[Always A Marine]

Regardless of the titles the women in service in previous wars were NOT in safe zones and could have and occassionally were (and especially in Viet Nam which lacked a cohesive front) injured, killed or captured. What's the difference between being captured at an aid station and on the frontline? Having an M-16 in your hand is the only one I can think of.

The lack of a cohesive front is a further argument against the spread of women into wider ranges of occupation specialties, and is directly attributable to the capture of the two Army females. To answer your question about the aid station, combat and combat support units were assigned to protect those medical units. As a result, we didn't hear of many nurses being captured. Today, we pretend they are just like the guys.

You can think that. But according to the citations from the Marine Corp[sic] you'd be wrong. I have the added bonus of my father also being a Marine and being able to compare their scores... she was a better shot than him, not as fast a runner but still within Corp[sic] limits.

The integration of women into the services has seen the steady erosion of physical toughness required of the average servicemember. Ask your father about the old Physical Readiness Test, which severely tested the will of a Marine, not not just his strength and conditioning. It was abandoned in favor of the gentler and less demanding Physical Fitness Test, which itself is normed for females. Fortunately, Marine infantry battalions have reinstituted the PRT in addition to the semiannual PFT exercise session.

But at its core, ground combat is about far more than running, pull-ups (flexed-arm hangs for women), situps and target shooting. It is about more than carrying heavy loads over difficult terrain and distances, which women can't do. It is about more than carrying your wounded buddy and both your weapons to safety, by yourself, which women can't do. Ground combat is about brutality, the level of which shocks even the toughest men. What I have done, I would not wish on any man -- let alone any young American women. Women who believe it is for them are sadly and dangerously deluded.

I guess you're gonna have to call me a liar. I didn't think about what would happen to her in enemy hands, I have full confidence that all our captured soldiers will go through hell and it scares me to contemplate it. But I wouldn't insult any one who has earned a spot in our military by thinking of them with a double standard. I was taught better than that. It's the same rank insignia and the same accomplishment to get them.

If you didn't think of it, you must be a woman. Ignorance of the nature of men -- especially fighting men -- leads unsuspecting females into a false sense of what a fight to the death is all about. And while women wear the same rank insignia as men, they are simply not capable of the same physical accomplishments. If you can understand why women don't play in the NFL, it should be a no-brainer why they shouldn't be "placed" in the field of real combat where they plainly do not belong. The very strongest women are almost equal in strength to the weakest men -- and the weakest men are not equipped for the brutal rigors of ground combat.

[AAABEST]

God bless your way with words. You calmly made some very succinct points that I wasn't able to.

I want you to cut that out right now, you Jarheads not authorized to look smarter than us Army types.

;)

[discostu]

Oh please, you're going to blame the women for some pinhead in Washington lowering the standards?! How about blaming the idiot that lowered the damned standards. I havbe no problem with high standards and I'm completely uninterested in the gender ratio they result in. What makes me SICK is that people want to keep someone who's passed all the tests out just because they don't have a penis. That's STUPID in EVERY POSSIBLE WAY. If they can pass the tests they have ALREADY PROVEN they can fight.

Why should I ask my father about the PRT when my mother had to pass the exact same thing? How many verses of the hymn did you get out in the teargas room, my mom got out two, the PRT required one, she passed the test.

As I've said, repeatedly, only to be ignored, I don't want any kind of double standard. Same tests for everybody, and they better be damn tough tests, especially for the Marines.

WRONG AGAIN. I'm a man. But I'm familiar enough with the region that I know sexual assault isn't reserved for women. And I'm familiar enough with psychology to know that it's equally scarring to both genders.

Women don't play in the NFL because it too is living in the past. They're coming. It's not gonna be long. And you'll have to decide which century you live in.

As for the strongest women being no better than the weakest men, what a large stinking pile of moronic dog crap. Go say that in the nearest gym. On average women aren't as strong as men, any statement across the board is doomed to idiotic failure. You're wrong, and thank God the American people are learning you're wrong. This isn't about "placing" anybody. This is about allowing those who can achieve to achieve. No double stndards, no lowering of the standards, just aknowledging the simple truth.