Posted on 01/02/2014 1:58:35 PM PST by thetallguy24
More than half of female Marines in boot camp can't do three pullups, the minimum standard that was supposed to take effect with the new year, prompting the Marine Corps to delay the requirement, part of the process of equalizing physical standards to integrate women into combat jobs.
The delay rekindled sharp debate in the military on the question of whether women have the physical strength for some military jobs, as service branches move toward opening thousands of combat roles to them in 2016.
Although no new timetable has been set on the delayed physical requirement, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos wants training officials to "continue to gather data and ensure that female Marines are provided with the best opportunity to succeed," Capt. Maureen Krebs, a Marine spokeswoman, said Thursday.
Starting with the new year, all female Marines were supposed to be able to do at least three pullups on their annual physical fitness test and eight for a perfect score. The requirement was tested in 2013 on female recruits at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, S.C., but only 45 percent of women met the minimum, Krebs said.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
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For those that said the Marines will just have to dumb this down. Well, previously the Women Marines had to do a “Flex Arm Hang” which consisted of getting your chin above the pullup bar and holding it above it for some length of time without resting it on the pullup bar. It was a time scored event. In other words, if you could hold it up there for 30 seconds you got one score. If you held it up there for 40 seconds you got a higher score etc... So in fact if they dumbed it back down, my suspicion is that it would just go back to this.
What’s not mentioned in this article is the fact that if you only did 3 pullups, you most likely would still not pass the physical fitness test. That’s the minimum for the pullups, but there’s a minimum score for the overall test and if you only do 3 you are going to have a real hard time getting to the minimum score for the PFT. So these women have a lot longer way to go than 3 pullups most likely. That is, if one pullup for women counts the same as one pullup for men (five points).
Lastly, spending a career in the Marines with a large part of it in the infantry, I will say that I have never personally met a woman who could physically accomplish what is required of a combat infantryman. Doing hikes anywhere from 15 - 25 miles with a pack weighing 50 pounds, plus helmet, flack, rifle and any other extras. Some of those extras could be an M-16 (19.2 pounds), 81 mm mortar baseplate (25 pounds) radio (about 15 pounds), mortars, spare barrel bags etc. In the end, you can be loaded down with around 80 pounds. This is not to mention specialized training like jumps, mountain warfare, desert warfare, rubber boat raids etc.. All of it extremely physically demanding.
Somehow female and Marine seems to be oxymoronic, or is that just me?
HAHAAHA UH..YES...WHAT’S OBVIOUS TO US SMART GUYS IS BEYOND COMPREHENSION TO UDDERS....OH WELL...
YAAAAS THAT DOES SEEM STRANGE M/TA CANT SAY AS I BUY INTO THAT CONFLATION MYSELF....
Don’t you love outcome based education for Marines? lol
YEASAAS TTG...I’M BETTIN EVERY ENEMY OF THE REPUBLIC~ WORLD WIDE ~ IS EMBOLDENED BY THIS TURN OF EVENTS....JUST SAYIN’
On 20 November 1943, during the horrific fighting on Betio atoll during the battle of Tarawa, two Japanese tanks mounted a counterattack against the fragile Marine toehold on Red Beach 3. The Marines were huddled there at the base of a seawall in the face of withering fire from Admiral Keiji Shibasaki’s fanatical Japanese Naval Landing Force defenders who were slaughtering hundreds of their comrades in Betio Lagoon during 76 hours of some of the most savage fighting in the history not only of the Marines, but the US armed forces.
Marine anti-tank gun crews were trying to figure out how to get their 912 lb 37MM M3 antitank guns over the 7 foot plus seawall. The battery commander ordered his 5 man crews to LIFT them over. Being Marines who always obeyed even seemingly impossible orders, they did EXACTLY that and promptly knocked out the tanks. They then engaged several enemy bunkers whose dual purpose guns were repeatedly knocking out the approaching landing craft and put them out of action. Finally they routed a local counter attack of 200 or so Japanese against the south shore of Red Beach 3 with canister shot, all of this at a critical and precarious point in the landing.
Whats that about upper body strength being not as important in modern warfare anymore and that women are just as likely to be able to do the job of combat infantry?
Does that weapon have a cofee maker on there?
and a Total Gym
Perchance you meant an M60? Lol. Women do not belong in a combat role. They need a good basic training course. Men take enough chances as it is. BTDT. They do not need any women to take care of.
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