Expert in combat tells us what is important about combat (UPDATED)
So this Army colonel who is an instructor at the US Army War College has decided that, based on her intense analytical viewing of “To Hell And Back”, the autobiographical tale of Audie Murphy’s experiences in World War II, we shouldn’t be paying so much attention to the amount of strength that a soldier needs to serve effectively in combat. From the Washington Times;
Some military analysts fear the Pentagon will discard some standards to ensure that a significant number of women qualify.
“Perhaps it is time to take a hard look at what really makes a competent combat soldier and not rely on traditional notions of masculine brawn that celebrate strength over other qualities,” Col. [Ellen] Haring says in the current issue of Armed Forces Journal.
She cites World War II hero Audie Murphy and North Vietnamese insurgents as examples of small people who came up big on the battlefield.
“If the going-in assumption is that physical standards are the only thing that needs to be examined, then we are also assuming that we have everything else just right,” she wrote. “This is belied by our less-than-optimal performances in many instances during the past 12 years. Fixating on physical standards is a tactical-level approach that misses a strategic-level opportunity.”
Or, we can look at more recent Medal of Honor recipient, Dakota Meyer, who won the day by returning again and again into the face of fire and carrying injured American and Afghan soldiers on his back to his vehicle. Now I’ll grant Colonel Haring that Meyer’s exploits are still in book form and not easily perused on the screen yet, so that might account for her not mentioning this as an example to the need for physical strength. Or mentioning Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha who recovered the body of a fallen comrade from the enemy.
Of course, Colonel Haring is also engaged in a lawsuit against the military to allow women to serve in combat. She goes on to say that maybe Audie Murphy couldn’t pass the Marine Officer Infantry Course either. But I guess that’s speculation, and speculation in her favor since he’s dead and she can’t be proven wrong.
Colonel Haring is a political hack whose interests are completely selfish, since she knows that she will not be called upon to serve in direct combat, given that the chances of her being required to pass an Infantry Officer’s Course are about the same as Audie Murphy’s. She might have a point in all of this if the Marines allowed men to serve in the infantry if they failed the course and they didn’t allow women to do the same, but, sadly for her, no, men who don’t have the physical stamina to complete the course are washed out.
Someone sent us Colonel Haring’s résumé. Here’s her “experience”;
Strategic Planner, US Army War College, Carlisle, PA. January 2013-Present.
Joint Staff Officer, Solution Evaluation Directorate, Joint and Coalition Warfighting Center, Suffolk, VA. August 2011- January 2013. Provides supervision and oversight of staff officers who conduct evaluation and testing of innovative approaches developed by field operating forces. Ensures that validated solutions are disseminated to the joint operating force.Assistant Professor, Department of Joint, Interagency and Multinational Operations, U.S.
Army Command and General Staff College, FT Belvoir, VA, July 2008-July 2011.
Provided graduate level education to mid grade Army officers in topics including: a
survey of the strategic environment; culture and conflict; intergovernmental and multinational capabilities; military operational planning processes; and foundations of critical and creative thinking.Commander, 8th Brigade, 84th Training Command, Charlottesville, VA, January 2007-January
2008. Provided supervisory direction to over 85 assistant professors and instructors
supporting the ROTC departments at 24 universities and colleges in the Virginia,
Maryland and D.C. region.Executive Officer, 6th Brigade, 80th Training Division FT Belvoir, VA, September 2005-
December 2006. Provided staff supervision and direction to a training brigade
responsible for the training and education of mid grade Army sergeants and mid grade Army officers.Instructor, 10/80 Training Battalion (CGSOC), Owings Mills, MD, September 2002-August
2005. Provided graduate level education to mid grade reserve Army officers in topics including: a survey of the strategic environment; intergovernmental and multinational capabilities;
leadership; military history; military operational planning processes; and foundations in critical and creative thinking.Executive Officer, 309th Rear Area Operations Center, Hanau, Germany, September 2000-April
2002. Provided rear area security planning for organizations operating in conflict environments.Civilian Property Control Officer, 322d Civil Affairs Brigade, FT Shafter, HI, January 1999-
property June 2000. Oversaw the plans and training of military personnel to ensured protection of civilian in areas where military operations were occurring.Operations Officer, US Army Japan, FT Shafter, HI, January 1998-December 1998.
