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Monday, February 04, 2013

Combat Leaders Mull Equal Standards For Women

The heads of U.S. Special Operations Command said women will be welcomed into America’s elite combat units as long as they can meet the same physical standards as men.

Retired Amy Lt. Gen. Frank Helmick just hopes females will be judged as fairly as their male counterparts.

Helmick, who once commanded the physically and mentally grueling U.S. Army Ranger School, said he applauds the Pentagon’s recent decision to allow women to serve in direct combat units.

“It is inevitable that there is going to be a female that is going to go to Ranger School and quite honestly, I think that is a good thing as long as the standards do not change,” Helmick said. “The biggest challenge that the Army will have is to ensure that the instructors and the chain of command are making the playing field level for everybody.”

While mostly supportive, direct-action combat arms communities such as special operations and infantry forces continue to react to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s decision to lift the ban that would open up about 237,000 combat-arms jobs to women.

Navy Rear Adm. Sean Pybus, head of the Naval Special Warfare Command, pointed to the SEAL trident on his uniform and then explained how he could foresee a future when a woman would earn one of her own.

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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have three kids and I hate to say it but i hope none of them want to go into the service. All my life I suported our military. And still do . But things just arnt what they use to be.

Anonymous said...

I served... I would not feel comfortable with a female soldier beside me. "You can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy." is a good comparison. Females may meet the physical standards, but their emotions will always be female...

Anonymous said...

Dont forget to make a law where when the girls turn 17 that they HAVE to sign up for selective service just like the young men, Hey if you want it you get ALL of it.?

Anonymous said...

Go to the websites of each of the branches of the military. Look at their physical fitness standards for men and for women. In each case, the men have to meet higher standards.

Who are they kidding?

This was the same thing we were told when women entered the services (instead of their own WAC, WAVE, etc. branches).

Women will not have to meet the same standards no matter what they are saying now.

lmclain said...

3:54 has it perfect. In order to give women the self-esteem and "rights" (??) they deserve, standards WILL be lowered. They ALREADY are lowered, just to GET IN the military. I'll bet the SEALS are laughing their butts off when they hear one of their own commanders say (as politically correct as he can get) he "can see the day when a woman can become a SEAL". LOL!! The MAJORITY of MEN who try the SEAL training drop out, but there's a WOMAN who can handle THAT? You ain't in touch with reality if that thought has seriously crossed your mind....a woman wouldn't last two weeks...unless, of course the standards are lowered. The next thing you know, Steven Hawking will sue the police because he's always wanted to be a cop, but they won't let him, just because he can't walk or wipe his own ace. They are "discriminating" against him, hurting his feelings, and denying him his lifelong dream of pinning on a badge and being a hero. SOMETIMES, you ain't cut out for the job, no matter HOW badly you want it. Life ain't fair, baby, so don't get me killed because YOU have a "right" to be this or that. You do not...

Anonymous said...

I don't mind living in a man's world, as long as I can be a woman in it. ~Marilyn