Posted on 10/28/2016 6:05:40 AM PDT by pabianice
WASHINGTON — Ten women who were commissioned Army officers in the spring graduated from the initial infantry training course Wednesday, becoming the Army’s first female infantry lieutenants.
The women were among 166 soldiers to complete the Infantry Officer Basic Leadership Course at Fort Benning in Georgia, a 17-week class that provides new officers the basic skills to lead a rifle platoon into combat, said Army Lt. Col. Matthew W. Weber, the commander of the unit that oversees the course. Officers are commissioned through ROTC, Officer Candidate School or the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.
The infantry officer course is a “critical step” toward leading a rifle platoon, but the soldiers who graduated the Army’s first gender-integrated infantry class Wednesday will not join a combat unit for nearly a year, Weber said. They will attend additional courses to prepare them to serve in the traditionally all-male infantry. Those classes include the famously grueling Ranger School, Airborne School, Stryker Leaders Course and Mechanized Leaders Course, Weber said.
Eventually they’ll become platoon leaders at Fort Hood in Texas or Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
“This, the training of an infantry lieutenant, is a process until they step into a rifle platoon,” Weber said. “This is but the very first step in the process.”
The Army did not identify the graduates by name, and the graduation ceremony was not open to reporters.
The class began with 12 female officers. It was not clear Thursday whether the two who did not graduate would be given the opportunity to try again.An Army official said he could not comment on individual students.
In December, Defense Secretary Ash Carter ordered all military jobs, including those in special operations, open to women, clearing the way for female servicemembers to serve in front-line combat roles. related articles
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Interest among women to serve in those positions – primarily in the infantry and armor fields – has been limited, Army officials have said, but Lt. Gen. James C. McConville, the Army’s deputy chief of staff for personnel, said he expects interest to rise as more women enter those jobs.
The female officers who graduated Wednesday join one other woman as Army infantry officers.
In April, the Army approved Capt. Kristen Griest to transfer from military police into the infantry branch. Griest and Army Capt. Shaye Haver became the first female soldiers to graduate Ranger School in August 2015. One other female soldier, Army Maj. Lisa Jaster, has completed Ranger School. To date, 29 women have attempted the course.
Griest remains in infantry training, and she will join the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg in November. Haver also has been approved to transfer from aviation into the infantry, but she is awaiting official orders to attend training, said Brig. Gen. Peter Jones, the commandant of the Army’s infantry school at Fort Benning.
Jones said the new female lieutenants – just like the women who graduated Ranger School – faced the exact challenges as their male classmates. The standards were the same as those faced by the men who served before them.
“They are going to be standing in front of their formation, and they are going to be judged based on their leadership skills, not on whether they are male or female,” he said.
The Army will likely soon have more female lieutenants serving in combat arms jobs. There are 10 recently commissioned officers attending Armor Officer Basic Leadership Course, which is also at Fort Benning. Their class will graduate later this fall.
Including women in front-line combat positions will strengthen the Army because it provides a much larger talent pool to draw from, said Maj. Gen. Eric J. Wesley, the commander of the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning.
“This whole issue has driven us to ensure that we have the right standards aligned to each occupational specialty in the Army,” Wesley said. “We have created a gender-neutral, standards-based training environment, where it no longer becomes a question of male or female. … It makes us better.”
dickstein.corey@stripes.com Twitter: @CDicksteinDC
A few years ago (maybe 10) I saw a documentary on Marine recruit training.It followed two squads of recruits,one male and the other female.It claimed that the men and the women were undergoing the *exact* same training...no concessions for the women.
After one particularly difficult.strenuous, day of training they interviewed the men and the women.The men were clearly tired....sore...and even dispirited.It was abundantly clear that they hadn't enjoyed themselves that day.The women were just about beside themselves with anxiety,etc.Several of them were literally in tears.
None of the men were anywhere near crying.
Are women really fit for combat? My gut tells me they're not.
I am a 65 year old woman who lived in swampy areas on gulf coast 43 years. I have killed MANY cotton mouth, copperheads, rattlers, coral snakes which r as poisonous as Cobras, IN MY YARD! Three in 2013. We had gators there. One a block from our house was 13 ft 1 inch. No longer the record as of 2016. We moved, we now have coyotes. These women will have no problem with snakes.
These women are not intimidated by cat calling.
I hav met big tall strong muscular women and tiny little milk toast weak handshake “men”. We had a landlord with such a light grip you would think he was dead. There have always been women at the front lines. Going back to Martha Wasghington, Clara Barton, etc.
Sexist! Then YOU suit up and serve!!!!!
I'm not sure if you're kidding but my hunch is you're not.So I'll respond.
I served.1969-1975.I served honorably,but not bravely.The most dangerous thing I was ever ordered to do while wearing dogtags was eat Army chow.I was never ordered to SE Asia,as so many were.
As for women in combat...my position is unchanged.However,as I suggested earlier,my opinion may not be particularly valid.The opinions of those who *have* served in combat (many of our Freepers can make that claim),however,are absolutely valid.
And lastly...have you ever served in combat?
I suspect all ten will fail the next test....and if one of them does pass, I can only hope she is a deadly, killer soldier who all enemies will fear.....but I’ll bet against it.
“The Enforcer”, back in 1976, was my first encounter with the PC world.
He already did, as did many of us. There was a woman I was in AIT with who had an affair with one of our sergeants and got pregnant. The sergeant was kicked out of the Army and she was allowed to take the course again.
Well played, Sir.
That was a really, REALLY cool book.
Shameful.
Oh, sure. No more need to send the soldiers on R&R, now that they'll have their "main squeeze" right there with them. And all those other jealous guys will have rifles. Can't envision any problems with that.
Any society that sends its women to fight before it sends its non-shaving boys and cane-borne old men deserves to be destroyed and ultimately will be by societies that do not make that mistake.
Going Viral=> Vote For Hillary So She Can Start War With Russia
thegatewaypundit.com ^ | Oct 27th, 2016
Posted on 10/28/2016, 2:20:47 AM by Helicondelta
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3485863/posts
The article left out the part regarding how this strikes fear into the heart of Putin, ISIS and the Red Chinese.
Going Viral=> Vote For Hillary So She Can Start War With Russia
thegatewaypundit.com ^ | Oct 27th, 2016
Posted on 10/28/2016, 2:20:47 AM by Helicondelta
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3485863/posts
You can make any piece of nonsense "effective" in a book.
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