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Retire the Myths; Women Are Ready for Combat
NYT ^ | 8-20-15 | Anu Bhagwati

Posted on 08/22/2015 4:25:02 PM PDT by smokingfrog

The defense secretary has an incredible opportunity to usher in the end of legalized sex discrimination in the military.

As tens of thousands of women have proved over 13 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, women are capable of the combat skills necessary to fight alongside their male counterparts. The question now is whether to give women the opportunity to compete for coveted combat arms assignments, such as infantry and special forces.

Since the Pentagon formally rescinded the combat exclusion policy in 2013, well over 100 women have successfully passed the Marine Corps’ enlisted infantry school and two female officers will graduate from the Army’s elite Ranger School this week — debunking three long-held cultural myths: that women don’t want these jobs, they are mentally and physically too weak for these jobs, and training standards have to be lowered for women to do these jobs.

But as of yet, none of these female warriors can legally be assigned to infantry or other combat arms billets for which they have proved themselves qualified. It’s like surviving the trials of medical school and being told you can’t be a doctor.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter needs to ensure the following happens going forward if he wants integration efforts to create a stronger fighting force:

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: anubhagwati; demagogicparty; memebuilding; militaryservice; misogyny; newyork; newyorkcity; newyorkslimes; newyorktimes; partisanmediashill; partisanmediashills; war; womenincombat
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To: smokingfrog

A girl can dream...


21 posted on 08/22/2015 4:43:36 PM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously-you won't live through it anyway-Enjoy Yourself ala Louis Prima)
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To: smokingfrog
The question now is whether to give women the opportunity to compete for coveted combat arms assignments, such as infantry and special forces.

COVETED ?

22 posted on 08/22/2015 4:43:56 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
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To: KC_Lion

Not a point that has any validity of any sort when referring to dealing with Islamists. Because they will rape the males too.

The problems are women’s lack of physical strength, the added health requirements of dealing with menstruation, unit moral problems arising from sexual relationships (or unequal lack there of), greater tendencies towards vindictiveness, and pregnancy.

Some foes might rape only women not men, but not Muslims. That was a problem in the 1983 war in Lebanon that the press refused to cover. And probably an issue in wars before my time.


23 posted on 08/22/2015 4:44:04 PM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: smokingfrog
So a year ago the standards were lowered, 36 women applied, and now almost a year later two have graduated. Not sure how many others applied or how many others failed Ranger School.

Three Dozen woman apply to Ranger school

24 posted on 08/22/2015 4:44:11 PM PDT by Michael.SF. (This tagline lists all of Hilary's accomplishments............................)
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To: stormer

She day tripped her sniping, which is very different than being behind enemy lines for days or weeks on end, with little to no support...


25 posted on 08/22/2015 4:44:59 PM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously-you won't live through it anyway-Enjoy Yourself ala Louis Prima)
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To: smokingfrog

Straight from the mouth of Anu Bhagwati so it must be must be true. I wonder if Anu is ready to get her @$$ blown to bits while daddy is at home babysitting the kids. Myth my @$$.


26 posted on 08/22/2015 4:45:18 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Cecil the Lion says, Stop the Slaughter of the Baby Humans!!!)
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To: MarvinStinson
Anu Bhagwati, a former Marine Corps Captain, is the founder of Service Women’s Action Network, which is a plaintiff in Hegar v. Carter, a lawsuit filed in 2012 by service women to repeal the combat exclusion policy.

So... it's about the money.

27 posted on 08/22/2015 4:45:28 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
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To: ClearCase_guy

100%


28 posted on 08/22/2015 4:51:26 PM PDT by ecomcon
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To: Bryan24

Women don’t belong in combat, the Sununu & Romney boys belong there!


29 posted on 08/22/2015 4:52:02 PM PDT by MSF BU (Support the troops: Join Them.)
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To: smokingfrog

But as of yet, none of these female warriors can legally be assigned to infantry or other combat arms billets for which they have proved themselves qualified

You prove you are qualified for combat by being in combat not going through school. That applies to men as well as women..


