To the men and women who will die in combat because of political correctness, we apologize.....

[2aguy]

To the men and women who will now die in combat because of the politically correct need to make men and women the same........sorry, we tried to warn the left wing regressives...but they didn't care.....they prefer deaths on the battlefield than accepting the reality that there are differences between men and women...

AP News - Navy secretary to Marines: Women in combat is irreversible

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Men and women die in combat in order to make the rich richer.

The OP knows this but is pretending to care about women. The OP is lying - again.

 

[ForeverYoung436]

It is not a good idea at all. Usually women serve in combat only in emergency situations, like in some Kurdish units in Iraq today, or in Israel's War of Independence in 1948, when there's a severe shortage in manpower.

 

[daws101]

When you consider this
Why Are Women Better Shooters?
The premise of the thread is silly

 

[2aguy]

When you consider this
Why Are Women Better Shooters?
The premise of the thread is silly

Did you actually take a minute to think about this....obviously not....since shooting is just one basic element to being an infantry soldier.....putting 5 pounds of pressure on a trigger on a shooting range on a Fort is not shooting at the enemy on a battlefield where they are shooting back........after you have been in the field...for weeks, on bad food, little water ,almost no sleep and backbreaking labor day after day after day.......

Please...do some research before you post...it will make you a more intelligent poster......

 

[Blackrook]

Liberals suck and this is more proof that they suck. At least these women are volunteers. If they start drafting women into combat then they've crossed a line.

 

[2aguy]

So.....now how about adding the POW daycare provisions to the Geneva Conventions......

 

[waltky]

Uncle Ferd says he'd like to draft him a woman...

House Panel Approves Measure to Require Women to Register for Draft
Apr 28, 2016 | The House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday approved by a narrow margin an amendment to a defense bill to require women to register for the draft.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, a Republican from California, proposed the amendment to lift the restriction on women registering for the selective service at a committee-wide mark-up session of the proposed fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. "Here is why I think this is important; it doesn't matter in this debate whether you think women should be in the infantry or be in special operations," Hunter said during the session on Wednesday night. "I personally don't. If we had that vote in committee today I would vote against women being in infantry and special operations. "But this is not about women serving in the infantry. The administration has made that decision unilaterally disregarding what the Marine Corps and special operations communities have said. But that's not what this is about. Right now the draft is sexist. Right now the draft only drafts young men. Women are excluded."

Hunter went on to explain that his generation has not seen the kind of warfare that requires a draft. "We have not been in Vietnam or Korea, or World War II, where you have thousands of people a day dying, where you have massed artillery fires, where you have massed tank units rolling through people's lines we have not seen that," Hunter said. "That is what a draft is for," he added. "A draft is because people started dying in the infantry and you need more bodies in infantry, that is what a draft if for. The administration would like to make this decision on its own. I think we should make this decision." Hunter, who requested a roll-call vote on the measure, ended up voting against his own amendment. The amendment passed 32 votes to 30 votes, with strong support from female committee members.

Ranger candidates, burdened with heavy packs and weapons, hike up a trail during the Mountain Phase of the traditionally all-male infantry course.​

The proposal prompted several lawmakers to weigh in on the issue. Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry, a Republican from Texas, made point in saying the president will not decide on the selective service. "The only ones who can decide this are us because it is in law or the courts, and there is a court case that is ongoing through the process that challenges selective service being male-only," he said. "We have a study that requires the defense department to come back to us about the selective service system about what the benefits are, about what the alternatives may be so that we have a fuller picture of the draft and what it would mean to keep it or to do away with it or to include females in it," he added.

Thornberry said he wanted to wait for the study, follow the court case and explore all the issues. Rep. Jackie Speier, a Democrat from California, thanked Hunter for proposing the amendment. "I actually support universal conscription; I actually think if we want equality in this, if we want women to be treated precisely like men are treated and that they should not be discriminated against, we should be willing to support a universal conscription," she said.

