Posted on 04/01/2018 6:34:11 AM PDT by reaganaut1
...
But when I arrived at Parris Island in June 2014 to command Fourth Battalion — the only training unit for enlisted female recruits in the Marine Corps — I saw something that shocked me. Lined up behind the female formation stood a conspicuous row of chairs. I was told that if any of these women who were about to join the few and the proud felt tired or lightheaded, she was invited to sit. Men had no such luxury.
At that moment, I realized new Marines were taught that the corps had lower expectations for women.
One of my first actions with Fourth Battalion was to remove those chairs. But over the course of my command, I learned there were bigger obstacles to gender equality in the Marine Corps, the most male-dominated of the services. First and foremost, the corps was and remains the only military branch that largely separates men from women in basic training.
Almost as important, when I reviewed performance records at Parris Island, I realized that women hadn’t performed better than men in almost any category since records had been kept. That included academics, attrition and injury rates, marksmanship, even marching. Yet no one had questioned why or demanded improvements. No one believed the women could do better.
I was determined to prove they could. That meant fighting many decades of opposition to having women in front-line combat roles. This was especially true in the Marine Corps, where we say, “Every Marine a rifleman.” Those riflemen are the infantry troops who put themselves in the paths of bullets and bombs while carrying heavy rucksacks, who jump out of planes and otherwise subject their bodies to extreme wear and tear.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
So she took over the only training bat without realizing what Corps training for women was like? If there’s only one training bat for women where shew train, if not the very same one she said shocked her. Something fishy in her tail (intended).
I’d still like to know what training bat she went through if the only one is the 4th and why she was unaware of the differences in training until she took command? Mind you, I am all for requiring women to qualify at the same level as men and let the chips fall where they may.
No, every combat metric has shown that females simply do not have the endurance, strength and size required to perfrom to the published standard. So many times the girl int eh element could not carry the M60/240 Base plate/ammo cans let alone her own equipment. So many times some guy would double up- being chivalrous and all. Meanwhile, the girls got unique attention from the Drills, the Tacs the Instructors and even the Mess Sergeant.
As a former Infantry NCO turned Engineer officer, I noted these things and endeavored to eliminate any bias towards women. What I mean is I refuse to hold them to a different standard of performance and conduct than men. I was stridently opposed by senior commanders and NCOs at every level- one even declared me a sexist by virtue of not allowing women to have time off for monthly issues-w/o going to sick call. You see, even sick call rates were monitored by DA/DACOWITS and any negative rate of anything measureable higher than men was “controlled”.
I retird in 2007 after 24 years of combined enlisted and commissioned service and I would never expect the military or naval forces to accept anything other than the highest reasonable standard for any service member. We need to kick ass on the battlefield, not be known for how nice we treat our warriors.
Since the mid 70s, the military and naval services have all been voluntary- so anyone who elects to enlist or accept a commission should do so with the clear understanding that the journey they are about to embark on is not about them, but rather the nations need for killers and facilitators of killers who can bear the shaft or the point with aplomb.
A willing man is able to be made hard, a hard man is good to find, train him to be the best and most capable and he will do his job with honor and fidelity to doing what’s the right.
Rough men stand ready to do violence on our behalf....
There is certainly some truth in this as well, “by drinking, you are putting yourself in a position to be sexually assaulted.” I suspect you are correct in your assertion. But my questions still remains, how could she have possibly been unaware of the conditions at 4th training bat of that is the only unit reserved for training female Marines? Surely she went through the same unit.
She was an officer. Academy? NROTC? Her first experience after graduation was probably the Officer’s Basic Course at Quantico.
To extend your analogy, they don’t even play on the same tennis or cross country varsity teams at the service academies. We all know why that is: men and women don’t perform at the same level physically.
While science is never settled, the science is compelling on women in certain vocations. To deny it is the equivalent of denying gravity or thermodynamics. Aside from other differences, the average man can break the average woman in half; and, the average very fit man can break the average very fit woman in half. Recognizing such differences permits a more optimal use of resources.
To extend your analogy, they don’t even play on the same tennis or cross country varsity teams at the service academies. We all know why that is: men and women don’t perform at the same level physically.
In the saner days before supposed full integration, women who served were limited by job and unit combat exposure. By then I was a sapper officer in a variety of units- some included females, some did not. basically, in echelon above brigade/support brigade and only in headquarters elements, I really have no problem with women in uform, just don’t put them in harm’s way.
Given the sparseness of qualified men to carry spears, it is my opinion that all males who join should be required to serve in combat/combat support units first, and then after some point in time or longevity, be allowed to serve in rear echelon positions. Put the men up front, allow motivated women to serve in combat service support above bridge or maybe division, never below.
Free up testosterone to do the heavy lifting and keep the gals ought of sight- we need focused driven men to win and survive- distractions of sex can be minimized- if their is no/little opportunity....
Yeah, call me a chauvinist, but my daughters and granddaughters are ore valuable to family and nation than some less than fully capable combat type.
It is not about them or me, it is about lethality and destruction on the battlefield if and when diplomacy fails....
Every Marine a rifle-person-not-to-exclude-GLTBACNGAQGQCD-also-Satanists-Pagans-Warlocks-NonMagicalUnicorns-Gremlins-Goblins-Orcs.
I enlisted in 1973. DACOWITS has solved some social problems and created many others. It has not improved readiness but instead has changed definitions.
Are there any Olympic events (aside from curling) where men and women compete together?
Point made...
Wow. Thanks for that.
IMHO, most of today's imitation Marines could not have made it through P.I. in 1951...
NOT AT ALL! That is a REALLY BAD analogy, my FRiend!
Guns are inert tools which, if left alone, cannot harm a thing or a person!
People are the problem; that is, people who misuse guns are the problem!
Separate, BECAUSE not equal.
If a woman's fat ratio drops below (I think it's) 15%, she loses her peripheral estrogen, stops ovulating, and then her bones begin to demineralize just like a woman past menopause.
It's this loss of bone density in young women who are training hard (and losing critical amounts of fat) that leads the women to suffer shin splints and a whole lot of other bone and joint injury.
Refusal to take seriously that men and women are physically different, and that this difference can have real-world, life-and-death consequences, is going to get a lot of women killed.
You've come a long way, baby. Yeah.
One obtains a commission in the USMC by attending the USMC Platoon Leaders Course, Officer Candidate School, Naval ROTC and or attending one of the Military Academies.
In other words, Marine Officer Candidates do not go through the same course of instruction as Enlisted Marines.
Col. Germano would not have had prior first-hand knowledge of the situation at Parris Island.
As to your second point, the ONLY way that women can “qualify at the same level as men” is by lowering the training standards, and that is exactly what has happened! I all of the Military Services!
There! I fixed it!
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