Team Leader, 2nd Battalion, 383d Regiment, 5th Brigade, 75th Division, FT Leavenworth, KS,
August 1995-July 1996.Commander, A Company, 1199th Signal Battalion, FT Huachuca, AZ, June 1991-August 1992.
Adjutant, 1199th Signal Bn., FT Huachuca, AZ, December 1990-May 1991.
Project Officer, Information System Engineering Command, FT Huachuca, AZ, June
1989-November 1990.Student, US Air Force Communication/Computer System Staff Officer Course, Keesler AFB,
MS, July 1988-May 89.Student, Signal School, Officer Advance Course, FT Gordon, GA, January 1988-January 1988. Operations Officer, 181st Signal Company, 43d Signal Battalion, Heidelberg, Germany,
December 1986-December 1987.Platoon Leader, 43d Signal Battalion, Heidelberg, Germany, October 1984-November 1986.
I honestly can’t imagine how someone can present themselves as an expert on what is required to be successful in combat when she herself has never deployed. In twelve years of war, she’s been hiding out at Fort Belvoir and the War College. She should be embarrassed instead of writing crap like this.
Category: Military issues
“The race isn’t always to the swift nor the battle to the strong, but if you are a betting man, that’s the way to bet.” John Wayne in ths movie where he played a college football coach.
While I’m the first to agree that the APFT shouldn’t be this sole measure of a soliders suitability for combat (as a matter of fact I hate that its the defcato measure of a good solider), its still a key component of soldiering. And all things being equal I’d rather have that than no standard at all.
That said if she has a way of evaluating who’s got the mental and spiritual fortitude to be a badass of Audie Murphy’s nature I’m all for implementing it. Until then she needs to STFU and work to make the existing system better rather than just bitching to courts to get it thrown out.
What an appropriate place to put this link. It’s to a fish, a special fish. Like Kernel Herring, it doesn’t like men either.
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/08/12/testicle-biting-fish-may-be-invading-denmark/?test=latestnews
So I am at a school at Camp Parks and this came up the other day and was debated in class. Bottom line: the females cannot be convinced that there is not some mythical “Hairy Mary” out there who might meet the standard and since that person might possibly exist no expense should be spared to find, select and train her-for, I don’t know, the collective esteem of the female gender or something. Anyway, there is plenty of proof out there for those who are interested, start here: http://www.fredoneverything.net/MilMed.shtml
Or you can look at the Navy Cross citation of (then) Cpl Ciff Wooldridge, who beat an enemy combatant to death with his own RPK. I’m sure physical strength was of no use to him either.
“This is belied by our less-than-optimal performances in many instances during the past 12 years.”
You mean like the complete failure of 1,000 general officers to come up with a winning strategy to beat the Taliban? The only thing she should be studying in the War College is how to win the current war.
I just read an article in the Marine Corps Times, where SecDef Hagal went to the East Coast, and talked with several hundred female Marines, and only 1 of them said they would like to try out for the infantry…the majority said that there is NO need to change things, and a few of the female officers said that they didn’t believe that many females would try out for the infantry anyways.
But hey! What we, the boots on the ground with experience, think cannot stand in the way of Political Correctness and Femenizm. Never mind that those who are screaming the loudest for this to happen will not be the first to sign up. I believe that this Col should be required to go through IOC and then deploy with an infantry battalion if she wins this lawsuit.
What a bunch of nonsense. Who let’s this woman teach anything to anyone?
And what’s that patch on your right sleeve say, Colonel? Hmmmm?
Okay, thanks for playing, have a nice day.
oh god, please tell me she won’t ever get a star.
