Combat units are a complete misnomer anymore. The Naval Construction Force isn’t listed as a combat unit, yet many of my fellow Seabees saw direct fire and battle during these last two campaigns.
Women were part of these units, vital parts. They were just as vital as any other member of the team. Now did some of them get pregnant? Yes. But we congratulated them on the new life growing inside of them and they didn’t deploy with us. We made sure they were taken care of medically.
This is the same as the male members who wound up with a broken leg from a car accident or were called back due to family emergencies (although we didn’t congratulate them for these). We wished them the best, gave them heartfelt hand shakes and hugs and knew they would not deploy with us either. We knew they would be taken care of back home.
Name one thing a man can do that a woman can’t. And other than giving birth, what can a woman do that a man can’t? I served with women in “noncombat units” for 18 of my 20 years in military service. They are just as capable as men in every regard. As for physical standards? I would no more ask a 125-pound female to lift an iron girder than I would a 125-pound male.
If you can’t figure out where each person in your unit is experienced and will best fit the team, then the leader needs replacing, not the people of a different gender.
And as for those who make comments about how men shouldn’t be about rocking the baby to sleep, when I was stationed in Japan, my wife worked nights on base. That means I spent many a night rocking my infant daughter to sleep while my wife was out chopping the proverbial wood.
So please, don’t define gender roles based on an antiquated and misogynistic viewpoint that either of the genders are inferior to one or another.
MICHAEL DANIELS
Elizabeth City
Comments
The Navy is Not the Infantry
The standard weight of equipment carried on a typical infantry mission is 60-80 lbs. The infantry must fight, climb and run while carrying this load. Slow soldiers get left behind where they are vulnerable or slow the entire unit down where they are all vulnerable.
Everyone in an infantry unit should have the same grooming, physical, and fighting standards. The combat leader does not have the luxury of choosing "the best person for the job"! They must all be the best person.
By the way, pregnancy is not the same as a broken leg. Pregnancy is a choice, it is not an accident.
Most of the people commenting here have never spent months on the ground in an active infantry unit. If you had your opinions would be completely different.
Well now maybe most of these
Well now maybe most of these folks commenting here may well have not served in an 'active infanry unit'; but I have. I pounded the ground right alongside of some well-musceled females; and they kept up. Some of them were even better shots than I was. But on another matter, if you think that 'Pregancy is a choice and not an accident' I seriously believe there is something radically wrong with your deductive reasoning.
So Web,
Are you telling me there is a pill that is 98% effective in preventing broken legs? Or one that you can take the day after to completely heal one? Or how about an outpatient procedure that makes your broken leg as good as new? Pregnancy IS a choice today. And women have been fighting for the right to choose for years.
this isn't 1942
first..... same grooming standards?? you know, I have never gotten what that is suppose to even mean. You want women to get buzz cuts? want them to shave each day??
The services have grooming standards.
As for your pregnancy comment. You missed the point completely. Despite the misogynists our there spouting off about how women in the service only get pregnant.... Most don't actually.
But it happens, planned or not. (I know of 5 women that got pregnant on the pill in the service, probably a lot more if I ever asked.)
but you line "Or how about an outpatient procedure that makes your broken leg as good as new?"
I can only assume you just said abortion is justifiable for unit cohesion??
Hey Fonzi, someone here needs your boat, they jumping sharks again.
If Qualified!
If a women can pass the qualifications for combat without a lowering of standards, then by all means they should serve!!!
which standards are those?
typical units of any service have the basic qualifications. If you are referring to Special Forces, okay, their physical requirements are different even for men. But those non-combat units (that keep seeing combat) never lowered theirs. The services are constantly revamping physical quals for everyone, not just females. To assume that just because a certain number of push-ups or how fast you run 2 miles indicates how someone performs under fire is a fallacy that should be ignored.
Truth being told, the military is changing physical standards to kick people out, not test whether they can pass a "combat" test.
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