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Female Ranger School Grad Makes History Again, Joins the Infantry
Apr 27, 2016 | WASHINGTON -- One of the first female soldiers to earn the coveted Ranger Tab last summer has now become the Army's first woman in the infantry.

Capt. Kristen Griest, a West Point graduate who last August completed several grueling months of Ranger School, was approved Monday to transfer from the Army's military police branch into the infantry, said Lt. Col. Jerry Pionk, a spokesman for the service. She is attending the Maneuver Captains Career Course at Fort Benning, Ga., which physically and mentally prepares infantry and armor officers to command front-line fighting companies. "Like any other officer wishing to branch-transfer, Capt. Griest applied for an exception to Army policy to transfer from military police to infantry," said Bob Purtiman, spokesman for the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning. "Her transfer was approved by the Department of the Army on April 25, and she is now an infantry officer."

U.S. Army Capt. Kristen Griest of Orange, Connecticut, speaks with reporters Thursday, Aug. 20, 2015, at Fort Benning, Ga., where she was scheduled to graduate Friday from Ranger School.​

Griest, 27, of Orange, Conn. had served as a military police officer and a deployment to Afghanistan since graduating from the U.S. Military Academy in 2011. In April 2015, she was among 19 female soldiers approved to attend Ranger School as part of a pilot program to help the Army determine whether it could safely open front-line combat jobs to women. Griest alongside 1st Lt. Shaye Haver, an Apache pilot and fellow West Point graduate, made history in August when they became the Army's first women to complete Ranger School. Two months later, a third West Point graduate, Maj. Lisa Jaster, also completed the course. The Army permanently opened Ranger School to women in September, but no additional female soldiers have graduated, Purtiman said.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter in December ordered all military jobs, including special operations, opened to women. His directive followed a 2013 Pentagon order that the military services open all positions to women by early 2016. The services conducted extensive studies to determine whether any jobs should remain closed to women. Only the Marine Corps asked Carter to keep some positions -- namely in the infantry and armor fields -- male-only, but the secretary declined the request. Griest's transfer into the infantry fits with the Army's established "leaders first" approach to integrating women into the traditionally all-male infantry. According to the Army's gender-integration plan that it submitted last month to Carter, Army leaders believe establishing female officers in the infantry and armor units before enlisted women join those branches will help ease the transition.

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House Panel Seeks to Increase Army Ranks by 45,000 Soldiers
Apr 27, 2016 | The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee has introduced a defense bill that would increase the U.S. Army by 45,000 soldiers.

Rep. Mac Thornberry's version of the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Bill would provide money to add 20,000 soldiers to the active Army's end-strength, bringing it to 480,000. The bill would also add 15,000 to the National Guard and 10,000 to the Reserves, resulting in a Guard strength of 350,000 and a Reserve strength of 205,000. The panel was expected to approve the measure on Wednesday.

Under the President Barack Obama's current proposed defense budget, the Army projects its end-strength to be at a total of 980,000 soldiers by fiscal 2018, including 450,000 for the active force, 335,000 for the Army National Guard and 195,000 for the Army Reserve. "The Chairman's Mark halts and begins to reverse the drawdown of military end strength, preserving the active duty Army at 480,000," according to summary of the proposed bill. The size of the Army has been a major concern among lawmakers, many of whom have stated that the active force is too small to deal with the growing number of threats facing the U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley has testified that there is a "high-military risk" if the service continues to operate at its current size, but also told lawmakers that growing end-strength without additional funding would lead to a hollow force.

Thornberry's revised budget earmarks just over $2 billion in additional funding for the troop increase, according to language in the bill. That's about $2.5 billion short of what the Army would need, according to Army senior leaders that have testified it will cost about $1 billion for every 10,000 soldiers. "Where possible, Chairman Thornberry's proposal cuts excessive or wasteful expenditures and rededicates those resources to urgent needs," according to the bill's summary. "Even with a vigorous re-prioritization of programs, the Committee was unable to make up essential shortages in the President's budget and simultaneously provide a full year of contingency funding. "The proposal is designed to restore strength to the force through readiness investments and agility through much needed reforms, while providing a more solid foundation for the next President to address actual national security needs," it states.