Audie Murphy never failed anything in the Marine Corps. He was turned down from all three services because he was underage and underweight. After gaining some weight and altering his birth certificate he joined the Army without trying the Navy or Marines again. He passed all the required training to be an infantryman including 30 mile marches in combat gear in 8 hours.
No one lowered the standards for him.
“Perhaps it is time to take a hard look at what really makes a competent combat soldier and not rely on traditional notions of masculine brawn that celebrate strength over other qualities,” Easy for her to say, she’ll just set it up so that each female in an infantry company has a male soldier to carry her load. They can also be sent out to pick up the wounded, while she rests in the bottom of the foxhole that she has the male dig for her.
@9–**A** star? Andy, if this administration gives way to a Clinton administration (God help us all) you might just be looking at the first female Chief of Staff.
There are holes in her argument (i.e., whining) large enough to drive a 5 ton tractor-trailer through.
But let’s just go with one:
“. . . and North Vietnamese insurgents as examples. . .”
Ummm. . The NVs were on their home turf, with cached supplies and many villagers willing (or unwilling? coerced?) to help them out. Therefore they didn’t HAVE to carry so much. Their re-supply was always just around the next corner of the trail.
We, as the “invading” foreigners, had to hump EVERYTHING with us necessary to fight and survive.
How about this one:
“. . . This is belied by our less-than-optimal performances in many instances during the past 12 years.”
Too easy. For the same reason we lost VietNam, we are/have lost Afghanistan & Iraq – it went from being a SOLDIER’S war, to a POLITICIAN’S war, complete with top-down “mother-may-I” ROEs.
And by POLITICIANS, I include the field and general grade officers who were selected for their political suck-up and ability to write pretty sounding papers, instead of their military leadership and battlefield prowess.
A 120 pound woman isn’t nearly as strong as a 120 pound man. Another thing this wookie overlooked is that countries and cultures that have smaller soldiers tend to adjust their gear and combat loads to compensate for their stature.
The “good colonel’s” use of the term “North Vietnamese insurgents” is also IMO telling.
The NVA units fighting in South Vietnam were not “insurgents” whatsoever – the insurgents were the Viet Cong. Rather, the North Vietnamese units fighting in South Vietnam were foreign military units which had invaded South Vietnam and were fighting there under the command of a foreign nation (North Vietnam) that was at the time trying to conquer South Vietnam. The Viet Cong were the NVA’s indigenous South Vietnamese allies.
The NVA (and Viet Cong) supply system was also considerably different than outs. The US supplied virtually all items carried or used by our soldiers. In contrast, the NVA invaders fighting in South Vietnam (and the Viet Cong insurgents, for that matter) were largely supplied locally with most non-weapons items, and with some weapons items as well (captured stocks and dismantled bombs from which they salvaged explosives). Food and many other items were provided – willingly or unwillingly – by the local population. Ditto replacement clothing in many if not most cases.
The fact that the NVA soldier’s combat load was lighter than a US soldier’s is also due more to a difference in philosophy than anything else. They didn’t carry many of the different prescribed items the US soldier did – or, as I recall, as much ammunition. Moreover, their philosophy on casualties was also considerably different – large numbers of casualties were expected and tolerated – so there was little emphasis on personal protective gear (helmets, flack jackets). Both of these differences lightened the NVA soldier’s combat load – at the expense of increased casualties and lessened chances for individual survival.
I’m frankly shocked that an instructor at the Army War College would IMO make such obvious and truly shocking misstatements in an article for publication. Such errors frankly smack of either abject ignorance regarding US military history in Vietnam – or deliberate distortion.
