Women on the front lines of combat?

[Ramhusker]

I was only in the Air Force so we never did much trench digging and belly scraping but I guess I don't have a problem with women on the front lines as long as no special requirements are created for them. I mean if they want to do that sort of thing, more power to them, but they would have to tote their load just like the guys or otherwise, you compromise the strength of the unit. What say ye?

 

[-X-]

I dunno. I'll defer to the guys who served, or are serving on that one. At the risk of sounding like someone who's against gender equality, I just think there are certain jobs only men should have, because they're physically more suited to have them. Policemen, firemen, military, things like that. I'm not a fan of blurring the line that separates the sexes. I'm old school like that, I guess. I mean, if there are women who are that physically imposing, then I can understand the argument, but it doesn't diminish my feelings on the matter.

 

[bluecoconuts]

It's more complicated than just pure strength. Although that does have a lot to do with it.

If a women is able to meet the standards that the males go by (meaning they don't use the female PT score sheet) than I don't have an issue with them serving in a line platoon. They need to be able to carry the weight though. My platoon sergeant said that every man had to be able to carry our heaviest man (who was 6'4 and about 240-250, maybe even pushing 260 pounds) while in full battle rattle (you and him) at least half a mile to make sure that no matter what happened we could get everyone out dead or alive.

Of course not all units will demand this, but it's important to be able to do tasks like that.

Another thing that will have to be addressed is personal space. The military likes to keep men and women separated in terms of sleeping and bathrooms (for obvious reasons), but that could create issues. At one point during a deployment we had two female radio operators tasked to our outpost for some reason that I don't know. My platoon was all sharing some very tight living areas, and we shared two bathrooms (outhouses). When the two females were sent to our very tiny outpost, we had to give up where we slept and one of our bathrooms. So two females got a sleeping area too big for themselves and a shitter, while we had guys try to find a place to sleep. We had two small bunkers for rocket attacks that fit about 12 guys between the two of them, a few guys slept in humvees, and the rest of us slept on the dirt and hoped there wasn't a rocket attack that night. Needless to say it was very annoying. Issues like this will have to be addressed. The two females with us happened to leave about 3 weeks later, after our outpost was attacked a few times, and they didn't like being that far out in the shit.


But I'm sure the military will do it. I'm all for it though, if they can do the task right, then I don't worry about it. I've seen a woman MP who was unable to kick in a door, and I've seen some that were. I've seen a woman driver speed up and hit a VBIED that cut off her convoy, and then pick up her M16 and shoot the driver of the vehicle dead while he spun off the road before he had a chance to blow up, and I've seen an Infantryman who was tatted up and really buff curl up into a ball and cry when we took some pop shots on a vehicle patrol. So gender (to me) doesn't matter for combat. It's all about your abilities.


I heard that they're not going to open up every single job, so units like Rangers, Special Forces, SEALS, PJ's etc probably will remain closed as they are elite units that require much more. Maybe even Infantry and Scouts. But some jobs that are closed to females (Artillery, Tankers, 160th SOAR pilots) should open up and that'll be fine. They need to be able to meet the standards that males have to meet though.

Complex issue though that's for sure. But I'm all for it if it's done right. I trust the military will do it right. Much like gays serving, I don't care who you are as long as you wear the American flag (or Canadian or the UK, or Australia, all great guys and I had the pleasure of serving with) on your shoulder and are able to do your job.

 

[Selassie I]

They need to keep their asses in the kitchen where they belong. Next thing you know,,, they'll be telling us that we are the ones who need to start having babies instead of them. :hehe:


Seriously though, I'm not digging it. Many reasons come to mind, but to avoid sounding like Archie Bunker,,, I ain't going there.

 

[Stranger]

I was only in the Air Force so we never did much trench digging and belly scraping but I guess I don't have a problem with women on the front lines as long as no special requirements are created for them. I mean if they want to do that sort of thing, more power to them, but they would have to tote their load just like the guys or otherwise, you compromise the strength of the unit. What say ye?

Well, what are front line soldiers really required to do these days in Rumsfeld's networked military? Sure, special forces still need to be badass, but isn't being a front liner really more about people skills and psychology in today's military?

 

[bluecoconuts]

I was only in the Air Force so we never did much trench digging and belly scraping but I guess I don't have a problem with women on the front lines as long as no special requirements are created for them. I mean if they want to do that sort of thing, more power to them, but they would have to tote their load just like the guys or otherwise, you compromise the strength of the unit. What say ye?

Well, what are front line soldiers really required to do these days in Rumsfeld's networked military? Sure, special forces still need to be badass, but isn't being a front liner really more about people skills and psychology in today's military?

You need to be able to do that as well as fight and be extremely lethal. Which is hard to do, because you constantly have to turn it on and off. Be an ambassador one minute, Rambo the next, then back to being an ambassador. A lot of people struggle with it.

 

[Ramhusker]

I was only in the Air Force so we never did much trench digging and belly scraping but I guess I don't have a problem with women on the front lines as long as no special requirements are created for them. I mean if they want to do that sort of thing, more power to them, but they would have to tote their load just like the guys or otherwise, you compromise the strength of the unit. What say ye?

Well, what are front line soldiers really required to do these days in Rumsfeld's networked military? Sure, special forces still need to be badass, but isn't being a front liner really more about people skills and psychology in today's military?

You need to be able to do that as well as fight and be extremely lethal. Which is hard to do, because you constantly have to turn it on and off. Be an ambassador one minute, Rambo the next, then back to being an ambassador. A lot of people struggle with it.

Yeah, I'd struggle with that. One minute, you are trying to kill everything that moves less you die, the next you are trying not to insult an unfamiliar culture or religion by doing something taboo. Kind of hard to be a politically correct killer. :nono: