Women in Combat

[fncceo]

I work as an LEO in a metropolitan city and roughly a third of my fellow officers are women. In many ways, they will see more 'combat' than most soldiers. Aggressive confrontations occur daily and hand-to-hand combat is a regular occurrence. Being threatened with knives and firearms becomes routine.

Police don't suffer the depredations of military combat, bad food, isolation, lack of sleep. But they will experience more daily stress over the long term than most combat soldiers.

There is no reality that these women are any less capable than their male counterparts and, in some cases, more capable.

However, women get emotional when they should remain cool, calm and collect when bees are buzzing close to their ears. Not actual bees but real bullets.

I'm getting the feeling you don't know a lot of women.

 

[whitehall]

It's clear that democrats have little respect for (genetic) women. Successful women like Sara Palin who went from a hockey mom to the governor of Alaska is the subject of jeers and insults from democrats. Maybe it's not surprising that democrat politicians think they are doing women a favor by ordering them into combat roles that they aren't psychologically or physically suited for. What's the point? Are we so short of Military personnel that we have to use women? When was the last time the mainstream media did a story about the pregnancy rate on U.S. warships? They spike the story before Americans became aware of the issue. Is the short haired hormone injected lesbian lobby so strong that politicians put women in harms way to avoid criticism?

 

[anotherlife]

Women in combat is a good idea. The amazons were the most efficient killers because every man was bedezeled by their beauty and curves, so couldn't fight them. On the other hand, if you want to terminate an enemy, it is its women that you need to kill, because women are the ones for continuation. I support women in combat. It also increments women's self esteem. Check how many fat Israeli women exist versus how many fat American women exist.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

I work as an LEO in a metropolitan city and roughly a third of my fellow officers are women. In many ways, they will see more 'combat' than most soldiers. Aggressive confrontations occur daily and hand-to-hand combat is a regular occurrence. Being threatened with knives and firearms becomes routine.

Police don't suffer the depredations of military combat, bad food, isolation, lack of sleep. But they will experience more daily stress over the long term than most combat soldiers.

There is no reality that these women are any less capable than their male counterparts and, in some cases, more capable.

However, women get emotional when they should remain cool, calm and collect when bees are buzzing close to their ears. Not actual bees but real bullets.

You should meet my daughter, a 2LT, US Army - 3rd Cavalry. I don't think there is anything that she is scared of other than wasps!

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

I work as an LEO in a metropolitan city and roughly a third of my fellow officers are women. In many ways, they will see more 'combat' than most soldiers. Aggressive confrontations occur daily and hand-to-hand combat is a regular occurrence. Being threatened with knives and firearms becomes routine.

Police don't suffer the depredations of military combat, bad food, isolation, lack of sleep. But they will experience more daily stress over the long term than most combat soldiers.

There is no reality that these women are any less capable than their male counterparts and, in some cases, more capable.

However, women get emotional when they should remain cool, calm and collect when bees are buzzing close to their ears. Not actual bees but real bullets.

I'm getting the feeling you don't know a lot of women.

I'm thinking he watches too much TV.

 

[HH2017]

Women belong in the kitchen rattling those pots and pans.

Yes, I'm rattling but what do I do when I'm PMSing!!! I need to be unleashed on the enemy!!!

 

[HH2017]

I work as an LEO in a metropolitan city and roughly a third of my fellow officers are women. In many ways, they will see more 'combat' than most soldiers. Aggressive confrontations occur daily and hand-to-hand combat is a regular occurrence. Being threatened with knives and firearms becomes routine.

Police don't suffer the depredations of military combat, bad food, isolation, lack of sleep. But they will experience more daily stress over the long term than most combat soldiers.

There is no reality that these women are any less capable than their male counterparts and, in some cases, more capable.

However, women get emotional when they should remain cool, calm and collect when bees are buzzing close to their ears. Not actual bees but real bullets.

Hey, men get emotional tooooo.

 

[Marion Morrison]

I work as an LEO in a metropolitan city and roughly a third of my fellow officers are women. In many ways, they will see more 'combat' than most soldiers. Aggressive confrontations occur daily and hand-to-hand combat is a regular occurrence. Being threatened with knives and firearms becomes routine.

Police don't suffer the depredations of military combat, bad food, isolation, lack of sleep. But they will experience more daily stress over the long term than most combat soldiers.

There is no reality that these women are any less capable than their male counterparts and, in some cases, more capable.

However, women get emotional when they should remain cool, calm and collect when bees are buzzing close to their ears. Not actual bees but real bullets.

Hey, men get emotional tooooo.

Not like just before Aunt Flo comes to visit.

 

[fncceo]

Hey, men get emotional tooooo

No we don't!

 

[HH2017]

I work as an LEO in a metropolitan city and roughly a third of my fellow officers are women. In many ways, they will see more 'combat' than most soldiers. Aggressive confrontations occur daily and hand-to-hand combat is a regular occurrence. Being threatened with knives and firearms becomes routine.

Police don't suffer the depredations of military combat, bad food, isolation, lack of sleep. But they will experience more daily stress over the long term than most combat soldiers.

There is no reality that these women are any less capable than their male counterparts and, in some cases, more capable.

However, women get emotional when they should remain cool, calm and collect when bees are buzzing close to their ears. Not actual bees but real bullets.

Hey, men get emotional tooooo.

Not like just before Aunt Flo comes to visit.

Yeah, unleash one on the enemy and see them running scare.

 

[waltky]

Womens onna horseback...

First 4 Women Graduate Cavalry Scout Training at Fort Benning
25 Jun 2017 | For the first time, four women were among 162 soldiers who graduated Thursday from the Cavalry Scout One Station Unit Training.

For the first time in history at Fort Benning, Georgia, four women were among 162 soldiers who graduated Thursday from the Cavalry Scout One Station Unit Training. The soldiers of the 5th Squadron, 15th Cavalry Regiment, completed the 17-week training and earned the military occupational specialty of 19D Cavalry Scout during a ceremony at Freedom Hall. As part of gender integration, the four women will continue their jobs at the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, and the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, said Nate Snook, a public affairs spokesman at Benning.

On the battlefield, the cavalry scout is considered the commander's eyes and ears. Scouts are called on when information about the enemy is needed. They are also responsible for reconnaissance and are proficient with various weapons, including explosives and mines. In the field, scouts make contact with the enemy using anti-armor weapons and vehicles. Each soldier was held to one standard throughout the training, said Col. John Cushing, commander of the 194th Armored Brigade. "We spent a great deal of time making sure that we were ready to accept females into our formation," he said. "Female drill sergeants were on board for about 18 months prior to the execution, which prepared us for the integrated training."

Members of 5th Squadron, 15th Cavalry Regiment’'s Bravo Troop Class 17-007 graduate at Fort Benning's Freedom Hall​

Lt. Col. Daniel C. Enslen, commander of the 5th Squadron, 15th Cavalry Regiment, said the soldiers' success is a testament to their perseverance and the foundation each helped to establish. "This ceremony marks a key milestone in the life of your soldier," Enslen said to family and friends at the graduation. "Today, they graduate as cavalry scouts trained in the fundamentals of Army reconnaissance. Today, they are members of the United States military profession. Today, they are soldiers."

During the training, soldiers marched and ran countless miles and developed a wide range of military skills. They included establishing observation posts, infiltrating hostile areas, calling indirect fire on the enemy, and driving and firing numerous combat vehicles, Enslen said. "We are the eyes and ears of the Army," he said. "We are the cavalry."

First 4 Women Graduate Cavalry Scout Training at Fort Benning | Military.com

 

[waltky]

Uncle Ferd admires a woman in uniform...

10 Female Soldiers Have Now Graduated Army Ranger School
9 Apr 2018 - The U.S. Army's vice chief of staff praised the achievements of female soldiers Monday, describing how small numbers of women continue to join infantry and armored combat units and graduate from the service's most grueling training course.

"Ten women have graduated from Ranger School, which is our toughest school. We have a woman commanding a company in the 82nd Airborne Division, an infantry company," Gen. James McConville told an audience at the Future of War 2018 conference sponsored by New America and Arizona State University. It's been five years since former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta lifted a ban on women serving in combat roles. Three years ago, the Army launched a historic effort to open Ranger School to female applicants.

