Women have a place to serve if they want it.
And have you
ever seen me say otherwise? Ever?
Here is clue #1, I first put on the uniform in 1983. I am still wearing the uniform today.
The Battalion Commander I still respect the most to this day is female. And if she was to ever call me up and say "Hey, I want you to transfer over and join me in combat operations", I would say yes and go join her wherever she was. Without hesitation. I served with her in a combat command on a combat deployment, and would do so again without hesitation.
But it was also not an Infantry command. Do not confuse the two, or think that every combat command or position is infantry.
And here is clue #2. I have served under every President since Ronald Reagan's first administration. That is 6 Presidents, in 2 different branches, in 4 different official MOS. So I actually have an idea what I am talking about. I do not give a damn about political correctness, and simply say things as I see them.
And when I see things like what you just said, all I can think is that you completely ignored everything that I said and went off into your own little world, ignoring what I actually said.
The biggest problem the Army has in this regard isn't physical fitness, or lack there of. It's the lack of tactical and technical training non-combat arms Soldiers receive in infantry skills. A good example would the Ft Bliss Maintenance Company Soldiers who were ambushed in Iraq in 2003. They got lost because of of lack of land nav skills and then got overrun by the Iraqis. Most hadn't properly cleaned their weapons, which jammed and didn't know how to respond to an ambush.
Ahh, the 507th Maintenance Company. Known today as Echo Company, 5-52 AMD.
Yes, I know that story quite well, having met and talked with people involved in it directly. Of course, I was stationed for years in 1-43 ADA, less than 100 meters from them.
I hinted at that earlier, in how the Army and Marines differ. Yes, I was in PATRIOT for 5 years. But most of that time I was actually assigned to Force Protection. Every First Sergeant I worked for knew I had been a Marine Infantryman, so putting the square peg in the square hole put me in Recon-Security section. This is why I talked about "Motor T setting up as Force Protection did security". That is real world experience, as in me doing such in a PATRIOT Battalion. Exactly as the 507th Maintenance company did in 5-52.
Yes, for most in the Army the "Basic Soldier Skills" are seriously lacking. They get a week or so of basic combat skills, and that is it. Yes, they know how to respond to incoming fire (single envelopment) without hesitation. But ironically, ask them what to do in the event of a near ambush and they are completely clueless. Most even think I am joking when I told them "Turn and Burn", and thought that was some "Marine Corps BS", until I pointed put to them that the Army Infantry TM says the same thing.
Outside of infantry, things like weapons cleaning, practicing hand and arm signals on a squad level, or even filling out a "Range Card" are largely unheard of. Most times I found myself manning the M2 because I was the only one who even knew what a range card was and how to designate sectors of fire, predesignated fire positions and things like dead zones. Things even a "Grunt E-2" knows is almost unheard of to even an E-4 in a "high tech" field like PATRIOT.
Yea, I was a "dumb grunt". Who could do a 3 hour land nav course in just over an hour, finding 5 out of 5 points. Who could ruck march all but the former 11B Lieutenant into the dirt (even though the rest were all half my age or less). Who kept his weapon clean because that is how I had been trained since day 1, that my weapon is taken care of before I am.
It is always interesting, in that in every Army unit I have been in, there is a small group that were Marines before. And we all stand apart from the rest of the soldiers. Hell, we can often spot each other within a few minutes, we just stand, talk, and behave differently. I am actually looking to move to another unit shortly, because the last of the other "Marines" just transferred out, and I am alone other than a Lieutenant Colonel and a Major. Of course, as part of the S-6 of a Headquarters Company of a Reserve Brigade, I am about as worthless as teats on a boar hog. My unit is 6 of E-3 to E-5, 10 of E-6 through E-8, and over 30 officers (from O-2 to O-6). Within the next few months I hope to return to a more "normal" unit, where the E-1 through E-4 will actually outnumber those of E-5 and above.
