Women in hostile action?

[Stick]

Watched a movie last night, GI Jane, and I'm sure that it's been asked before here but I'm curious.
How many of you think that women should be allowed to be in hostile action with the armed forces?
I personally wouldn't want it. I can think on NO women that should have to go through what I went through and I don't think that they would be able to react in those situations in a way necessary to cover their own ars and every other troop that was with them. Yeh! They might be able to haul my sorry wounded butt of the battlefield but that's not the point. Would they freak out under fire where they couldn't clearly see the enemy? And what would they do if they did see that enemy and that enemy was a kid? Been there, done that.
But, then again I still open doors for women get up from my chair if it's the only seat and a lady enters the room.

[catman]

John...I am far from being a male chauvinist, having grown up down south with a Mom that could lift you off your feet with her back hand, I appreciate the nurses that put me back together but would never want to share a foxhole with them.

Trav

[reconeil]

Even though agreeing with both you and Catman, and couldn't visualize in a million years my daughter doing hand-to-hand with a vicious enemy or suffering the horrors of warfare,...I voted Yes.

After all, there's no longer A Draft, and NO ONE (male or female) is forced volunteering for anything.

Regardless, if such Gung-Ho female types can't pass THE EXACT SAME rigorous standards set FOR MEN to survive combat,...such: "Washouts" should be classified as non-combattants and assigned to non-combattant units, flag-sewing units, or whatever. Anything less than I've suggested just wouldn't be fair to The Combat Unit, and especially if an Elite Combat Unit.

Besides, and call me: "Chicken" or whatever. But, if ever having to be back-to-back for survival in a combat situation, such as my alma mater suffered at LZ Xray,...I would have much preferred an Arnold Swartzenager type at my back, than even the most Gung-Ho and best motivated of little girls,...any day of the week.

GarryOwen,
Neil

[Arrow]

John,

I won't speak for the rest of the world but it would just be to bizarre to even imagine my girl in combat. She is pefectly capable of defending her own turf and is well trained in the use of firearms. But then after the intruder was done in she could go back to her nail polish and curling iron. Same/same with me. I love my amenities.Camping to me is a lodge by the lake. It has never been a fantasy of mine to spend time in a foxhole. I can't imagine being that far from an electrical socket for curling iron/blow dryer.

[reeb]

The Women in the OLD days of covered wagons and such done it then, so, why not now?

I would love to say that my sister or mother was or is an infranty person fighting for what they think is right.

ERA......

enough................

[the humper]

There is one helluva lot of difference in a covered wagon and a fox-hole. Give you one personal example:
You are out, a couple of miles in front of the lines on an all night ambush patrol. Encounter the enemy and the person next to you, laying down is hit on his butt by one of their grenades. It renders him immobile so therefore he can't move. And he is 6' 3'. What do you do!!!!! There is NO ALTERNATIVE. You throw him over your shoulder and take off like a bat out of hell and RUN with him back those 2+ miles. Some male gender can't do that and I haven't yet met the other who could. So which on do you want covering your butt!!!!! Think about it????
SF
NC

[Seascamp]

From a purely practical point of view, I don?t think it?s a workable proposition. Women are fully capable of doing over 90% of taday's military jobs, maybe more, so making them glass and nail eating ground combat troops is just a bridge too far, in my opinion. But if they have the physical stamina, mental steel, size, strength, etc., maybe just let them go follow their desire. But I would be dead set against involuntary assignment or active recruitment efforts into Army combat arms or a Marine line outfit. That would just be a train wreck coming down the tracks, no doubt about it. My biggest concern is that men under stress can get strange notions about things and could overreact or under react with a female present and that could be absolutely deadly. In essence, what may workout fine in a training and camp environment would most likely have the wheels come off in a stressful combat scenario as that is organized chaos at best, bedlam at worst and people have to be instinctive to survive. Not to say that women aren?t instinctive, they are probably more so then men, but probably far more intense about it. So anyway, that?s my opinion and I would vote 'maybe, it's an individual case by case situation?.

Scamp

[revwardoc]

Reeb, if you're saying that the women who went west in the covered wagons got into actual combat with, and I'm assuming you mean, Indians, well, that's not quite right. The only accounts of a wagon train being attacked by Indians are when the train consisted of only a few wagons. Wagon trains were much too heavily armed for Indians to attack. You figure each man had at least one firearm and virtually every wagon had two or three. Most of the gunshot wounds suffered by pioneers were self inflicted or similar accidents.These people before making the tripread newspaper and "dime novel" accounts of Indian massacres but they were all too frequently total fiction designed to sell books and papers, but they believed them and went out there loaded for bear, or Indians.

