Tag: women

Army Announces First Woman Recruited to Try and Be An Infantrymen

| April 18, 2016

You would think the Army would have waited to promote a story like this until after she had completed the basic infantry course.  You would think the PAO types would have learned this lesson after the embarrassment of the first female combat engineer enlistee who went AWOL:

A Louisiana woman is seeking to make history, enlisting to be the first female infantryman in the United States Army.

25-year-old Tammy Barnett raised her right hand in Shreveport, Louisiana, opting to join the US Army Infantry, a deviation from her original plans when she found out she could be first.

“I was going to go military police, but infantry is similar, and they are more on the front lines, like law enforcement here and I said that’s what I want to do,” said Barnett, a former police officer.

Barnett hopes to make history and lead the way for more women who want to go into the infantry.

“They told me that I would be the first female in history to go infantry in the military,” said Barnett.

“I hope that I give them the courage, because I’m a small female, if I can do it, they can do it too, this could give them the courage to step out of their comfort zone,” explained Barnett.  [Popular Military]

You can read more at the link, but she is going to be in for a rude awakening when she finds out that the infantry is nothing like being a policeman other than they are both proficient with shooting weapons.  Just for the record I continue to support women in combat arms roles as long as they meet the same standards as men.  For example I wonder if Ms. Barnett will have to pass the same physical fitness test and other physical requirements as her male infantry recruits?

Are Lower Secret Service Standards for Female Agents A Preview of What Will Happen with Women in the Infantry?

| October 9, 2014

Is this a microcosm of what could happen if the US military was to drop its physical standards for women in the Infantry just to appease the feminists?:

The Secret Service has been under fire for failing to stop an armed man from jumping the White House fence and running through the president’s home, and some critics have begun asking if political correctness is partly to blame for the extent of the security breach.

As the New York Times reported on Monday, the jumper, Omar Gonzalez, “overpower[ed] a female Secret Service agent inside the North Portico entrance” of the White House and then ran past the stairway to the presidential living quarters and into the East Room where he was finally tackled by an off-duty agent. Without explanation, the Times deleted the word “female” from the opening paragraph of its story (the Washington Post similarly edited the word “female” out of its story).

Few details have been reported about how precisely Gonzalez overpowered the female agent, but it’s certainly possible that the Secret Service’s disparate physical strength requirements for men and women may be endangering the life of the president.  [The Weekly Standard]

You can read more at the link, but I do find it interesting how the mainstream media has kept the fact that the overpowered agent was female quiet.  First of all we do not know how Gonzalez overpowered the agent which could mean the lower physical standards were immaterial.  If she was overpowered simply because Gonzalez was stronger then her then we would never hear about it anyway.  However, I have repeatedly advocated for women to be given the opportunity to serve in the Infantry just like they should be able to protect the President if they can meet the same current standards that men have to meet.  If the feminists were able to get lower standards for women that protect the President then how long will it be before they demand lower standards to get women into the Infantry as well?

Female Marine Officers Advocates Against Women in the Infantry

| September 8, 2014

Very interesting read by a female Marine about why women should not serve in the Infantry:

While reading the February issue of the Marine Corps Gazette, I skimmed past the “Be Bold” advertisement calling for readers to submit articles that challenge a Marine Corps policy or way of doing business. Immediately a current “hot topic” came to mind, but as usual I quickly discarded it because I have purposely avoided publicly disagreeing with the passionate opinions of many of my female peers and friends. After weeks of contemplation and debate, I am “being bold” and coming clean: I am a female Marine officer and I do not believe women should serve in the infantry. I recognize that this is a strong statement that will be vehemently challenged by many. I have not come to this opinion lightly and I do not take joy in taking a stance that does not support equal opportunity for all. I have spent countless hours discussing this topic with many civilians and Marines and have discovered that a large number of people agree with the arguments in this article but do not wish to get involved in the public discussion. Interestingly, most of the people who want to incorporate women into infantry are civilians or young, inexperienced Marines. Most of the more seasoned Marines with whom I have spoken tend to oppose the idea of women in infantry—perhaps this is failure to adapt or perhaps it is experienced-based reasoning. National Public Radio’s recent segment, “Looking for a Few Good (Combat-Ready) Women,” stated, “Col Weinberg admits there’s anecdotal evidence that female Marines, who make up 7 percent of the force, aren’t rushing to serve in ground combat.”1 If the infantry had opened to women while I was still a midshipman or second lieutenant I probably would have jumped at the opportunity because of the novelty, excitement, and challenge; but, to my own disappointment, my views have drastically changd with experience and knowledge. Acknowledging that women are different (not just physically) than men is a hard truth that plays an enormous role in this discussion. This article addresses many issues regarding incorporating women into the infantry that have yet to be discussed in much of the current discourse that has focused primarily on the physical standards.

Before you disagree, remember that war is not a fair business. Adversaries attempt to gain an advantage over their enemies by any means possible. Enemies do not necessarily abide by their adversary’s moral standards or rules of engagement. Although in today’s world many gory, violent war tactics are considered immoral, archaic, and banned by international law or the Geneva Conventions, adversaries still must give themselves the greatest advantage possible in order to ensure success. For the Marine Corps, this means ensuring that the infantry grunt (03XX) units are the strongest, most powerful, best trained, and most prepared physically and mentally to fight and win. Although perhaps advantageous to individuals and the national movement for complete gender equality, incorporating women into infantry units is not in the best interest of the Marine Corps or U.S. national security.  [Marine Corps Gazette via a reader tip]

I highly recommend reading the whole article at the link, but what I find most interesting about this is that if a male Marine had written this same exact article he would be called a sexist bigot by the special interests in order to drown out honest debate on this topic.  The male Marine would likely have his career blackballed as well if he was of higher rank.  It is a bit harder for the special interests to shout down a female Marine Captain though.

With that all said there are a few things I disagree with the author Captain Lauren Serrano on.  I think if the physical standards are kept high then only someone who is an extremely high-speed individual would be able to meet them.  Due to this fact the drama that Captain Serrano worries about will be largely absent. I have known only one female in the Army during my career that I think could have physically met the Infantry standards.  Her husband was in the 75th Ranger Regiment and they used to work out together all the time.  She was so high-speed that I would be shocked if she became the source of any drama.  By the way I had asked her if she would join the Infantry if she could and she said no way, it was not something she ever wanted to do. That is something else the special interests do not consider, there may be extremely fit people who could meet Infantry standards, but they choose not to because it takes a certain mentality to want to be in the Infantry.

The other issue Serrano brought up, injuries over the course of a career is hard to know, but once again if standards are kept high the women who are able to make it will be extremely fit and should help prevent injuries.  I only see the issues that Captain Serrrano is worried about coming into play if the standards are dropped in order to allow more females into the Infantry.  It is important to remember that if standards are dropped that not only will it allow more females in the Infantry that shouldn’t be there, but males as well.  Infantry is hard work and takes great physical fitness and a certain mentality to do it that the current training standards help to weed those out that shouldn’t be there.