Out of the 19 women who originally volunteered in April 2015, Capt. Kristen Griest and 1st Lt. Shaye Haver became the first women to earn the coveted Ranger Tab that August. A third woman graduated that October. They accomplished a hard-won feat that has eluded many male soldiers since the course was founded in 1952. Ranger School is a 62-day course described as the Army's premier infantry leadership course; an ordeal that pushes students to their physical and mental limits.

From left, U.S. Army Capt. Kristen Griest, Maj. Lisa Jaster and 1st Lt. Shaye Haver share a moment following Jaster's graduation from Ranger School on Fort Benning, Ga.​

On average, only about 40 percent of men successfully complete the course, Army officials maintain. And only about 25 percent of Ranger School students graduate without having to repeat at least one phase of the grueling course. "We have 170,000 women serving in the Army -- 170,000, that is almost the size of the Marine Corps," McConville said. "We have women in every single infantry, armor and artillery battalion and every single brigade combat team in the Army." The Army currently has 600 women in infantry and armor jobs, McConville said.

Initially, female officers who completed the training standards for infantry and armor were sent to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and Fort Hood, Texas. The Army is expanding that policy to include installations such as Fort Campbell, Kentucky ,and Fort Carson, Colorado, McConville said at the Association of the United States Army's Global Force Symposium in March. "If you meet the standards, you can serve anywhere you want in the United States Army," he said at AUSA. "Women are meeting the standards, and they are doing well."

10 Female Soldiers Have Now Graduated Army Ranger School

 

[smith77]

Females are granted female privilege by not being subject to the draft. They want equal rights? So do I. Draft the females.

 

[DrainBamage]

That wouldn't make much sense.

With a draft you're just throwing out a wide net hoping to get as many usable combat troops as possible, since generally females are physically weaker/slower than men you'd just be producing an inferior pool of recruits and reducing the quality of your people in boots.

 

[waltky]

All-female Crew Proves its Chops on Carrier Roosevelt...

All-female Crew Proves its Chops on Carrier Roosevelt
12 May 2018 - Brandi Hoeft didn't join the U.S. Navy to make a point about being a woman in a man's world -- the 20-year-old Rice Lake native knew she wanted to be in the military all her life.

But whether she originally intended to or not, Hoeft and a group of women on board the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt did make a statement this year. In what Navy officials say is likely a first for the 97,000-ton aircraft carrier, Hoeft and the rest of an all-female crew carried out the complicated and physically demanding job of catapult operations on the flight deck. It's a feat for a sector of the military that comprises only 18 percent women overall, and even fewer in its aviation track. "Some of the guys, they'd tell us, 'You're going to mess it up. You're not going to do it,'" Hoeft said from her perch on a coffee shop chair on Thursday in Rice Lake. "We told them, 'No, we are going to do it. We're strong. We can do this.' And we did." Their attitudes changed once Hoeft and the 35-woman team made their goal a reality, she said. Completing that goal, however, took some work.

Pulling the parts together

The USS Theodore Roosevelt has four catapults that rest upon a more than 1,000-foot-long deck. Those catapults launch aircraft -- or "birds," as Hoeft calls them -- into the air to carry out missions. The duties required to launch those aircrafts are numerous and complex, Hoeft said, and one must have proper certifications to carry them out. When the idea first began to circulate about an all-female catapult crew, there weren't enough women with the right qualifications. Assembling the crew required shuffling people around and urging women to obtain the needed certifications, she said. Eventually a team of two catapult crews were assembled, and they took over operations for a day on Feb. 28 while the ship was in the Persian Gulf.

An F/A-18F Super Hornet lands on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71). The carrier assembled a 35-woman crew to carry out flight operations​

Esperanza Romero, work center supervisor for the USS Theodore Roosevelt's bow catapults, said having two catapult crews consisting of only women is, to the best of her knowledge, a first in the ship's 32-year history. She hopes the feat sends a positive message to women both in and out of the military. "Our job isn't necessarily a glamorous one," Romero said. "We work late hours; we're usually dirty. But when you're on the outside looking in, it's something really spectacular when you see a group of females launching a Super Hornet off the flight deck." "It's a stereotype that men are constantly doing all the big, heavy-duty jobs," she added. "That's not always the case. There are women going above and beyond and doing those same jobs, and doing it successfully."