Oh, the hits just keep on coming…
http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121020/NEWS0107/210200347/1159&template=print
“Female soldiers fight Pentagon in court for combat positions
By David Zucchino / Los Angeles Times
Published: October 20. 2012 4:00AM PST
Col. Ellen Haring has sued the Pentagon, alleging that the military’s policy of excluding women from most combat positions is unconstitutional. Haring, 50, was selected to supervise women assigned to a Special Operations unit in Afghanistan last year, but was removed at the last minute when her superiors said she was “not qualified.’’ – David Zucchino / Los Angeles Times
David Zucchino / Los Angeles Times
Col. Ellen Haring has sued the Pentagon, alleging that the military’s policy of excluding women from most combat positions is unconstitutional. Haring, 50, was selected to supervise women assigned to a Special Operations unit in Afghanistan last year, but was removed at the last minute when her superiors said she was “not qualified.’’
BRISTOW, Va. — Last year, Army Col. Ellen Haring thought she was finally getting her dream job. She was selected to supervise female soldiers who search and interview Afghan women in combat zones for special operations units.
Haring spent three months training at Fort Bragg, N.C. Then, just before she was to deploy to Afghanistan, she got a phone call from a staff officer. “Ma’am, we don’t think you’re qualified,” she recalled him saying.
The job went to a lower-ranking male officer. Haring was outraged. “How could I not be qualified?” she said. “I’d already been thoroughly vetted just to get to Fort Bragg.”
No one would give her a reason, she said. But she believed it was her lack of experience in combat, denied because she’s a woman.
In May, Haring — West Point graduate, career officer, wife of an Army colonel, doctoral student — and another female Army Reserve soldier sued the military. The lawsuit says the Pentagon’s exclusion of women from most combat positions is unconstitutional.”
We all know there are a few simple truths. A squad or team needs to get certain gear into the field. It has to be carried. It has to be done effectively and expeditiously. It has to be divided up among the team, and there is every likelihood that someone will have to take additional load for any number of reasons. Wounded have to be carried out. Every team member must be able to contribute to that effort, while fighting, unless incapacitated. Certain combat activities and skills require certain muscles and x-amount of stamina.
The enemy has the same challenges. Whoever handles their challenges and tasks better, more efficiently, more quickly – has an advantage.
These are inviolable truths. As already pointed out, men also flunk out of a unit when they can’t do the required tasks during training. It is very simple. There is nothing to change about it. If you screw with the laws of nature, people die unnecessarily. People will die anyway; but it is immoral to worsen their odds for social or political reasons.
How hard is that?
@16, want to bet during her training at Bragg prior to deployment, her short comings in her abilities became clear to the chain of command? intense pre deployment training can start sounding warning bells about soldiers that wont be able to hack it.
Does she teach the Womyn’s Gender Studies courses at the war college?
Colonel Haring wants to make 4-stars the easy way: by political acumen, i.e. PATRONAGE, alone.
She should have spent more time in combat.
Kernel Herring’s argument is somewhat clever. She chose a diminutive man, Audie Murphy, to illustrate that physical strength is not necessarily the determinative factor in combat performance. No shit. There is a tad more to being an American male than strength and endurance, though many American females (of age) appreciate both of those qualities in a man. It is the American male psyche that factors large here too. The male as breadwinner, as protector, as problem solver, and, like it or not, as a homicidal machine when just cause exists for it. Oh, it’s not politically okay and many would deny it, but men really are from Mars and women aren’t. That used to be undeniably true, anyway.
Here’s how it would work. And I say this from experience. When I went to OCS, it was co-ed and the standards were regular Army standards, meaning women had a much lower physical standard then any of the men. Leadership evaluations in OCS are based on a light infantry squad/platoon model which is also used at USMA, ROTC etc..
The fix was fairly simple; if a fairly difficult task was in order (road march, land nav, LRC, or anything remotely physical)the chain of command became all male. These new leaders were judged based on the ability to get the women through it. I never saw a woman finish a road march carrying her gear. The men in leadership positions that were being evaluated distributed it among other men and carried on. I did it myself, it was the only way to get through it.
My fellow infantrymen and I agrred that getting them through was okay because they would never serve in combat.
We were apparently wrong.