This does not diminish the fact that they were damned tough women and that mode of travel toughened them even more. And the ones who settled in remote cabins on the prairie and in the mountains, you can't say enough about their powers of endurance, but that was the way life was back then in those situation. Every day brought another round of hardship and pain. Can you picture some of these high school "mall rats", with their makeup, designer clothes, manicures and pedicures, digging foxholes and wearing the same uniforms for days at a time? Maybe 1 out of 5000, maybe.

[BLUEHAWK]

The way we're going we're probably: a) gonna need every able body we can possible get to help with the combat that's coming up, b) not likely to change everything that has already happened along these lines of females in combat.

It was pretty much a falsehood from the start that women should not, could not and were not in combat...know what I mean?

The two things we should really prefer, however, is no more co-ed basic training (tech school, permanent party assignments, then fine), and no mixed combat units as assigned. If war makes mixing mandatory and unavoidable, then fine... but let's not be in tents/foxholes together all summer/winter long, okay? Damn few wars have been fought like these recent ones are, with nicely segregated quarters and such relatively brief tours of active in-combat duty.

There are lots of women who would sit straight up in her birth delivery room to shoot the eyes out of an enemy, but most wouldn't have that capacity. So, when we speaking of women we're talking about both varieties here.

It's a real tricky deal, and I have no idea how anybody could possible test for the right instincts or abilities in advance. I think the Marines have the right idea, keep genders apart during boot camp, at least. ALL female combat units?... then that seems probably a good alternative, kinda goes along better with unit cohesion and old fashioned competitiveness, unit pride and such.

I will say this too, I wish to God they'd cut off ALL their hair like we have to do. It isn't like we wouldn't still be able to tell one another apart or anything. Since we're gonna be equals then let's all start out being equally humiliated.

The day to resolve all this discussion is long ago passed. So much for the "fair sex" and "better half" stuff... and let it always be known that THIS WAS NOT OUR IDEA ladies! The desire/opportunity to kill, maim, starve, freeze, stay filthy, get mean as hell and witness constant bloody horror during combat which was once more or less reserved for dispensible males is now yours too, if not by your choice then by the choice of those who want you to have choice. I think the wrong choice got made.

Thing is, the rest of us didn't GET that choice. We never imagined you too would ever want to become dispensible. We actually thought we were doing our job so you all would not have to do the same! Guess we were wrong all along. It's too late now. We DID try to put a stop to this.

Welcome to the club, now we gotta make the best of it. The only thing I am grateful for is being past the age where I'd have to deal with it every day in active service. You are probably glad, too.

The clincher was letting that young lady into the Citadel. Never should've happened. An ALL female service academy sounds good right about now. If there were any rapes or sexual abuse it wouldn't be the guy's fault anymore.

Now, I really am in trouble...

P.S. You can change your mind whenever you're ready... but you knew that.

[reeb]

Everyone,

My point is this:::::

Has anyone seen the troops now days? Men or Women????

Some of these women I would bet would save your 6 rather than a 99 pound weakiling man that is in the active duty field and cant even carry his own weight.

ALL military is suppose to go through some kind of tatic to prepare himeself/herself for war.

It is the right and privilage to serve the USA.

I have see cops on the road that I wouldnt want to tangle with, but there also the skinny ones that you really dont want tangle with.

The same goes for the Military.

Just cause you got a Sharpshooter medal dont mean that you can carry a man/woman wieghing in at 200 pounds plus, no more than yoou can carry your own pack

Sure alot of the movies you see on TV are fiction, but watch the history channel every once in a while and you will see different. Thay are not all Betsy Ross!!!!!

I always thought the Gulf War was a farce, until I seen alot of tributes to them ( the USA giving more than Viet Vets Got. But the other day I watched Bravo two zero ( I think ) it was. These guys/women done one hell of alot ( but not as much as Nam or Korea or both WW).

NOW,

Ifn anyone wants to join the service and do theeir duty, let them, and may they have a GOOD Trainer , vice the college kids that dont know shit.............

enough...........