The proposal also would increase the strength of the Marine Corps by 3,000 and the Air Force by 4,000. "Perhaps it is also true every year, that when it comes to overall spending levels for defense, we are presented with only difficult, imperfect options," Thornberry said in his opening remarks at Wednesday's committee-wide markup session within the House Armed Services Committee. "But, the bottom line for me this year is that it is fundamentally wrong to send service members out on missions for which they are not fully prepared or fully supported," he added. "For that reason, I think that it is essential that we begin to correct the funding shortfalls that have led to a lack of readiness and to a heightened level of risk that we have heard about in testimony and that some of us have also seen for ourselves." The bill, currently in its draft form, will have to be passed by both the House and the Senate. Obama could also choose to veto the bill after passage.

House Panel Seeks to Increase Army Ranks by 45,000 Soldiers | Military.com

 

[AvgGuyIA]

Drafting young girls for combat is the Left's way to destroy our military and stop America from Entering into to wars of survival. No parent is going to allow their daughter being drafted and most girls will not want it because they are ill-equipped mentally and physically for combat positions.

 

[waltky]

Semper female...

First Female Marine Recruit Signs Infantry Contract
Jun 22, 2016 | The first woman to enlist in the Marine Corps with an infantry contract is headed to boot camp later this year.

A 19-year-old female applicant had contracted into the Marines' delayed entry program, selecting to enlist in the infantry, Jim Edwards, a spokesman for Marine Corps Recruiting Command, told Military.com. The contract means that she will enter the 0300 community, with her specific military occupational specialty to be determined according to the needs of the Marine Corps at School of Infantry training in Camp Geiger, North Carolina, he said. The poolee is set to ship to recruit training between October and December of this year, Edwards said. At this point, she has not been publicly identified and she has opted not to conduct any interviews, he said. There will be numerous physical hurdles to cross before she gets to an infantry unit in the fleet.

Two sergeants take cover while maneuvering to conduct an enemy counter attack during a pilot test at Range 107, Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California​

In order to qualify for the infantry contract, the recruit had to pass an enhanced initial strength test including a mile-and-a-half run, three pullups, an ammunition can lift and crunches, Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Philip Kulczewski told Military.com. She will have to pass this enhanced IST again after she reaches boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina. Non-infantry recruits, on the other hand, take a strength test with no ammunition can lift requirement and the option for women to conduct a flexed-arm hang, instead of pullups. About 45 days into boot camp, the recruit and all other recruits slated for infantry jobs will need to pass a physical fitness test that includes a six-pullup requirement, Kulczewski said.

If a recruit fails to pass any of these tests, they risk being reclassified into a non-infantry job. And that is proving to be a stringent requirement. According to data obtained by Military.com and first reported by the Associated Press, seven female recruits have attempted to pass the enhanced strength and physical fitness tests since January. One has passed, and six have been reclassified to different jobs. Among male recruits, 1,457 have taken the tests and 46 have been reclassified.

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New Standards Weeding Out Both Male and Female Marine Combat Hopefuls
Jun 21, 2016 | WASHINGTON — New physical standards established so women can compete for combat posts in the Marine Corps have weeded out many of the female hopefuls. But they're also disqualifying some men, according to data obtained by The Associated Press.

In the last five months, 6 out of 7 female recruits — and 40 out of about 1,500 male recruits — failed to pass the new regimen of pull-ups, ammunition-can lifts, a 3-mile run and combat maneuvers required to move on in training for combat jobs, according to the data. The tests, taken about 45 days into basic training, force recruits who fail into other, less physically demanding Marine jobs. And that, the Marine commandant says, is making the Corps stronger. The high failure rate for women, however, raises questions about how well integration can work, including in Marine infantry units where troops routinely slog for miles carrying packs weighed down with artillery shells and ammunition, and at any moment must be able to scale walls, dig in and fight in close combat.

