Saturday, August 24, 2013

Marine Corps to open infantry training to enlisted women

The Marine Corps will allow enlisted women to participate in basic infantry training beginning this fall as part of ongoing research to determine what additional ground combat jobs may open to female personnel. New female enlisted Marines will volunteer for spots in the service’s Infantry Training Battalion, mirroring a related effort allowing new female lieutenants to enroll in the Corps’ Infantry Officer Course, according to an official planning document obtained by Marine Corps Times.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a horrible idea, the military is not a place for social experiments. RIP USMC

Gunny G said...

In over 20 years and numerous 12-22mile humps with full gear, very few females ever made it, start to finish. I once went 42 days in the field, without a shower, nothing but a whore's bath in my brain bucket. I cannot imagine a female doing that, period and all.

If they keep the bar as high as it is, maybe 1 or 2 can make it. Most female Marines I knew had NO desire to be a grunt or be in a position where they could end up as a POW in the Third World nation.

pdxr13 said...

I've met USMC females and they are tough specimens. They would do well as USAF LE and probably as SP's.

Do they know the conditions that infantry (esp. Marines!) live in? Will they be happy to be reducing the chance of rapid victory and the loss of fellow Marine lives because they are "just as strong as the minimum acceptable male candidate" and feel the need to be "minimally acceptable" and politically required, at least officially, among a fighting force of outstanding men?

There should be no women in the USMC, due to physical incompatibility with the culture and mission.

Had anyone been paying attention to the actual (as opposed to the official) statistics on rape and suicide in the Army? Look to strange dormitory "accidents" resulting in death, and sudden medical separations of otherwise good individuals (male and female).

Cheers.

Anonymous said...

I read somewhere that their periods attract bears. Bears can smell the menstruation.

Well, that's just great. You hear that, Barry? Bears.

Now you're putting the whole country in jeopardy.

Anonymous said...

"There should be no women in the USMC, due to physical incompatibility with the culture and mission."

Wow. Thanks for that blanket statement invalidation of my time in the Marine Corps. Women in Combat Arms is a recipe for disaster for myriad reasons, but (silly me) I thought the job I did teaching grunts with almost zero percent body fat how to stay alive in water while they wore heavy gear was time well spent. And no, you don't just pass that test once in boot camp and never see the issue again. Guys who sink like rocks due to muscle and bone not floating well sometimes struggle with water skills. Even in the Marine Corps there are non-grunt, non-recon MOS's that are necessary to the success of the mission.

Appreciate the friendly fire.

William Flatt said...

And ya gotta wonder how the Israelis can integrate women so fully into their military, how women fought on the front lines in their war for independence and again in 1968, without sacrificing the combat effectiveness of their nation in its times of greatest peril??

Are their women folk made of titanium, or are our women just really that weak? Even before the creation of the IDF, Israeli women served in the various militias in significant numbers (generally acknowledged to be 20% of combat arms units).

The funny thing is, even in Israel the same prejudices existed - oh, we can't let women serve in combat roles - and unlike here in the USA, they were up front about their reasoning. They feared that any/all female POWS would be systematically raped (not out of the pale when we're talking about the 'religion of peace' as the opposing force). The ban on women in certain roles didn't stick, and now full gender integration is the law there. Is such integration right for every nation? Obviously not, but the Chinese have made a go of it and their Women's Army is bigger than the entire population of this country, including the illegal aliens! (Just let THAT sink in for a minute!)

That being said, the very nature of warfare is changing. There are no front lines anymore. All military jobs are combat jobs. I believe that while there is great merit to absolutely NEVER relaxing physical strength/endurance standards for infantry, specops, and certain other MOS in the military... we have to acknowledge the changed realities of warfare, and adapt. War will always be hell, but adapt we must!

Ed said...

This policy appears contrary to the reduction in force that will ongoing in the next few years.

Anonymous said...

Over 20 yrs ago, I watched as Sailors had more and more sea duty rotations as shore billets were tied up by females who couldn't actually fulfill the requirements of their rate. I observed that the ships that did have females onboard experience far more disruptive/behavioral incidents. I saw BAM recruits at Parris Island (for the most part) made a mockery of the mission of the Corps.

Today we celebrate OPENLY homosexual service members, we discipline chaplains who say the name of Jesus, and we are going to waste resources training females for infantry. I get it now. I am stuck in some sort of a nightmare. It makes perfect sense!

Someone PLEASE wake me up.

oughtsix said...


All this is being done on purpose to weaken and demoralize the fighting services.

Bambi and The Bitch, and all they represent, hate and fear them. Remember that "civilian defense force" just as strong as the military that the fraud usurper openly called for? Can't get there without the above strategy.

Semper Fi, 0321 said...

anon@1:40,
What the hell does water safety survival have to do with women in the Corps? Blacks are also known to be sinkers due to bone mass, that's why most never made it into Recon. So what?
The basic problems with women in the infantry are this, men don't want them there, and physically, they can't hack it. Do not lower your standards to that of the weakest link! Just because 2 women want to be 0311's does not mean we have to restructure an entire infantry bn. to please Wash DC (shades of GI Jane here).
When was the last time women ever fought in combat? I don't mean a 5 min. firefight in Iraq either, but days and weeks in the trenches and bunkers against opposing infantry forces. Didn't think so....

Anonymous said...

0321
"What the hell does water safety survival have to do with women in the Corps?"

Please re-read the post. The point being made was fairly obvious. The statement I was responding to was "There should be no women in the USMC, due to physical incompatibility with the culture and mission."
I also indicated women in a Combat Arms unit is a stunningly BAD idea. Three different conversations here; women assigned to Combat Arms, women in combat and (in the post I was responding to) women in the Marine Corps at all.

Mr. Flatt, it is tempting to use the IDF as an equivalency argument but the US military and IDF are apples and oranges just as the US Military and a militia group are apples and oranges. Size and geography of AO, logistics, organizational structure, nature of the mission etc are so different between the two that it cannot help but affect how the organism functions. Here are some (incomplete) thoughts along those lines. http://www.seraphicpress.com/five-most-hardcore-female-combat-roles/
Yes sir, you are correct that the nature of warfare overall is changing but Combat Arms units have basically remained the same for hundreds of years.

For an good overview of the rational reasons against women being assigned to Combat Arms units see http://www.blackfive.net/main/2011/01/women-in-combat-units-oh-hell-no.html . Please pay attention in the comments to the points made about ability/fitness/injury rates for Combat Arms units being an aggregate issue, not an individual one. In fact Blackfive.net has several good posts on the subject going back over the last few years, mostly rational and respectful.