Panetta opens combat roles to women

[green73]

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senior defense officials say Pentagon chief Leon Panetta is removing the military's ban on women serving in combat, opening hundreds of thousands of front-line positions and potentially elite commando jobs after more than a decade at war.

The groundbreaking move recommended by the Joint Chiefs of Staff overturns a 1994 rule banning women from being assigned to smaller ground combat units. Panetta's decision gives the military services until January 2016 to seek special exceptions if they believe any positions must remain closed to women.

http://www.wtop.com/931/3181819/Pane...roles-to-women

[kcchiefs6465]

God forbid one of them gets captured.

[phill4paul]

God forbid one of them gets captured.

It will provide all the moral outrage needed to enter/continue any war.

[loveableteddybear]

It will provide all the moral outrage needed to enter/continue any war.

$#@!, you guys just figured out what this bull$#@! is all really about. Justifying endless wars.

[James Madison]

It will provide all the moral outrage needed to enter/continue any war.

Ding ding ding!

When all those caskets with dead women come back Boobus will be out for blood.

Reminds me of the South Park episode where the boys turn into cavemen at first sight of girls developing breasts.

[osan]

It will provide all the moral outrage needed to enter/continue any war.

Just for a while. People will normalize to even this and existence will go on. Note I did not use "life". This effect would, IMO, be naught but a temporary fringe benefit of much broader effect, which is to break down the last vestiges of sensitivity of humanity to itself. When those barriers are sufficiently neutralized then literally ANY outrage by one set of humans against another will be met with a ho-hum reaction by those not immediately effected by whatever events may be in play. Once that threshold is crossed, the human race will have become irretrievably lost to the whim of the tyrant. We are not there just yet, but we are running quickly now. I may be wrong, but it seems to my eyes that the rate at which people inure to subsequent rubbing steps is rising very notably.

The broader strategic goal as I see it is to bring people BEYOND moral outrage and into a condition of such death-like apathy that there shall be no act sufficiently and outlandishly evil to earn a material response from the cattle. This SHOULD be the goal of any tyrant whose sights are set broadly enough to encompass the entire planet. Welcome to the 21st century my friends.

I believe that the elites are treading a very fine line at this time in history. They are on the brink of achieving their goals and are simultaneously at their most vulnerable. I believe they are banking greatly on the maintenance and ultimate efficacy of the current levels of apathy and fear to see them to the threshold of no return. If ever the time existed to actively resist, it is now. There is still enough moral sense in the average man to get his unwanted attention on certain fronts. The problem is awakening it to action and then channeling it properly, and it is monumental.

[paulbot24]

God forbid one of them gets captured.

Indeed. Those guys will never know what hit them. Women understand women, that's why they hate each other.

[CaptainAmerica]

God forbid one of them gets captured.

Panetta would probably hope for it to fuel the propaganda to go to more war

[Confederate]

Ridiculous.

[jkr]

DISGUSTING

[Anti Federalist]

Just another indication of a sick and dying society.

Call me whatever names you want, a society that puts young girls out on the front line to get ground into hamburger, to advance the cause of the banskters and the NWO, is sick.

[familydog]

Just another indication of a sick and dying society.

Call me whatever names you want, a society that puts young girls out on the front line to get ground into hamburger, to advance the cause of the banskters and the NWO, is sick.

I'm right there with you. Putting young boys out on the front line to get ground into hamburger is much more appropriate.

[sailingaway]

It is to justify a universal draft, I am sure.

[Pericles]

US women have already been captured, and what happened to them has not been made public - no more needs to be said.

OTOH, it furthur degrades US military capability, which may be a bad or a good thing dependeing on circumstances.

[Anti Federalist]

OTOH, it furthur degrades US military capability, which may be a bad or a good thing depending on circumstances.

Or point of view, I suppose.

[phill4paul]

US women have already been captured, and what happened to them has not been made public - no more needs to be said.

OTOH, it furthur degrades US military capability, which may be a bad or a good thing dependeing on circumstances.