So this is what passes for critical thinking from an O-6 at the Army War College. That’s $10,000+ a month pissed away. It is sad when a hack like this is given a platform to spew this garbage.
I really think this is symptomatic of problems with females (I speak in the broadest possible terms and do not mean to imply that what I will say is true of individual women) that have emerged in our society over the past 40 years or so. Specifically, it seems that there is an entitlement mentality-far too common among many Americans-that seems especially pronounced among females. Ace had an article up the other day that was from the Washington Post that illustrated this, this woman was featured and she had recently divorced and the tone of the article was about how terrible it was that she was not able to “have it all”. I really do think that that is a problem that feminism has helped create-that among large numbers of women there is this idea that all aspects of life should be made perfect and that a woman should never have to make compromises or accommodations for anyone. Of course, that is nonsense, but I really do think that a good many (especially young) women have unrealistic expectations in ways that men do not and it is poison in relationships. Just for example women file for divorce twice as often as men. Anyway, I’m not sure what can be done, but this issue seems to be another manifestation of this phenomenon.
I can’t say for sure what Audie Murphy looked like as a 20 year old infantryman, but a picture of him in his late 20’s with his shirt off showed a rather muscular upper body. It all boils down to muscle mass. Men have it and women. lacking testosterone, do not.
Now that I think about it, I was recently on a trip to the Philippines, and while onboard ship, I had an interesting conversation with a female Marine…it went something like this…
HER: When they allow females in the infantry, I want to be the first one to sign up…in fact, I am going to try for MARSOC.
ME (an infantry unit leader): Great! First thing though, you might want to lose your gut…makes wearing flak and SAPI plates hard. Also, I’ve seen you in the gym…lifting 5 lb weights 100 times doesn’t do much for muscles…or toning…or fitness for that matter.
HER: ….(mouth open blank stare)
ME: Yeah, that’s what I thought.
Comrades in Arms:
I love this topic, for it is very PERSONAL for me.
I enjoy bragging (especially to Marines!) that Audie Murphy and I both went on to become soldiers in the United States Army after each of us was denied enlistment in the United States Marine Corps!
Unlike Audie Murphy, I was no hero, i.e., just an ordinary soldier doing an ordinary job, but I did serve, and spent TWO (02) straight years (twice, I voluntarily extended my one year tour for six months) in the old Republic of Viet Nam.
This is also why one of my favorite movies is, “BABY BLUE MARINE”, starring Jan-Michael Vincent, in which, during the Second World War, a recruit fails Marine boot camp, but later serves honorably in the United States Army.
Thank you.
John Robert Mallernee
Armed Forces Retirement Home
Gulfport, Mississippi 39507
Of course, Colonel Haring is also engaged in a lawsuit against the military to allow women to serve in combat.
If I didn’t know better I’d think she’s got a hidden agenda or something.
Maybe she thinks soldiers get a sherpa to haul their gear or something.
With this kind of continued performance, I would expect Obama to promote her to God. I say I would expect it, but he figures he’s already filling that billet, so maybe she’ll get Saint or something.
“not rely on traditional notions of masculine brawn that celebrate strength over other qualities”
Oh Ellen, thats so cute. How about you sit down in the gunners seat of an LAV-25. Oh noes! You just had a feed jam! Quick! Unhook the feed chutes and DEADLIFT from a sitting position the SIXTY POUND feeding assembly of the M242 Bushmaster Chain Cannon. Hurry up! People are dying out there while you huff and puff and break down in tears.
Ellen is also ignorant. Every single time there have been advances in materials that reduce the weight of an infantryman’s combat load, they are simply given more stuff to carry.
Ellen… snap out of it… platoon is leaving without us and the weapon is STILL jammed. Hey, since our scouts all got waxed out there waiting for you to provide supporting fire, how bout you climb in the back and swap places with the Doc. You can start composing letters to the families off all the troops you just got killed.
