Women In Uniform

And it’s taken us how many years to figure out that they might have useful and unique roles to play in operations (both combat and peacetime) anywhere?
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Not too long ago that certain male commanders at overseas bases in remote areas thought that female members had “roles” to play. And pretty well tried to limit them to that…
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Sad..

Time magazine asserts: “As the Senate prepares to debate lifting “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” it’s instructive to read a hat-trick of stories this morning about another group of service personnel not always treated fairly.”

Translation: The United States military hasn’t yet fallen in line with Obama and other anti-military, leftist fanatics and transformed the United States military into another cesspool of feminism.

Has anyone at Time magazine ever taken a look at U.S. Army physical fitness standards? They are a little (i.e., a lot) less demanding for one sex, you morons.

I daresay that some of those Army “feminists” could kick your a$$, textee.
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Why don’t you enlist and see if you can pass even those lower fitness standards?

textee, you have a point. If even you aren’t confident you have the upper body strength to push a button to launch a torpedo, then there’s no woman in the world that could pull it off.

afguy:

Sorry to burst your bubble, son, but it’s: been there; done that, to wit: U.S. Army Infantry, including combat. What you call hell, the Infantry calls home. Also, I could pass the female physical fitness standards after a dozens beers. Maybe two dozen. Next?

Great, then you will fit right in with the cesspool

What you call hell, the Infantry calls home.
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Oh, I’m familiar with six weeks of training in southern Texas, middle-to-late summer. Hardly a spring luxury cruise.
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Most of the friends I know from growing up are Vietnam-era Army vets.

Yes, but can they lay pipe, Mr. Thompson?

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/right-of-way/

This is one of those areas where the whole, “women are not strong enough” argument is total BS, there is no need to change any of the physical fitness requirements, if women can make those standards they should be allowed to join whatever force they want to.

Fitness standards are just a little bit lower for women going into boot camp, but the specialized areas–navy seals, rangers, ect–don’t give women lower fitness standards. Few women are in the special forces, but the ones who make it can do everything their male counterparts can do and sometimes the women can do it even better.

Good points, but the other thing is, there is no reason we have to think of women in uniform as complete replacements for the men they serve with – they can fill roles that are well suited for them, like the marines this story is about. Sure, for some jobs superb physical strength is necessary – I think of those amazing men at the FOB in Korengal Valley – but not for all, even combat roles. I haven’t served, but I don’t need to have, to know that – it is obvious from the fact that women are already doing it.

textee: Again, I dare you to voice your support of DADT and lack of regard for women military members to their face. Take your disdain to the families of those you disparage whose loved ones have sacrificed their lives on your behalf. Take you intolerance to those members you find objectionable who have been wounded in service. I would say the same to anyone who shows their bigotry about Muslims and the children of undocumented workers serving our country.
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Textee, for an ex-military man you show a high degree of cowardice. You don’t love our country. You only love your dilusional image in your limited intellect.

We all most remember that Gingrich, in one of his professorial Mensa like statements, warned us that women shouldn’t be in foxholes because they are prone to yeast infections and men have evolved (must be in less than 6000 years when we were riding dinosaurs) from hunting giraffes. Ergo, women should not be in combat.

I proofread and still make typos. Should be: We all must…

I wonder how well these warriors did on their PT tests:
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SPC Lori Piestewa, US Army – KIA in the same convoy that PFC Jessica Lynch was in, Iraq 2003. Posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.
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CPT Kim Campbell, US Air Force – successfully brought back her A-10 (lovingly known as the Warthog by us grunts) after it took heavy triple-A damage over Baghdad, 2003. She was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
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1Lt. Melissa Stockwell, US Army – lost her left leg to an IED while leading a convoy in Baghdad. Was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
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CPT Kimberly Hampton, US Army – KIA when her OH-58 is shot down during a reconaissance mission over Fallujah, 2004. Posthumously awarded the Air Medal, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart.
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SPC Melissa Witmer, US Army – KIA when her MP convoy is ambushed in Baghdad, 2004.
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MAJ Tammy Duckworth, US Army – loses both legs when her UH-60 is hit by an RPG in Iraq, 2004. She was awarded the Air Medal.
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SGT. Leigh Hester, US Army – awarded the Silver Star for repelling an ambush on her convoy near the town of Salman Park, during which she killed three insurgents, 2005.
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A1C Elizabeth Jacobson, US Air Force – KIA by and IED when her AF Security Force detachment was ambushed near Safwan, Iraq, 2005. Posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
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SFC Meredith Howard, US Army – KIA in Afghanistan.
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MAJ Malia McClung, US Marine Corps – KIA by an IED in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, 2006.
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SPC Monica Brown, US Army – awarded the Silver Star after she saved the lives of fellow soldiers during an ambush in Afghanistan, 2007. She used her own body as a shield while she dragged wounded soldiers to safety.
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By 2009, 1 in 10 soldiers that were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan were female. Also by 2009, 118 women have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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But hey, if they can’t do 42 push-ups in 2 minutes, then they’re not real soldiers.

Sorta reminds me of a discussion I had a long time ago in a bar about black people playing sports.

After we had gone back & forth about “affirmative action” in professional baseball, basketball, and football, he stopped me with this statement:

“Well, you’ll never see any n*****s in the NHL! You know why? ‘Cause they have weak ankles!”

I bought him a beer, then moved three stools down.

11charlie: Thank you for remembering these brave soldiers.