30 posted on 08/22/2015 4:54:01 PM PDT by 48th SPS Crusader (I am an American. Not a Republican or a Democrat)
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To: smokingfrog
There is one interesting note on human fertility and births. Look up the birthrate for male and female births and you will always find (99.99%) of the time that males outnumber females born by a ratio of 1.04 to 1. Ever wonder why? Go to the CIA website and peruse the birthrate for any country. Ever wonder why? I have an answer but in this day and time it will be considered sexist.
31 posted on 08/22/2015 4:54:24 PM PDT by Fungi
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To: smokingfrog

Yeah,,,,,riiiiiiight. Then I want GIRLS to have to REGISTER with the DRAFT when they turn 18!!!! NO EXCEPTIONS! WHY do guys have to register when girls don’t have to??? NOT FAIR!!!


32 posted on 08/22/2015 4:55:15 PM PDT by Ann Archy (ABORTION....... The HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: stormer
Rush Limbaugh TV- All American First Cavalry Amazon Battalion
33 posted on 08/22/2015 4:56:52 PM PDT by COBOL2Java (I'll vote for Jeb when Terri Schiavo endorses him.)
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To: stormer

Lyudmila Mykhailvna Pavlichenko was born in 1916 in Balaya Tserkov, a Ukranian town just outside of Kiev. Her father was a St. Petersburg factory worker father, and her mother was a teacher. Pavlichenko described herself as a tomboy who was “unruly in the class room” but athletically competitive, and who would not allow herself to be outdone by boys “in anything.”

“When a neighbor’s boy boasted of his exploits at a shooting range,” she told the crowds, “I set out to show that a girl could do as well. So I practiced a lot.” After taking a job in an arms plant, she continued to practice her marksmanship, then enrolled at Kiev University in 1937, intent on becoming a scholar and teacher. There, she competed on the track team as a sprinter and pole vaulter, and, she said, “to perfect myself in shooting, I took courses at a sniper’s school.”

She was in Odessa when the war broke out and Romanians and Germans invaded. “They wouldn’t take girls in the army, so I had to resort to all kinds of tricks to get in,” Pavlichenko recalled, noting that officials tried to steer her toward becoming a nurse. To prove that she was as skilled with a rifle as she claimed, a Red Army unit held an impromptu audition at a hill they were defending, handing her a rifle and pointing her toward a pair of Romanians who were working with the Germans. “When I picked off the two, I was accepted,” Pavlichenko said, noting that she did not count the Romanians in her tally of kills “because they were test shots.”

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/eleanor-roosevelt-and-the-soviet-sniper-23585278/#OeAjluQGuvAQtb6y.99


34 posted on 08/22/2015 4:57:39 PM PDT by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: smokingfrog

debunking three long-held cultural myths: they are mentally and physically too weak for these jobs.

Not sure the physical one is a myth. As a writer you should have checked these before writing them. I have seen statistic on injuries and there ARE issues with the women. From what I saw they get injured easier, and take longer to recover from the injuries. Not sure where I saw them but you should be able to find them through the DOD.


35 posted on 08/22/2015 4:58:25 PM PDT by 48th SPS Crusader (I am an American. Not a Republican or a Democrat)
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To: 48th SPS Crusader

Injuries ARE a very BIG ISSUE.


36 posted on 08/22/2015 5:02:13 PM PDT by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: DuncanWaring; All
A society that sends its women to fight before it sends its non-shaving boys and cane-borne old men deserves to be destroyed, and will be by societies that do not make that mistake.

THIS. Gender Neutral Assisted Suicide is part of a larger war plan being waged from within.

37 posted on 08/22/2015 5:06:52 PM PDT by TADSLOS (A Ted Cruz Happy Warrior! GO TED!)
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To: All

New British Report Shreds Case for Women in Direct Ground Combat - News & Commentary - Center for Military Readiness

http://www.cmrlink.org/content/home/37629/new_british_report_shreds_case_for_women_in_direct_ground_combat


38 posted on 08/22/2015 5:10:39 PM PDT by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: smokingfrog
As someone who has actually served I cant say that all or even some women could/should be a Ranger.

As anyone who has been there knows, a combat platoon naturally segregates itself into those that can and those that can't.

I look at the pool of young male recruits today and I can say with certainty that the majority are unfit to serve.

We are at war. IMHO we cannot and should not prevent women who volunteers from pursuing any role in today's military that they can qualify for as long as they meet the standards for fitness to serve as their male counterparts and IF those standards are not lowered.

39 posted on 08/22/2015 5:12:14 PM PDT by montanajoe
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...
Oh yeah, that's quite important, a pressing issue. Still no op-ed condemning Planned Parenthood though.

Partisan Media Shill Alert!


40 posted on 08/22/2015 5:12:32 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW)
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