Female recruits stand at the Marine Corps Training Depot on Parris Island, S.C​

The new standards are a product of the Pentagon's decision to allow women to compete for frontline jobs, including infantry, artillery and other combat posts. But Marine leaders say they are having a broader impact by screening out less physically powerful Marines — both men and women. "I think that's made everybody better," Marine Commandant Gen. Robert Neller told the AP in his first in-depth interview on the subject. "We're trying to raise everybody's bar a little bit and we're trying to figure out how to get closer together, because at the end of the day we're all going to be on the battlefield and we all have to be able to do our job."

Marine Corps leaders initially balked at allowing women into certain infantry, reconnaissance and combat engineer jobs, pointing to studies that showed mixed gender units did not perform as well as male-only units. But Defense Secretary Ash Carter ordered all combat jobs must be open to women. The Marines developed a detailed progression of physical standards that recruits must meet to get into the combat jobs. And officials insist that standards will not be lowered to allow more women to pass. The results underscore the difficulties for women. Nearly 86 percent of the women failed the tests, compared to less than 3 percent of the men.

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More Women Needed as UN Peacekeepers: Dunford
Jun 20, 2016 | Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford last weekend became the first Joint Chiefs chairman ever to address the United Nations, where he called for more women in U.N. peacekeeping missions.

"I'd like to highlight there's a growing need for women to serve as peacekeepers," said Dunford, who as Marine Corps commandant was one of the last holdouts to opening all combat positions to women in the U.S. military. "During my deployments to Iraq and later as the commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, I learned firsthand that women are an important part of an effective response to today's challenges," Dunford said Saturday at a forum on peacekeeping at U.N. headquarters in New York. "Women not only add to the capability of our own forces, they have a unique ability to connect with local populations in areas of instability," Dunford said.

The U.N. currently funds at more than $7 billion annually numerous peacekeeping missions worldwide, including in Abyei (Sudan), the Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Cyprus, Darfur, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Golan, Haiti, Kosovo, Liberia, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan and Western Sahara. Current peacekeeping operations involve more than 121,000 troops, police and civilians in increasingly dangerous efforts to cope with the chaos of failing states. Since 1948, more than 3,700 UN peacekeepers have been killed on missions.

Dunford said it was a "personal priority for me" to improve the discipline and professionalism of the missions, which have been plagued by charges of corruption and sexual assault against local populations. "I think it's clear to all of us that the U.N's record in this area has been mixed -- and there's a lot of reasons for that mixed record -- but chief among them is the hard reality that U.N. peacekeeping missions deal with some of the most challenging and protracted issues on the planet," he said. "But while many of the challenges are due to the nature of the conflicts, there's other challenges that should concern us all. Problems of ill-disciplined units conducting criminal acts, including sexual assault, problems with corruption, and shortfalls in equipment cannot be blamed on the environment," he said.

Dunford said the need for U.N. peacekeeping missions was likely to grow to meet the challenges of spreading global terrorist networks and transnational threats. "No nation today can turn away and consider violent extremism somebody else's problem. We have many examples of how the fight can follow us home from fragile states in the form of terrorist acts and the mass migration of those seeking to escape violence," Dunford said. "Just as the character of war has changed, the nature of U.N. peacekeeping missions has changed," the general added. "Today, two-thirds of all blue-helmeted peacekeepers are serving in active conflict areas, a trend that in my estimation is likely to continue well into the future."

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/06/20/more-women-needed-as-un-peacekeepers-dunford.html

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "You go, gurl...

This Female Marine Passed Infantry Training Battalion
Aug 23, 2016 — A Marine walks up to a pullup bar. She takes a deep breath; leaps up and grabs hold … one, two, three, four. She cranks out pullup after pullup … 18, 19, 20 … and when she can't do any more, she drops down and smoke seems to puff up from her Marine Corps-issued boots.