Using the Viet Cong as a comparison is completely incorrect. The VC used anyone as a combatant who was willing to pick up a gun and fire it, including artillery. If you know nothing about the ‘long-haired army’, they were women who acted as spies for the North, because they knew GIs were susceptible to female charms; they carried supply loads along the Ho Chi Minh trail and through the tunnel system; they constructed homemade claymores and planted them and set booby traps; and they also picked up rifles and shot at American GIs and ‘manned’ anti-aircraft and ground artillery. It was Uncle Ho’s pragmatic solution to an war he wanted to win, regardless of its cost.
Unless the American attitude toward warfare changes to ‘win at any cost’, which I doubt will ever happen, COL Harring makes herself sound dumber than barnacles on a cast iron skillet. She has no idea what the hell she’s talking about, and I don’t give a crap what her education is. She’s a desk jockey, and that’s it.
“Not qualified” at the mob station for a USAR colonel who had a better than average career up to that point is polite for “you’re not cutting it and we don’t trust you in combat leading soldiers, but we think too highly of you to write paper that would kill any chance for you to do something else in the USAR.” If she was supposed to lead a group of women, then, logically, the position wasn’t considered a combat position barred to women. Ergo, gender wasn’t the questionable issue with her reassignment, but something else was lacking. She should have taken the gift that they gave her instead of going full retard with the lawyers and “research” at USAWC.
This woman is a disgrace. Oh I didn’t know that once I got to ft. Bragg I’d actually have to PASS the course. I thought just cause they let me in I’d get my diploma and lead soldiers in to combat. No? Oh I must have been discriminated against then. And am I reading her comments wrong or did she basically say if there were females in the Infantry the US would have won the Vietnam war? And got UBL back in ’01? “Less than optimal performance”? What a offensive comment. But we can all go home. This 50 y/o loudmouth has it all figured out. She’ll kick down all the doors for us. Next shes gonna tell us the NFL rules are the reason there’s no females playing pro ball. We better take a hard look at what makes a “competent” football player.
Gosh if the Col’s argument is sound, why don’t we test it out in the NFL first? You know, let women play and see how that goes. Wish she was suing them instead of messing with the Nat’l Defense.
You know, it occurs to me that this Colonel doesn’t think very highly of her gender.
This is based entirely on her lack of combat. She states she was discriminated against for lack of combat experience, yet claims to be an expert on the demands od combat? I wish I knew as much about combat as her, I just spent a year as an infantryman in Iraq, I didnt read all her books
The commentary attached to the article is a riot. Between feminists that don’t know nor acknowledge documented history to some potential Stolen Valor candidates. I think I got my laughs for the night just trying to read through some of the comments.
#16 George
UNCONSTITUTIONAL!!!?? W–T–EVERLOVIN’–F!! ??
I want this “Col” Red Herring douche to show me chapter, verse and line in the plain language of the Constitution where it says that. I’ll bet’cha a paycheck swap on it.
Damn! Got my blood up!! Piss me off to the max!!
Based on what has been reported, COL Herring has more than amply demonstrated her lack of qualification for retention on active duty, let alone service in combat.
I figured it out, this is satire and no one realized it
When I went through PLDC at Ft Carson years back our class always wound up with all the 11B’s carrying the radios and squad machine guns, every damn time. The females and other POGs couldn’t hack it for more than an hour or so, if that.
When is Hillary Clinton going to submit her expert advice too?
She has combat experience having had to dodge sniper fire in Bosnia, remember?
I wouldn’t be so sure that Audie Murphy couldn’t pass the Marine Officer Infantry Course. I recently read an article over at Ranger Up called Your Grandpa Could Kick Your Ass:
http://rhinoden.rangerup.com/your-grandpa-could-kick-your-ass/
It’s about how much tougher PT was back in the WWII era. I’m guessing Audie Murphy could have kicked this woman’s ass with one arm tied behind his back.
