Posted on 08/10/2018 8:37:00 AM PDT by Simon Green
First Lt. Marina Hierl has reportedly made history by becoming the first woman in the Marine Corps to lead an infantry platoon.
The 24-year-old is one of four platoon commanders in Echo Company, a group of 175 Marines and Navy sailors who were recently sent to northern Australia, The New York Times reported Thursday.
Hierl is one of two women to the 13-week Marines Corps Infantry Officer Course, according to the Times.
I wanted to do something important with my life, she told the newspaper. I wanted to be part of a group of people that would be willing to die for each other.
She is now leading a platoon of roughly 35 men for six months of training exercises in the Pacific, the Times reported.
Capt. Neal Jones, commanding officer of Echo Company, reportedly asked for Hierl to be assigned to his unit.
If youre the first to do something, that implies you have so many positive traits, Jones said. And thats not always the case when it comes to every lieutenant including myself.
Women have been eligible for combat roles in the military since 2013, when former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta lifted a ban.
Now there are 184,473 active-duty Marines, of whom 15,885 are women including 80 serving in previously restricted combat roles, the Times reported.
The newspaper noted that other Marines in Echo Company made what were described as sexist jokes when Hierl arrived, adding that the jokes have subsided as training continued.
Shes one of us, Lance Cpl. Kai Segura said of Hierl.
???
Oh geesh.
Men in the pix has nothing to do with the men out in the populace who don’t sign up.
You should.
I wont and never will as long as she poses as a Marine infantry platoon leader.
She wants my respect? Go make babies as God intended. Preferably white Christian males who grow into men who serve in infantry squads designed to kill people, break things and be the guardians for women who make more babies.
Yes, I love that. I always expect lots of sexism when I see these headlines on FR.
She deserves respect for stepping up to do something.
That said, despite the vitriol for God forbid saying anything like that, I am not a fan of women in the MIL.
The #1 reason - pregnancy. That “trumps” all reasons for leaving them out.
Whether they get pregnant legitimately and morally, or immorally by a platoon sire just for fun, it’s a drag and causes far too much disruption. Women & men should not mix. Maybe if there was female-only and male-only ships/divisions/etc.
Strength differences are less important, but next.
Oh good God.
Boy the true sexism sure does come out on FR with anything to do with women.
Theres no place for rabid feminists and sexual perverts in a properly functioning infantry war machine. They just get good soldiers killed.
Sorry, go bake some cookies.
Dont disagree that pregnancy is big problem in the military. THAT at least is a legitimate issue with women in the service. The other stated excuses by the old coots are not.
The Corps is already a mere shadow of it's former fighting self. This move is like San Franciscans who poop on top of an older pile of poop...
Marine infantryman carries 97 to 130lbs. She doesn't even weight that much.
So...someone else has to do it for her.
“Go make babies as God intended. “
—
You forgot cooking and cleaning./s
.
That too.
And make me a sammich.
Modern women dont cook and clean anymore.
If you haven't had personal experience, or even if like me, you have - read, “With The Old Breed” by E. B Sledge. He wrote with exceptional clarity about his experiences with 3rd Bn 5th Marines in the South Pacific.
No one uses women unless they cannot find men, or because they aren't serious about winning. There are just too many times when upper body strength DOES count, and women don't have it. Lots of men don't, either - but the average man can be trained to get it. The average woman cannot.
I was in my late 40s when I did my last combat tour. Happily, I spent much of my time behind a desk. Why don't we use 50-60 year old men in the infantry? Because very few 50-60 year old men can get the job done as well as a 20 year old can! It isn't ageism, it is reality! There comes a point in life where you find yourself struggling to MAINTAIN fitness, or lose it as slowly as possible, rather than trying to improve.
Stop watching TV. Just ask yourself why more women aren't in the NFL. Then imagine if the losing team gets killed...
My opinions are based on my experience as an enlisted, an NCO and an officer, not based on armchair internet soldiers or drunks down at the NCO club. Nor watching TV.
It is without question that women are not as strong as men, generally, however women bear pain better, are more organized and can pull a trigger as well as anyone else. That is the reality of why Israel and other military forces use women in the same role as men.
I guess you can take the position that the israel army is worse off but no intelligent person would accept that as a fact. Nor would anyone believe that Israel isnt interested in winning.
The Israeli Caracal battalion which is mostly women doesn't carry nearly the load of a Marine infantryman.
For a reason.
The Soviet Union and Israel both experimented with women in combat positions, and quickly reversed course. Their findings were exactly what you have cited.
Why we refuse to learn from the mistakes of others is beyond me.
Israel doesn’t have a population of 300 million...and:
“But a closer look shows Israeli women are not in direct combat special operations such as the Green Berets. Nor are they in front-line combat brigades mobilized to engage in direct heavy combat.
In the infantry, virtually all of Israels female combat soldiers are confined to two light battalions the Caracal and the Lions of Jordan which are assigned to guard the borders with Egypt and Jordan, the only Arab countries that have peace treaties with Israel...
...The Times of Israel said the IDF provided a statement that read, in part, that the possibility of opening additional combat positions to girls is being tested all the time. As of today, infantry and the armored corps were ruled out for women.”
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/may/25/womens-combat-roles-in-israel-defense-forces-exagg/
“In the last five years, the IDF says, the number of women in combat roles has jumped five-fold. Today, it says, 8.4 percent of women serving in the army are in combat positions, whether in these co-ed battalions, as pilots, naval combat officers, combat intelligence, the artillery corps, or other roles.
The same article, pushing for more women, made this ridiculous comment:
“Soldiers in co-ed units themselves laugh off the notion that romance would interfere in their mission. After working such intense and long hours together in the field, they cant imagine seeing each other in a romantic way, they say in interviews.”
Can’t speak to “romance”, but screwing? Oh yes! And one of the best cures for infertility is to order women to deploy. Suddenly pregnancy rates SOAR!
Leading? Throughout the article it talks about her being in the rear. Meanwhile, our highly touted Defense Sec was going to bring our military back but has yet to roll back a single Obama left wing experiment in the military. Christians are still persecuted, cross dressers still in the ranks, women still in lower standards combat units. In fact the Army just stopped hand gernade training says recruits could no longer had the strength to throw gernades. We know who can not throw gernades. The Marine Corps just dropped its end of training crucible testing because women could not pass it. The Army is putting in “gender neutral physical training tests” meaning the standards are low enough for even the most out of shape woman to pass. Washington still decrees that women be given Ranger tabs regardless of how low the standards have to be to get them. Mattis is an Obama General, career before country.
Not one thing has changed at the Pentagon, Mattis is an Obama General, career before country.
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