'If you say you can, you will'

 

[waltky]

30% of Female Marines Still Opting Out of Pull-Ups...

30 Percent of Female Marines Still Opting Out of Pull-Ups on Their PFTs
10 Aug 2018 -- The number of female Marines opting out of pull-ups is down from 35 percent in 2017.

More female Marines chose pull-ups on their physical fitness test in 2018 than did last year, but about a third of all women still opted for the alternative exercise on the upper-body strength portion of their annual exam. Nearly two years after the flexed-arm hang was axed from the Marine Corps' PFT, about 30 percent of female Marines chose to do pushups in place of pull-ups in 2018. Less than 3 percent of male Marines chose pushups instead of pull-ups this year. The number of female Marines opting out of pull-ups is down from 35 percent in 2017, though, and the head of the Marine Corps' Force Fitness Division expects the number will continue shrinking. "It's not an easy test -- it's the hardest one of all the services," Col. Stephen Armes told Military.com. "... But female Marines are disproving the [idea that they can't do pull-ups] on a pretty regular scale."

Of the nearly 10,000 women who did perform pull-ups on their 2018 PFT, many are exceeding the number required to get full marks, Armes said. More than a third of those female Marines busted out nine or more on the test. Women under 45 need between six to 10 pull-ups -- depending on their age -- to earn full marks. No Marine can achieve a maximum PFT score without choosing pull-ups in the new system. Opting out of pull-ups also makes it more difficult to achieve a first-class score, the highest level. The requirement for women to choose between pull-ups and pushups was just one change in the biggest overhaul of the service's physical fitness testin decades. Scoring got tougher across-the-board when the changes went into effect on Jan. 1, 2017. That has led to more failures and fewer first- and second-class scores. "It's pretty much tracking where we expected," Armes said. "Our target has always been about a 70-20-9 percent split from first, second and third class. In 2016, we were way above that."

Lance Cpl. Katelyn M. Hunter conducts pullups during an initial assessment at Camp Foster, Dec. 12, 2012.​

Before the event and scoring changes, 84 percent of Marines were earning first-class PFTs. That number has now dropped down to about 70 percent. Now, more Marines' scores are falling in the second- and third-class buckets. Nearly 20 percent of Marines earned a second-class PFT score this year, up from about 13 percent in 2009. More than 7 percent got a thi-class score this year, up from just about 1 percent two years ago. Failure rates are also up, which Armes attributes to new Marine Force Fitness Instructors -- noncommissioned officers with special skills who help improve a unit's physical training and nutrition regimens. They're enforcing testing standards, Armes added. It might not be easy to cheat on your PFT run time, he said, but Marines might have been dropping their arms too low on their crunches or kipping their legs to help them get more pull-ups.

Now, Marines are being dinged for that, he said. This year, 2.2 percent of Marines failed their PFT, up slightly from 1.9 percent last year. Since any Marine who chooses to do pushups in place of pull-ups can earn a maximum of only 270 out of 300 on the test, Armes urges all leathernecks to keep working toward the pull-ups. "I'm glad to see more males and females doing pull-ups -- that's a good trend," he said. "It's going to get them to that 300 points, and it's the harder [exercise]."

30 Percent of Female Marines Still Opting Out of Pull-Ups on Their PFTs

 

[waltky]

1st-Ever Female Infantry Leader: 'She's One of Us'...

Marine Grunts on 1st-Ever Female Infantry Leader: 'She's One of Us'
13 Aug 2018 - The first woman to graduate from the Marine Corps' notoriously grueling Infantry Officer Course is now leading a platoon of male grunts in Australia.

First Lt. Marina Hierl is the only female Marine to lead an infantry platoon in her service's history. About a year after she reported to Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, the novelty of it all has worn off a bit -- and she's even left some male grunts rethinking their opinions about women in the infantry. That's according to a new report from The New York Times, which recently observed Hierl training her platoon in Australia's Northern Territory. The grunts are deployed there as part of Marine Rotational Force -- Darwin, which spends half of every year Down Under.


