Women in the military

[Deleted]

What are your thoughts of women serving in the military? My experience so far has been pretty bad, I have never met a female serving that I respected, I know some there have been exceptions but I have not met one so far.

Should Women be held to the same standards as the men? This would eliminate the dead weight but would also leave the services temporarily under manned. Take a look at the current fitness requirements for the US Army.



Women need to do significantly less work in order to qualify for the same job as the men? I am all for equality, so why not make the requirements equal?

[Catta]

Make endurance - aka running - equal but let the upper body strength be a bit lower for women imo...

[Deleted]

Why should the requirements be less? When the shit hits the fan you may need to drag my ass into cover, I am pretty heavy (17 stone). Take that weight, add body armour, weapon and ammunition along with a radio and you have a back breaking weight. Gear alone can weigh anything up to 200lbs, can you drag that much weight? A man that has passed the strength requirements can, so why put lives at risk by lowering standards?

[Spl4sh3r]

I believe push-ups is the wrong measurement for whatever it actually is meant to measure.

[Zecora]

Considering all the crap female soldiers tend to get from their male co-soldiers, I don't think you should begrudge them requirements that are slightly lower.

[Deleted]

Considering all the crap female soldiers tend to get from their male co-soldiers, I don't think you should begrudge them requirements that are slightly lower.

Requirements are requirements for a reason.

Women should, on principle alone, be allowed access into whatever jobs in the Military they want to do (and I'll fight for their right to do so 100%) provided the requirements are equal - and by that I mean under the caveat that the requirements are not diluted to make the military more accessible.

[Deleted]

Considering all the crap female soldiers tend to get from their male co-soldiers, I don't think you should begrudge them requirements that are slightly lower.

They get a lot of crap for a good reason, most women can not perform as well as the men in the forces. There are exceptions of course but most slow the team down. I am not saying women should not be in the forces, I say they should have equal standards. Equal pay, equal chances of promotion, equal standards.

[Jakexe]

Coz nothing stops incoming fire like doing push ups.

I served with females and they were way more professional than the majority of the males. Although if I was a front line rifleman I'd rather have blokes, and the current rules agree with that stance.

In all honesty, it's fact that females are physically weaker and the standards should be lower to consider that, but that doesn't make them worse in any regard for a majority of positions.

[Activi-T]

Requirements are requirements for a reason.

Yes but it doesn't take into account the effect the environment has on the individual (increased adrenaline etc.) whcih would increase the amount they can drag, which Rich is concerned about.

If anything the test should be done with people firing live rounds and explosives going off. /Joke

[Deleted]

Coz nothing stops incoming fire like doing push ups.

I served with females and they were way more professional than the majority of the males. Although if I was a front line rifleman I'd rather have blokes, and the current rules agree with that stance.

In all honesty, it's fact that females are physically weaker and the standards should be lower to consider that, but that doesn't make them worse in any regard for a majority of positions.

No such thing as frontline in the current conflicts, anyone can come under fire at any time, standards should reflect that.

I am pleased that your experience with female soldiers has been good, but it has been the opposite in my experience. I have known women to suddenly become pregnant just before a deployment, or use excuses like period pain to get out of PT.

[Dakhath]

Not a fan honestly. Speaking from an Infantry background we obviously never had women in the units I served with, but we had support attached to us on all of our deployments and each and every one of them either had naked pics circulating of them around the FOB or had to leave early because they were pregnant. Now I absolutely agree that it takes two but distractions like that simply aren't needed in a warzone.

As far as PT requirements, I also think that is ridiculous. If you want to play Solider at least have the ability to do so properly. The icing on the cake so to speak came when I had the "privilege" of overseeing some tents being put up and there were a few support girls there and they said they couldn't do it because they were girls. They didn't care much for me 15 minutes later.

Sometimes it seems that equality is only mentioned when it's beneficial.

[Jackmoves]

Depends on what unit they serve in, they got a nich carved out for them in HUMINT ops for example in Afghanistan, easier for a western woman to interact with the muslim women down there rather then a man.

They can be just as qualified for a lot of jobs in the armed forces, but I think they should be able to do the exact same things as a man if they want to serve in a rifle company for example. No exceptions.

[Dakhath]

Women do not belong in Combat Arms. Ever.

[Kasierith]

I agree... for specialized forces. But for general military? Women on average are smaller than men, so why would you turn away a large group of people willing to lay down their lives and serve, based on something they cannot control?

[Magathor]

The requirements should be completely equal for everybody. I don't see anything wrong with women in the military, just as long as they can keep up with the men.

[Deleted]

Depends on what unit they serve in, they got a nich carved out for them in HUMINT ops for example in Afghanistan, easier for a western woman to interact with the muslim women down there rather then a man.

They can be just as qualified for a lot of jobs in the armed forces, but I think they should be able to do the exact same things as a man if they want to serve in a rifle company for example. No exceptions.

They should have the exact same standards as the men, for any job. You never know what may happen and you need some muscle, Iraq and Afghanistan both showed there is no such thing as front lines anymore.

[Jakexe]

No such thing as frontline in the current conflicts, anyone can come under fire at any time, standards should reflect that.

I have a feeling when you say military you mean actual combat zones. If that's the case then yes, I'd rather it be women free but there's hundreds of military positions that will never come under fire. Or are you that set in your mind set that you wouldn't want to have your cook or doctor do their duty unless they meet male level requirements?

[Deleted]

I agree... for specialized forces. But for general military? Women on average are smaller than men, so why would you turn away a large group of people willing to lay down their lives and serve, based on something they cannot control?

They turn away men for having low requirements, why not let them in also? Women can train and become as fit and as strong as a man, check out some of the fitness competitors for proof.

[jaykaywhy]

Why should the requirements be less? When the shit hits the fan you may need to drag my ass into cover, I am pretty heavy (17 stone). Take that weight, add body armour, weapon and ammunition along with a radio and you have a back breaking weight. Gear alone can weigh anything up to 200lbs, can you drag that much weight? A man that has passed the strength requirements can, so why put lives at risk by lowering standards?

In the US anyway, women aren't generally allowed into combat units, but more in support and logistic roles. Although there is now a push into letting women into combat units, even then, they're being limited to logistic positions within that combat unit. The chances of them actually needing to drag someone into cover is minimal.

Additionally, push ups aren't really a good indicator of how much someone can "drag". In your hypothetical scenario, it's entirely possible that someone who is extremely light, say 140lbs, can do 100 push ups, but they'd be likewise unable to drag someone who weighs 200 pounds and has a lot of gear.

Also, where are you getting this "gear alone can weigh anything up to 200lbs"? Maybe if you're carrying your main pack with you, but even with a flak jacket, ammunition, weapon, radio, and other miscellaneous crap, you really shouldn't be carrying around that much crap.

[Deleted]

I have a feeling when you say military you mean actual combat zones. If that's the case then yes, I'd rather it be women free but there's hundreds of military positions that will never come under fire. Or are you that set in your mind set that you wouldn't want to have your cook or doctor do their duty unless they meet male level requirements?

My partner is a military doctor that has seen more combat than me, I am Infantry. Cooks also do a lot more than cook in a warzone.