To be sure the U.S. military is doing its part in keeping its OWN house clean by sweeping under the rug the treatment of some women within its ranks.

[Anti Federalist]

To be sure the U.S. military is doing its part in keeping its OWN house clean by sweeping under the rug the treatment of some women within its ranks.

What is the rape and sexual assault rate again?

[phill4paul]

What is the rape and sexual assault rate again?

Varying reports but I think it stands at 1 in 3 according to the DOD. Which would put it roughly at 70,000 victims. Whether this number is correct or not could be endlessly disputed. However, had these women not been in the military then I think the number would be zero. And if a civilian had been raped or assaulted by a military member then chances are better that some form of justice would occur.

[kcchiefs6465]

US women have already been captured, and what happened to them has not been made public - no more needs to be said.

OTOH, it furthur degrades US military capability, which may be a bad or a good thing dependeing on circumstances.

Wait until one is captured and it is made public. And I'm not talking about edited, PG-13 news reports.

[Pericles]

Wait until one is captured and it is made public. And I'm not talking about edited, PG-13 news reports.

I just happen to know because I served with one of the doctors who treated her on her "return" to US forces. If I say any more, it will become obvious who she is.

For AF, the point of her article is the combat load, even for non infantry types routinely exceeds 50 pounds, and women are getting lower back injuries, and lower leg skeletal problems from the weight being carried. It shows up faster in the women, but long term years on, it eventually shows up in the guys as well. 20 years in combat arms units takes a physical toll.

[jkob]

how long until they start the draft up again?

[QuickZ06]

Some of us want to stop the wars not need women for more.

[Danke]

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/29/us...ted=all&src=pm

[thoughtomator]

Someone record the name of the first American soldier to give birth mid-combat for posterity.

[phill4paul]

Someone record the name of the first American soldier to give birth mid-combat for posterity.

While fighting off a hoard of terrorists and saving her squad! Made for (payed) TeeVEE I'm tellin' ya!

[Danke]

USS Acadia (AD-42) in 1990:

"This was the first war-time deployment of a mixed male-female crew on a U.S. Navy combat vessel. Just over one third of her crew were women, which caused some controversy when during the course of the mission 1 in 10 of the female crew either became pregnant or discovered they already were."

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...-115647-8125r/

[pacodever]

Fact is most women just cannot meet the physical requirements for combat grunt work (marine, army) or special forces. In the navy, I deliberately pulled women and some men off fire hose teams and made them phone talkers. I knew there was no chance in hell that they would be able to carry their own weight with 50 lbs of gear, let alone carry a 200± lb buddy up a several flights of ladders if he went down. It endangers women and the men they serve next to.

Not to mention the completely different physical standards they are currently held to.

[MelissaWV]

Fact is most women just cannot meet the physical requirements for combat grunt work (marine, army) or special forces. In the navy, I deliberately pulled women and some men off fire hose teams and made them phone talkers. I knew there was no chance in hell that they would be able to carry their own weight with 50 lbs of gear, let alone carry a 200± lb buddy up a several flights of ladders if he went down. It endangers women and the men they serve next to.

Not to mention the completely different physical standards they are currently held to.

This.

I'm all for "allowing" women in combat, personally, but hold them to the same standards. No excuses. No once-a-month time off for cramps or PMS or whatever. Too short to march? Too weak to lift? Too jiggly to handle recoil? Tough luck.

There will be some women that meet and exceed expectations/standards. There will be many that do not (just as there are, every year, many men who do not).

* * *

This will make a draft interesting if it ever happens. You will see all sorts of female-illnesses crop up to make people unfit for duty all of a sudden, and you will see a marked upswing in pregnancies.

[SpreadOfLiberty]

I just don't want a draft to include women(or anybody for that matter).

[SpreadOfLiberty]

Has anybody checked the fitness tests for our military? Personally they seem kind of lame. You should be in prime physical shape in the military, with strength and endurance.

Anyways, they have it weighted based on age, but also a different set for females. However, the battlefield doesn't make such adjustments. I wonder if the combat fitness level for women will be raised?