The 24-year-old lieutenant from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, told the Times she didn't know much about the military before joining the Marine Corps. What she did know is that she wanted to do something important with her life. "I wanted to be part of a group of people that would be willing to die for each other," Hierl said. When former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced during her sophomore year of college that the policy barring women from serving in the infantry would be lifted, Hierl said she knew what she wanted to do. "I wanted to lead a platoon," she told the Times. "I didn't think there was anything better in the Marine Corps I could do."

Marines participate in an exercise during the Infantry Officer Course at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California​

But not everyone was convinced she had what it takes to lead 38 infantry Marines. Others in Echo Company have made sexist cracks about her platoon, The New York Times reported. But those reporting directly to her, even if skeptical at first, quickly recognized her capabilities. Twenty-year-old Lance Cpl. Kai Segura is one of those Marines. In an interview with the Times, he recalled Hierl's speed when leading her Marines back from an exercise in California's Mojave Desert.

Infantry Marines are often leery of any new lieutenant who comes in to lead their platoons, but Hierl quickly showed they were going to have to keep up with her -- not the other way around. "She's one of us," Segura told the Times. Hierl is one of just two women who've completed the Infantry Officer Course; 37 have attempted it. She'll continue operating with 2/4, which includes two enlisted female infantry Marines, in Darwin until the fall. Read more about Hierl's platoon and what they've been up to on their Australian rotation here.

Marine Grunts on 1st-Ever Female Infantry Leader: 'She's One of Us'

See also:

94-Year-Old Who Taught Herself How to Fly Receives Medal
13 Aug 2018 - Mary Pat Shely was given a Congressional Gold Medal for her service in the Civil Air Patrol during World War II.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — When Mary Pat Shely was young, she taught herself to fly in a Piper Cub bought for her by her father. On Sunday, she was given a Congressional Gold Medal for her service in the Civil Air Patrol during World War II. The World War II members of the Civil Air Patrol, an auxiliary of the United States Air Force, were awarded the gold medal as a group in 2014. Since then, the organization has worked to find the surviving members of the patrol who served during World War II.

More than 75 years after she joined the patrol in 1942, current Civil Air Patrol members, family members and neighbors gathered at the Aviation Museum of Kentucky to watch Shely receive the medal from Andy Barr, U.S. Representative for Kentucky's Sixth District. "This deserved and distinguished award did not, in the case of the Civil Air Patrol, come without pain or sacrifice," Barr said Sunday. "By the end of World War II, 65 Civil Air Patrol civilian aviators had paid the ultimate sacrifice helping to protect the shorelines of the United States and our merchant vessels against enemy submarine attacks, while actively saving the lives of countless Americans and our allies."

U.S. Representative for Kentucky’s Sixth District Andy Barr presents the Congressional Gold Medal to Mary Pat Shely at the Aviation Museum of Kentucky on Sunday, Aug. 5, 2015 in Lexington. The Civil Air Patrol, which Shely joined in 1942, was awarded the medal for the organization’s service during World War II.​

After Shely's service with the Patrol, she went on to be an award-winning athlete and had an accomplished teaching career, said Major Jill Smith said, historian for the Kentucky Wing of the Civil Air Patrol. "On behalf of the citizens of the Sixth Congressional District of Kentucky, and on behalf of the United States Congress and a grateful nation, we sincerely thank you for your courageous service to your country during World War II and for the life you have chosen to live by teaching generations of Americans who came after you," Barr told Shely at Sunday's ceremony. Shely has been very humble, almost secretive about what she did during her time in the patrol, said Jim Stewart, her fourth cousin.

Stewart and his wife, Gail, are among Shely's closest remaining relatives. In 1971, he visited Shely at her family farm in Clark County and has made a point to come down to see her every year since. On Sunday, Jim and Gail Stewart were in from Muncie, Ind., to see Shely receive her medal. "I've heard the stories throughout the years, but you never knew quite the depth and the extent of what she's actually done," Jim Stewart said. "She's very humble, and she doesn't like to be on the forefront, but she's one that very much deserves to be on the forefront because she's some done some amazing, amazing things. And to be able to serve the country during World War II, it's just amazing."

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