Example:
Now comes the scoring of the 1946 test. As a good reference we will use pull-ups. To receive 100 points required 20 pull-ups, to barely make the good category with 64 points required 10, and to be considered poor at 40 points required 6 pull-ups. Ok now honestly tell me how many of your guys and/or gals can do 6 pull-ups in your current organization?
http://youtu.be/osCDpoPgDSE
Lets see Col. Haring…It was 1974 when I went through basic training and we didn’t have females in the training company, guys all guys. IIRC, we had to make the maximum for push up’s, pull ups, bars, ect pack and carry a (50lb) pack and perform well on road marches of varying distances, Land Nav, the whole ball of wax or you failed and recycled or sent home. There more than a couple that recycled and/or sent home.
At AIT (MP school) things changed a lot because we were training with women and separate barracks. Thats when I began noticing there two different sets of training rules being applied and shook my head in pure f’ng amazement. You don’t need a masters degree from USMA or any other college to recognize slackers. There were women at the school that wanted to be military police and kept up with us guys. Then, there were the other women that simply wanted to figure out some way of getting through it with minimal effort.
I never went to airborne ect but we did have two training ranges beside weapons range we had to pass. Most had the scoot and shoot part down within a few days of starting. Some would have vehicle range down with a few tries. A chosen few would sit on their asses watching from the sidelines, never drive a truck, car, hump an M-60 (because it was too heavy) or haul ammo cans OR stand on a f’ng square box directing traffic for several hours at a time but yet be going to field units with the rest of us.
Screw Col Haring. If she can’t make it in such an environment, maybe she should have swapped over to being a para-legal or office clerk.
It seems you’ve missed the money line:
“Fixating on physical standards is a tactical-level approach that misses a strategic-level opportunity.”
We, who think of Infantry in its base form, tactically, do not normally think about those InfantryMEN that perform at strategic levels, i.e. eschelons above God.
We generally think of the members of Infantry Platoons and Squads and Fireteams. This is where real Grunts, want to be. It was what they were trained to do.
The Kernel, at her strategic college of war, isn’t expressing an interest in women doing such menial tactical chores. She wants them running the Battalions and working in the S3 shops, getting credit for being 11A’s and 11B’s. She figures they can get their CIB’s the same way so many have, watching a mortar or rocket show.
And because, after 3 months of training, she proved that she was unqualified to run the Female Engagement Teams, a junior officer has already had to pick up her slack. I suspect that others have had to pick up her slack her entire career. Based on the small sampling of her career I’ve read here, I suspect she is one of those types that is quick to claim the successes of subordinates, and quicker still to blame subordinates and peers for her own shortcomings.
I would like to see a study on the assignment of additional duties in non-combat units, i.e. “co-ed” units.
I would like to see a breakdown by gender of how many women are assigned, and how many are assigned the heavily physical tasks, such as M2 gunner, M240 gunner, vs. how many white males are assigned as EO representatives and FETteam members. I’d like to see this study include the peacetime assignments, the pre-deployment assignments, and the in combat assignments.
I expect we would see the male-female ratio of the unit would not be the same as the ratio on heavy weapons (and other taskings) in peacetime, and became more distorted as the unit got closer to actual combat, even when the distortion of assignments not performed (I.e. tasked on paper but not in actions) were left unaccounted for.
@4: Or, ask David Bellavia what hand to hand combat with a strong and determined enemy is like and see if he thinks the lovely Colonel could handle that situation.
I don’t recall if she used either of those examples in her whining.
Old Trooper, you’re still thinking about the “tactical level,” while the Kernel is discussing the “strategic opportunity,” i.e. the REMF types of Infantry, or video screen command of Grunts.
Afterall, the strategic opportunity is proven by the fact that a slight man or woman can play “Medal of Honor” video games, just as well as the most decorated Combat Infantryman, perhaps better, since they aren’t distracted by actually running combat ops.
Now, for the challenge: creating the robot grunt, or implanting a microchip in those testosterone plagued cyborgs sent onto the battlefield for the video game warriors.