Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: brownsfan
Sailors tend to not be physical specimens. I think women, in general, can handle the physical aspects.

Mostly they can, but it is things like changing from 2 stretcher bearers in an all male navy to 4 bearers per stretcher now that women are aboard that is going to cause a didaster. Not only does it cut the number of wounded that can be moved in a given time in half, but a stretcher carried by 4 is three times as wide as a stretcher carried by 2. That makes passageways and ladders too congested for the firefighters and repair people to get through.

A lot of people on a ship are doing jobs that could be automated. Their secondary assignment to damage control is the real reason they are there, to savbe the ship after it has take 50% casualties. The fact that a woman can lift the 40 pound load required of her nominal position does not mean she will be able to lift the 200 pounds that may be required in a disaster.

SO9

32 posted on 11/19/2003 12:32:04 PM PST by Servant of the 9 (I am not reptilian, I just have a low basal metabloism.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies ]


To: Servant of the 9
" The fact that a woman can lift the 40 pound load required of her nominal position does not mean she will be able to lift the 200 pounds that may be required in a disaster."

I'm about the same size as Jessica Lynch, and reasonably fit. However, it would be a struggle for me to drag/carry my skinny ten year old son more than a few yards, let alone rescue a grown man or woman. While I'm a great proponent of equal opportunity for women, I don't see how any woman (or perhaps man) of this size belongs in a place of potential combat. There are times when physical size and strength are of critical importance, and to pretend otherwise puts soldiers needlessly at greater risk.

43 posted on 11/19/2003 2:36:10 PM PST by Think free or die
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson