sheer lunacy
Posted on 01/05/2017 6:21:38 PM PST by Chode
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (AP) — For the first time, the Marine Corps has put three enlisted female Marines in a ground combat unit once open only to men, officials said Thursday.
They will serve as a rifleman, machine gunner and mortar Marine, said 1st Lt. John McCombs, spokesman for the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejuene.
They report Thursday to the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, which has had three female officers in its ranks for several months to help integrate the enlisted females into the unit, McCombs said. The women's names and ranks were not released.
"This process ensures the Marine Corps will adhere to its standards and will continue its emphasis on combat readiness," McCombs said in an email.
Their entry in the unit marks ongoing efforts to comply with Defense Secretary Ash Carter's directive in December 2015 to open all military jobs to women, including the most dangerous commando posts.
That decision was formal recognition of the thousands of female servicewomen who fought in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars in recent years, including those who were killed or wounded.
Carter's decision also stood as a rebuff to the Marine Corps, which was the only service branch to ask for an exception to women serving in certain infantry and combat slots.
The Army, Navy, Air Force and Special Operations Command all said they would not seek any exceptions and would recommend removing the ban on women in dangerous combat jobs.
In June, six months after Carter's move, The Associated Press reported the Marine Corps had seven female officers either serving in combat posts or waiting in line to serve, and 167 women with noncombat jobs in front-line units.
There are about 40,000 Marines in the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force.
Gunner Walker;
Thanks for your long service.
Andrew Cempa
MAJ USA (Ret)
11 yrs 11B3V, 13 yrs 21BV, 11 yrs retired but willing....
No not at all, I can see little value in doing this. It was done for purely political reasons with little concern for effectiveness/readiness.
I fully doubt today's Marines are much more PC and Church Lady about how they talk among themselves, and what they love to talk about. Fifty years do not change the culture very much.
Major friction and sexual harassment charges coming soon.
This is nothing to be celebrated.
What do you mean by “Russian diddly-bop”??
I was Russian 96E7N back in the day (1984) and loved every moment of it.
And now I am using the training again, since Russia has come back. Shades of 1990’s diplomacy.
Base plate? Humping the “tube” may become the double entendre of the year. Leland “Lou” Diamond, the patron saint of Marine mortarmen looks down in wonder.
I want to see these women hump a mortar baseplate a few miles.
We’re on the exact same page. See my post just above, which was my immediate reaction.
The Day the US Military Died
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3415429/posts
From last March. Post 24 has some great comments from my niece’s boyfriend, who not that long ago was carrying a 240 around some of the finer neighborhoods in Afghanistan.
Same here, ASVAB results said pick your job and my scrawny 118 lb arse went 11C1P. I put on over 40 lbs through the process and went to mech and then Light Infantry. That is no job for a female. All respect to women but there are just some jobs you should not do.
Well it sucks to be the wounded 200 lb marine stuck with the 120 lb woman for a rescue off the field.
True. Flight Equipment might be a good spot, or one of the S shops. Maintenance admin?
Sad truth, I am afraid. We need a reality check.
sheer lunacy
Put 65-70 lbs. of semi-useful stuff in a backpack. When you are scheduled for an awesome vacation that you have planned for and are looking forward to, suddenly cancel at the last minute, walk away and go on a long hike in the mountains in freezing rain. Do it in the dark. You have to huddle under a poncho and with a red-lensed flashlight, figure out where you are vs. where you need to be, what you need to do and how it has to be done. Carry a rifle and at least 180 rounds of ammunition for it. Put three or four bricks in your webbing and pack to represent things that you have to carry, but can't actually have, like LAWS and frags.
Make sure you have a friend wake you every few hours for watch. This means going from a deadly tired sleep to having responsibility for the very lives of all of your best friends.
Everything that I've mentioned sofar is small. I am not a combat Marine, although I have infantry time. It's worse for them.
You kind of learn to wear being willing to suffer the worst of it, as a badge of honor.
Thanks for replying. I don’t I could do that in my prime.
I missed the “think.”
Totally insane. Women have no business on the front lines. Our guys have enough problems without having to watch women get their legs blown off. American men are raised to venerate and protect women. This is not compatible with combat conditions. Its mental cruelty.
Depends on how you look at life, at a time when you have the most to give.
I posted this on Facebook talking about something totally different, sorry. No idea how it ended up here.
I remember reading about a Korean war vet that humped a 15 pound base plate and found out the mortar was destroyed 5 hours earlier in a firefight. He slung it away like a frisbee and almost cried on the ground afterwards.
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