Posted on 08/29/2018 6:50:55 PM PDT by daniel1212
As a medic I was overawed when I arrived at Ft. Sam Houston. There were SO MANY WOMEN. It was like some sort of strange paradise. At first. I realized very quickly that every OTHER company at 232nd Medical Battalion was as high as 70% female.. Very quickly as our combat deployment approached, I became increasingly convinced that my company was in for serious trouble..
Nothing was done to quell my misgivings when two females in the unit essentially got to sit out the deployment by becoming pregnant right before the deployment. During the deployment those doubts and misgivings became full fledged anxiety and fear. When we had incoming the women of my company reacted violently. Almost overnight shaking up occurred. Two of the females lead a campaign against one of the platoon sergeants because they were sure he was acting in a racist manner.
I kept my head down and did my job, and tried to be the best medic I could be, but I utterly HATED the FOB. One woman in an Air Force unit we were colocated with intentionally got herself pregnant so she could go home. What really filled me with outrage is after she got her positive results I overheard her saying she was going to get an abortion as soon as she got home...
Later when I was rotated through MEDDAC I was offered an opportunity to go to West Point. The commander at the time put off writing the recommendation until I was desperate. I ended up having to have the acting commander write the review. Both the commander and acting commander were women and the reviews they wrote made me look like the worst soldier they had ever laid eyes on. My interactions with many of the nurses that were commissioned were negative, especially when my manner was rigid and proper when addressing officers, or of expecting clear and concise orders, and tendency to act immediately or advise them that they were making my assigned duties more difficult than they needed to be.
My second and final deployment as a line medic for an infantry platoon was in many ways the experience I had actually joined the army for. I in no way mean to suggest that combat was joyful, but the way my platoon operated was such a relief. I felt more at home than I ever had in any other unit. During that tour as strange as it may sound I was more stressed on the FOB than I was out in sector, and despite losing guys in truly horrible ways, the platoon was closer, and a tighter group of people. Even when we were given nebulous missions and vague orders it always felt like things got done. We always moved with a sense of purpose.
I think the thing that sealed it for me that made me never want to work in a unit full of women again was something that happened in my first unit after my deployment. As so often happens personnel get rotated out. My platoon went from 20% female to 80%. Within a month all but one were pregnant, injured or proved they couldn’t lift a paperweight and one female medic, myself and one other male ended up doing an entire platoon’s worth of details (with myself and the other male doing all the physical work).
Women are wonderful. They can be talented, and thoughtful. When matched to their aptitudes they can absolutely be an asset to rear echelon units. I have met a few that might be able to keep up with the front line troops if they put in maximum effort. I have not met enough of those women to suggest women on the front lines would be anything other than a bad idea. As much as it pains me to say it, with the exceptions clearly in my mind, I’ve met more than enough of the “bad” females to make me seriously question their inclusion in the army at all.
More than once in my career and after I have heard of minor (and major) infractions being ignored because the person was a woman. I have witnessed women get away with talking back and utter disrespect to officers and NCOs and nothing happened. I have seen the corrosive effect it has on a unit when relationships spring up in a unit. More than once I have witnessed one man forced to do the work of three of his women counterparts because they simply didn’t have the strength, stamina, or in one case fortitude.
As harsh and brutal as it sounds, war is not the place you want anyone to be who is not at their absolute best. Your mission is to do things that can and will kill other people. Sometimes they your own, the enemy or innocent civilians. Screw ups are be lethal. It is neither moral or just to try to shoehorn in women into combat roles because of “equality” when the price of putting unqualified people into those positions is measured in body bags.
God made men and women different (and thank God for women), and uniquely compatible and complimentary, with functional/positional differences. The quest to ignore God's order is from the devil, who seeks to create a world of his perverse corruptions of what God has ordained in His wisdom.
Depends. Either you want Private Benjamin or the chick from Aliens.
101st Airborne opened up to women earlier this year, all the better to start rolling out those maturnity BDUs and x-back ponytail helmets some genius dreamed up. What the army really needs is paratroopers dropping their guts, am I,right? Go army pelvic organ prolapse, Hooah...
101st Airborne opened up to women earlier this year, all the better to start rolling out those maturnity BDUs and x-back ponytail helmets some genius dreamed up. What the army really needs is paratroopers dropping their guts, am I,right? Go army pelvic organ prolapse, Hooah...
Generally, women don’t have the killer instinct that men do. Like every rule, there are exceptions, but more often they are a liability on an actual battlefield when competing with men.
There are no pros IMO.
They are also a distraction when they get injured, because it is instinctual for men to momentarily lay down their arms to take care of an injured woman.
Even if only for seconds, it’s an deadly delay.
Thank God we didn’t have to put up with this crap in Vietnam.
Could you post that AGAIN, because we WOMEN VETERANS didn’t HEAR you the first time around.
Daniel1212? Are you the same MAN that’s on my Weekly Gardening Thread? If so, piss off. If not? Piss off.
Gawd, you guys are making me stabby. Are YOU both Veterans? If so? Piss off. If not Piss off!
Con: having women in the military.
50 guys for every woman. Not bad odds. “An Officer And A Gentleman” in Michners Tales of Paradise was a good story. She was not attractive. He was lonely. She was lucky to hook up with an officer even if he was married. Speaking of that enlisted women were allowed to go to the officers club on my base. Guess they were invited.
If you insist.
Trump doesn't know, Mattis doesn't care and the brass appear to be actively working to destroy military effectiveness. This administration's handling of thr military has been the most monumental disappointment, worse even than Sessions, IMHO. 101st Airborne opened up to women earlier this year, all the better to start rolling out those maturnity BDUs and x-back ponytail helmets some genius dreamed up. What the army really needs is paratroopers dropping their guts, am I,right? Go army pelvic organ prolapse, Hooah...
This.
Diana, this veteran loves you and have flown with very capable women crewmembers. I will defer any other comments for the moment. :)
27 years in the Marines, including 17 months in direct combat. Women should NEVER be anywhere near combat and NEVER in positions to command men.
Apples and oranges. Nice enough and essential to life as we know it but utterly incompatible to the requirements of organized and efficient murder.
Most everyone has a job for them. It's just a matter of finding it. (This being said, I've worked with some female AOs that could more than handle their own when it came to lifting bombs.)
Many jobs in the military can be performed by women just fine. Many job cannot.
I’ve heard that rationale from actual troops. Soldiers will more willingly run to help an injured woman when doing that could cost additional lives.
EOD. Explosives Ordinance Division. They were the ones that went out, sirens running, to recover unexploded ordinance in Okinawa. Women were first allowed to do those jobs in the mid 70’s. This 2 bagger was so unattractive the joke was that it was no big loss if one exploded in her face. Sorry guys.
HUDSON: Hey, Vasquez, have you ever been mistaken for a man?
VASQUEZ: No. Have you?
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