With 26 pullups, Marine Corps Cpl. Tori C. Best, a combat engineer with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, secured her place as the female record-holder aboard the USS Boxer. Her record is only seven behind the male record-holder aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer during Western Pacific Deployment 16-1.

Marine Corps Cpl. Tori C. Best, a combat engineer with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, is the current female pullup record holder aboard the USS Boxer​

Best said her upbringing in Anchorage, Alaska, gave her the tools to excel and overcome any challenge, whether physical or mental. "I grew up really active," she said. "I did cross country running and I eventually got into rock and ice climbing. I remember every summer we'd be hiking and fishing. It was this really active lifestyle. So it was never a thought about going to the gym and being fit. It was something we needed to be to enjoy life." "It was the competition between me and my brother that sparked my ability to do pullups," Best said. "I was doing ten pullups at a time before I enlisted, and even before I went to boot camp I was able to do sixteen. Then, during [training], we would do pyramid workouts where we did five pullups all the way down to one and back up. I started including five pullups after every workout and during the competition on the Boxer I was able to do 26."

A Change in Direction

After graduating high school early, Best said she was determined to fulfill her dream of serving in the military. "I was born in the states, but my family is Canadian and it is my belief that if you enter a new country you should serve in its military," she said. "My parents were really surprised by my decision because I graduated high school early and was already enrolled in a college," Best said. "But … I wanted to join first, before I went to college." So Best went to her local recruiter's office and demonstrated her abilities. Even then, she was in top physical shape and the recruiter took note. "Being an infantry Marine was something my recruiter brought up the first time I went to see him," she said. "He saw I could do pull ups and asked me if I was interested in going to Infantry Training Battalion and it really sparked my interest."

After Marines finish boot camp, they are sent to the School of Infantry where they begin combat training either in Marine Combat Training or the Infantry Training Battalion. Best would be one of the first female volunteers to go through the Infantry Training Battalion at School of Infantry East. It wasn't until Fall 2013, that female Marines were given the opportunity to go through ITB. "At the end of boot camp, our drill instructors sat us all down and gave us a brief [description of] going to ITB as a test subject. All those who didn't want to do it got up and left," she said. "And then there was a group of us left and we were excited because this is what we wanted to do from the beginning. We were all ready, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, to change history. And I think that's how we all went into it." The Marine Corps' two Infantry Training Battalions challenge Marines both physically and mentally. Marines who complete the course take their place at the tip of the spear for the Corps. The challenges push Marines to their limits and beyond with 20-mile hikes carrying a full combat load that can weigh up to 85 lbs. The training standard is the same for male and female Marines.

Crashing Through Barriers

 

[pwjohn]

Posting an article like that makes the op look like a waste of human skin.

Kinda like trump pimping out dead ******* for votes.

 

[waltky]

Uncle Ferd goes fer a woman in uniform...

Military Leaders: ‘We’re Seeing a Lot of Interest’ from Women Looking to Join Combat Units
October 25, 2016 – During a panel discussion Monday at the Center for a New American Security, top military leaders said they are seeing “a lot of interest” from women who want to join combat units.

“The Army strategy was to try to build the leadership cadre before really trying to move out training on a larger scale, and we knew it would take some time. All these things take a little time,” Army Secretary Eric Fanning said. “People need to see … that we are sticking with it, but we’ve seen a lot of interest. “We have women leaving West Point, branching into combat arms, but we knew it was going to be slow at first. All the numbers, all the data that we had told us that it was gonna start slowly, but we think it’s moving at the pace … we anticipated it would,” he said. “We’re also seeing a lot of interest, but very frankly, I think that may be the wrong question,” said Navy Secretary Ray Mabus.

“The notion was to set standards, make sure the standards had something to do with the job, and then things like gender, who you love, color of skin become irrelevant - that it’s opening up. It’s saying, if you meet the standards, you get the job, period,” Mabus said. “It’s not forcing people out because simply gender or color or sexual orientation or something like that, and from that point of view, I think that going forward it’s been a big success, and you’re gonna have those standards,” he said. “Nobody is suggesting lowering the standards, but … once you know what the job entails, then gender, sexual orientation, whatever, shouldn’t matter,” Mabus said.

