the lack of life or death situations, and the lack of interesting characters that contribute to the civilian world’s failure to produce any type of camaraderie.
Band of Brothers, the series, is probably the greatest portrayal of men at war. It also showed us how German and American soldiers, who did their very best to kill each other, quickly realized once peace was declared, how they had more in common with each other than the civilians they swore to defend.
Civilian jobs also present a factor that in the past men in combat arms and special ops units didn’t have to deal with – women.
Once women are present in a military unit; the chemistry, the psychology, the functionality of the unit completely changes. It is something that men notice, but women may not, nor do most understand.
Coed military units are more like a 10th Grade high school class than a military organization. The jock is strutting around looking for the cheerleader. The geek is fantasizing about the girl he’ll never get; and on and on it goes. Besides having the atmosphere of Fast Times at Ridgemont High hopped up on hormones, coed military units never have the Band of Brothers bonding that all male combat units do, for the simple reason that there is no such thing as the Band of Brothers and Sisters.
Of course the feminists that are driving the train wreck on all this will tell you that men and women in combat will exhibit the same camaraderie of all male units. Nothing could be further from the truth. Feminists love to bash the Band of Brothers bonding; acting like it’s either a myth or something from cave man days that is outdated in today’s world of the male pedicure.
Where does that leave the US military now with Ash and Trash Carter’s decision? It leaves us in deep Kimshee.
Carter’s decision basically takes a chain saw to one of the most important elements of a unit’s combat effectiveness, male bonding.
Without camaraderie, without the Band of Brothers bonding, US Army and Marine combat units are already weakened before they ever take the field.
The problem with leftist civilians dictating policy is that they have absolutely no clue of what they’re doing. Yet, these are the people who are changing policies, and who without any knowledge or experience think they can socially engineer the US military and make it conform to their own warped ideas.
“And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.â€
It wouldn’t have worked then, and won’t work now. Unfortunately, the future seems destined to bear that out.
He ran right off the rails near the end of his written opinion piece. “The problem with leftist civilians dictating policy is that they have absolutely no clue of what they are doing.” I posit they know exactly what they are doing. The damage they are inflicting is intentional and meant to weaken our military forces. They are not “leftist civilians” promoting the advancement of feminism, they are socialist communist subversives actively operating to destroy this nation. The uniform they wear is their ideology and it seems his assignment to the front was appropriate, based upon the quoted material, rather than having him involved with intelligence matters. In my opinion.
Keep him away from my fighting hole!
It is as it is. The military has to adjust to the new regs and I believe they’re up to it. We have better things to fight about. Give the female soldiers an equal chance to lose a limb and die.
The guys will get used to it -- have already gotten used to it -- for one thing because in our current sissified world, the US military will still be the most male-values oriented institution they've ever seen.
And, if the experiment fails -- it won't -- but the military will soon learn what mixtures of races, ethnicities, religions and genders work best under which circumstances.
Seems to me that having a woman in an infantry unit in, oh, I don't know, let's say, Raqqa, who could talk to women there, might give our side an edge.
To the libs, the military is simply a nice opportunity to practice social engineering, a giant petri dish.
Just rewatched BoB this week. Excellent, excellent series.
Is there any Army in the world that has female soldiers on the front lines?
Those cute little Israeli gals with their M-16s slung over their civvies are the reservists that maintain the home front while the boys go out and teach the Syrians, etc a lesson on how to fight and win!
....Seems to me that having a woman in an infantry unit in, oh, I don’t know, let’s say, Raqqa, who could talk to women there, might give our side an edge.....
We already do that, but those gals are not infantry MOSs, nor do they get involved in firefights if it can be helped at all....
When Army gal Jessica Lynch was captured in the Iraq invasion, neither she, nor her fellow WACs, knew how to operate their M-16. If they had even the slightest interest they would have kept up on their initial training.
Utter BS.
Getting with leftist program I see. No surprise here. Southern hating is sure sigh of a leftist.
Which is the kind of thing I'm thinking of.
To be qualified infantry, they will first have to volunteer, which few will do, then qualify, which even fewer will do, then not get washed out for some infraction, which will leave only the toughest of the tough.
They will not be cute, they will not be little, and you WILL NOT want to go against them on the battle field.
I'm just saying...
Lynch couldn't serve in the infantry, then or now, she's not qualified.
The key point to remember is that military performance standards will not change (much) to accommodate women, and therefore very few will qualify.
Those who do will be the best of the best.
And if it can't work, period, we'll know that soon enough, and make appropriate adjustments.
I'm guessing it will work just fine under certain circumstances, not so much under others.
Time will tell.
If the current folly is allowed to persist after the next election, our standing and exorbitant military will rapidly whither into an irrelevant token. True warriors will not be associated with a pathetic joke.
bfl
Nobody here is "southern hating" FRiend, and you know that very well.
The fact is that women have served in increasingly important military jobs since at least WWII.
Very few will qualify for the most demanding & dangerous positions, but those who wish to try can be given an opportunity.
We'll learn soon enough how well it works out.
Well one day maybe, hopefully soon, the new Confederate Army will have zero splittails.
I fully expect to see the Second Coming of Christ long before we see the second coming of another pro-slavery Confederacy, FRiend.
The new Confederacy will be about the republic, not slavery. The slaves will all live in the Federal Kingdom of Northern States.
As to meeting the same “standards”, have you heard about the two FEMALE Rangers who were given around six(6)retries as well as help so they could pass and become Rangers.
Ask the Rangers what they think about women in combat units.
When I was in the USAF under Carter they integrated women into some of our noncombat support units and ONLY 1 woman out of the dozen or so could do their job and she was the exception (Irish girl from Minnesota who was tough as nails, what an Irish temper. Most would just flirt with some of the guys and get them to do it for them!
The Muslim/Socialist President and his “Progressive” allies will do as they have done before, just lower the standards so that any woman could just walk right in.
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