The Marines have raised the bar for women as far as the PFT is concerned, and the level of training women go through in boot camp is exactly the same as their male counterparts.The Marines fought bitterly to keep a seperate but equal boot camp rather then go the co-ed route and it has served them well, where as the other armed services have had a number of problems with Co-ed recruit training.
The incidences of sexual harassment inside the Corps have fallen to better then just acceptable levels and women in the marines feel like they are part of the Marine Corps family, so what did the Marines do right.
Like racism The Corps to the issue of women in the ranks head on as only Marines can do, They raised the training standards, they raised awareness of sexual harassment, and they decided that any such B*$# S*&* towards Women Marines would not be tolerated or condoned. A hard line approach was ordered, and the marines followed that order, and because of it Women Marines are better trained and meeting the higher standards set. Does this mena that sometime in the future Women Marines will be involved in combat, yes, but not because the MOS's directly involved in combat have been opened up to them. They will be involved in combat because in the battlefields of the future in this war on terrorism no one is safe where ever they are, even in america, But they will be ready to fight back, they will have been trained to fight, and as the saying goes "Every Marine is a rifleman".
PFC. Lynch didn't choose to fight on the front lines, but it was the front lines came to her unit.
And she wasn't protected by the male soldiers in her unit either, some of the male soldiers in her unit escaped that ambush, they got away while the rest were captured...
http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1741236.php So much for the having to defend the little ladies that everyone opposing women in the military is so afraid of, and that they won't be able to hold their own in a fire fight. The facts speak for themselves.
It now becomes not a question of can they defend them selves if called upon to do so, or should they even be allowed to, but one of are they trained well enough to do so in the future, so that next time this type of incident occurs results will be better.
Raise the standards, increase the training, toughen the young women for what they may have to do, and you will do more to "protect" them from the horrors of war then telling them to sit on the sidelines, you will have given them a fighting chance at protecting themselves and their fellow soldiers.
" So much for the having to defend the little ladies that everyone opposing women in the military is so afraid of, and that they won't be able to hold their own in a fire fight. The facts speak for themselves." As far as I can tell, there are no "facts" regarding this combat that would lead to such a conclusion.
I'd like to believe the favorable description of gender relations in the USMC, but there are other sides to that story. Some complains here regarding women marine performance in the first gulf war. Another story here regarding different size obstacles and rope for WMs. I found a more general set of women in the military articles exists here: WOMEN ARE JUST A CAPABLE AS MEN IN THE MILITARY (?)
It's good to see that WM training has made great strides toward equaling that of males. But failing to address the implications of different PT test requirements isn't going to make them go away.