Marines shift focus to get women to front line

wmbfnews.com ^ | April 24, 2013 | David Klugh

[Tailgunner Joe]

PARRIS ISLAND, SC (WMBF) - The next war fought by American troops will be fought by men and women on the front line.

Today, women are allowed - even encouraged - to serve wherever they're needed. And that has every branch of the military racing to develop a plan to make sure they are not only willing to fight, but ready for the job physically and emotionally.

At Parris Island the new role of women in the Marine Corps is changing tradition and attitudes about training at one of the nation's premier boot camps.

It has never has been training for the weak hearted or the weak spirit. As the only boot camp for women enlisting the Marine Corps, Parris Island has a well earned reputation.

No sooner did the Pentagon open the door for women serving in combat rolls then something else changed here on Parris Island that had been in the works for months. And that is the way they train female recruits.

Yes, shifting the role means shifting the training. And you can bet, the newest female recruits here are already feeling that victory where it hurts. For starters, there are more sit-ups, push-ups and pull-ups.

It's about time, says retired Army Lt. Colonel Wanda Robinson. She's a South Carolina teacher now, here at Parris Island for a workshop on how to talk honestly to her students, male and female, about the joining the military.

"I've always wanted to do some type of combat, you know I'm not saying I'm Rambo or Rambett. But I always wanted to do something like that. So, I'm applauding it for the females that are in now. "

One of those females also represents a historic first for Parris Island. The commanding general here is yet another sign of an evolving Marine Corps. And she will tell you her goal is to produce combat ready men and women.

"From my perspective sitting here at Parris island," says Brigadier General Lori Reynolds. "What we're gonna do here is not gonna change. We're gonna make sure that we turn out the best basically trained Marine that we can for whatever the Corps has in store for them next."

Staff Sgt. Latoya Moffitt is a senior drill instructor who has never seen a difference in dedication between the sexes. She in one who has always been ready for the front line.

It's just sincere passion that we have here sir. You want to make a difference. You want to influence that next generation of Marines that are going to be taking your place. And when you come here you give 110 percent because that's what you want to see once you get back to the fleet."

She is the female recruit's first impression here. It was the same for this group of 80 teachers invited to spend 4-days on Parris Island. They'll return to their schools from Myrtle Beach to Memphis a target for students wanting to know if the Marines Corps is right for them.

"Most of the female educators in this workshop will tell you their biggest influence will be on female students at their respective schools. So, with the Marine Corps made up of just 6-percent females, how likely are they to direct their students here to Parris Island.

Most of these teachers say the student will determine that.

You'd be amazed at how many girls are interested in military," says Kim Saylors, an Abbyville high school English teacher. "You know a lot of times I'll say well what are your goals, what do you want to do when you graduate? Do you even know? And a lot of times they'll say, military."

McBee High School career specialist, Terri Rhoad says she likes what she's seeing here at Parris Island. "I was just in awe of how many females were pursuing it now. So it's great that they're allowing them that opportunity to do as much as the males and not saying 'no' you can't do this."

The battalions of female recruits here at Parris Island today are here because of the opportunity to serve at every level, not in spite of it.

The Pentagon mandate authorizing women to serve in combat roles only offers women that option. The expectation for all branches of the military is that most women will choose other careers in the military that will not require them to fight on the front lines.

[sergeantdave]

“It’s about time, says retired Army Lt. Colonel Wanda Robinson. She’s a South Carolina teacher now..”

Teacher. That’s where you belong, you dumb turd. You could never don an 80-pound combat pack - with a rifle - and do a 15-mile force-march into a combat zone. And after you arrive, have the physical stamina to engage the enemy in a firefight that might last for days.

Ask the Marines who took sugar loaf hill in Okinawa in 1945. It wasn’t a place for women. Those Marines who survived suffered for months and years after that battle.

I don’t want women in combat. Go teach.

[utahagen]

You go that right!

[utahagen]

Thumbs up!

[utahagen]

Very well put. I agree 100%.

[ansel12]

They just relieved the CO of OCS at Quantico because three of his enlisted died in a love triangle murder-suicide.

Here are the Marines involved in that, one Marine looks different from the others, he just looks a little more like he fits into the Corps.

Marine Corps Lance Corporal

Marine Corps Lance Corporal

[mrsmel]

Good gravy. These Barbie dolls are going to be our nation's warriors? I try to picture them facing the enemy on Iwojima-just can't make my mind do it.

This country is so done, stick a fork in it.

[ansel12]

You saw what I saw, it is amazing.

This is Orwellian.

[ogen hal]

Insane...says this former Marine.

[gleeaikin]

I am not suggesting that women be allowed to qualify with lower standards. However, I recently read John DelVecchio’s very “real” book on the Vietnam War, “The 13th Valley”. In it you have the heavy machine gun being carried by the biggest strongest guy in the unit, and the smaller guys serving as the tunnel rats. My late husband, a Korean War infantry combat vet, wanted to take a course on motor repair. We had an old rum runner with a V-8 engine, and he didn’t want it to quit on him out at sea and not know how to fix it. The men’s mechanics class was full, so he signed up in the women’s class that had some vacancies. He had a somewhat superior male attitude, but at the end of the course he said it worked really well. He partnered with a woman and said when something heavy needed to be done he did it, but when something intricate or in a tight spot needed doing she did it. I realize this is not an exact analogy, but I also think that a few women can do as well as the average or slightly below average Marine. And I realize that anyone who makes Marine is already above average.

[gleeaikin]

I don’t think the military or women think this is a good policy for all women, just as it doesn’t work for all men. Incidentally, the average man farts 14 times a day, and guess how man times the average woman farts (14). Incidentally, eating yogurt drastically reduces the stink factor. As I discovered with great gratitude when I first gave hubby some yogurt.

While I never had any great desire to enter the military myself, being only 5’5”, 123 lb. when young, after a summer spent helping my family move at 16, furniture, many boxes of books and 4 tons of lumber pop had salvaged for projects, I took the physical fitness test at my new school and was the most fit girl of 150. My son was in a high school ROTC Rangers unit, and I noticed that most of the guys had strong aggressive mothers, including me. I never encouraged my son to go into the military, but he liked it. He came out for a few years but could not find a job he liked. I asked him once what the problem was. “Well,” he said, “I like getting up at 6 am and running 5 miles.” I could see his point and after a while his Reserve commander talked him back in. He is almost finished with his 20 now.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

Note that I said that technology will "help to some extent". That should tell you that I wasn't trying to argue that, all things considered, having women in combat roles is a good idea.

For thousands of years, technological advances have narrowed the gap between male and female combatants. Women had no chance at all against men in hand-to-hand combat. With slings and stones, or bows and arrows, women could be more lethal. Guns narrowed the gap further (someone already mentioned female snipers). Colt revolvers were sold as the "great equalizer".

As for combat robotics -- you really should do some research. We already have robotic aircraft. We will soon see major breakthroughs in robotics for ground combat. They will help to some extent.

You are right about the body bags. IMHO, one of the unspoken reasons that elite leftists want women in combat roles is so that they will come home in body bags. The leftist elites know that no military campaign can be sustained, in the face of women in body bags. They are betting that having female ground combat troops guarantees that the U.S. will never again be able to win a ground war.