Army 1st Lt. Shaye Haver, center, and Capt. Kristen Griest, right, were the first female soldiers to graduate from Ranger School. Here, they pose with other West Point grads after a graduation ceremony in August.​

When asked whether he was seeing women applying to be part of the special operations force or the Navy Seals, Mabus said, “I think you will see that.” “The cycle is such that we haven’t seen it yet, but that’s not a surprise. It’s a fairly long cycle, and I will say this about the Seals. They’ve had the same standards for years - 80 percent of men don’t make it. The Seals haven’t been discombobulated at all about opening it up, because the notion is, you meet the standards, you go through the same things we go through, we don’t care,” he said.

In March, the Marine Corps estimated 200 women a year would move into ground combat roles, amounting to two percent of the Marines in those occupations, according to the Associated Press. The Army said it planned to first assign female officers to jobs in the infantry and armor units and then gradually bring in female enlisted soldiers. The first female officers in those units were projected to graduate in October. “Unlike the Army and Marine Corps, the Air Force said it will not assign women in groups to units, and will instead follow routine assignment procedures,” the AP reported.

Military Leaders: ‘We’re Seeing a Lot of Interest’ from Women Looking to Join Combat Units

See also:

Navy Secretary: 'Norfolk Is at Risk' from 'Sea Level Rise'
October 25, 2016 | "Norfolk is at risk over the next few decades if we don't do something to slow down sea level rise," Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told a gathering in Washington, D.C., on Monday.

Naval Station Norfolk, the largest naval complex in the world, is located in southeastern Virginia. "All our bases are in some way or other at risk," Mabus said. "We're the first responders. We're the ones -- the Navy and Marine Corps are the ones sent. We get a request for humanitarian assistance or disaster relief an average of once every two weeks. And as these storms get bigger, as sea levels rise, as instability follows, a lot of times, our responsibilities increase.

An aerial view of Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia.​

"As the Arctic begins to be ice-free, Russia's already said the waters to its north are an internal waterway. They're not. "Part of our responsibilities is keeping the sea lanes open, making sure that international law is followed, making sure that peaceful trade at sea can go where international law says it can.

"And so climate change and things like that are -- it's a risk in the future for things like Norfolk and our bases, but it's here today in terms of increasing our responsibility in terms of what we've got to respond to, in terms of how we have to position ourselves and how we have to think about our roles." Mabus was speaking at the Center for a New American Security along with the secretaries of the Air Force and the Army.

Navy Secretary: 'Norfolk Is at Risk' from 'Sea Level Rise'

 

[MikeK]

It is not a good idea at all. Usually women serve in combat only in emergency situations, like in some Kurdish units in Iraq today, or in Israel's War of Independence in 1948, when there's a severe shortage in manpower.

I was in the Marine Corps from 1956 to 1960. During that time (I believe it was in 1957) the issue of women serving in combat line companies arose and was under consideration by the Army. But the Commandant sent a platoon of female recruits through the normal thirteen-week Parris Island boot camp cycle and the five week intensified ITR (Infantry Training Regimen). As I recall, less than ten percent made it through. Over ninety percent washed out -- most in the earlier stages. (Parris Island was sheer torture.)

The Commandant stated unequivocally that women are not designed by nature to tolerate the mental and physical rigors of sustained combat conditions. He said the Marine Corps had no intention of compromising the effectiveness of its combat units for the purpose of political patronage.

The women Marines (we called them "BAMS") were very well trained in the use of small arms and some were trained in the use of light artillery pieces and certain rear-guard and infantry support tactics. Those who qualified as rifle "Expert" (very few did) were given some level of sniper training. It was understood that Women Marines would be capable of serving effectively under "last resort" circumstances but would not be assigned to combat line companies.

I am not aware that this policy has been changed and I would appreciate learning if it has.