This hilarious and wonderful piece spotted in the 18 January 2010 Marine Corps Times by one of my buddies needs no commentary, but will certainly be getting some (emphasis my own):
I totally agree with the Jan 4. forum entry “Women in Combat.” I have been in the Marine Corps for nine years. After deploying to Iraq and going outside the wire with an infantry battalion, I realized that women do not belong on the battlefield. The male Marines were outstanding and supportive, but the locals were the problem. Locals thought female Marines were a joke when they saw us on patrol.
I am not saying that women can’t handle the job of a Marine. I am just saying that having them on the battlefield causes way too many problems.
Sounds to me like having them on the battlefield, causing problems, is another way of saying that they can’t handle the job. You know a third way of saying it? By acknowledging the fact that women, on average, have half the upper body strength of men and 25%-30% less aerobic capacity.
Females get pregnant. They are a distraction to males who are away from their wives and girlfriends. People have to watch their words for fear of a misstep that could cause a sexual harassment case.
The way I have felt for the past nine years is nothing I would ever want my daughter to experience.
At least she didn’t suggest we need to radically revamp military culture to make soldiering safe for women.
Now, as a mother, I can see why my mother never wanted me to join the Marine Corps. I love the Corps but I feel, as a woman, we should go back to the way things used to be. Every day in the Marine Corps is a struggle to compete and be a leader. At least I will retire in 2011 knowing I gave 110 percent.
Sgt. Charity Perrine, Jacksonville, N.C.
I like math. Let’s assume she is an average woman. If she gave 110% effort, that means she had a whopping 55% of the upper body strength and 77% of the aerobic capacity of an average man! Still not quite cutting the mustard, but hey, she did her best, right? I’d like to quote Sean Connery as John Mason on this point: “Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen.” Sounds like she’d be better off as the prom queen.
There were some other noteworthy comments in the publication (collected from their forums) I thought I’d go ahead and share too:
“When you have aggressive, young, alpha-male types who join an organization to kill and have limited contact with women … there will be a problem. The only real solution to this issue is to not have women [in the Marines] at all. It’s sickening that the military has become a big social experiment. My buddy on Okinawa says he’s not even allowed to enter a female’s room in the barracks. Then the command will turn around and talk about how there are no female Marines, only Marines. – ivantense
Aside from the obvious concurrence with common sense observation of alpha male tendencies in the military…I’m stationed on Okinawa. The male-female ratio out here is so bad that as soon as a female joins a unit – any unit – on base, practically all of the men hear about it through the grapevine. Considering rules and regulations for going off base can be hugely restrictive, what do the brass expect to have happen when a woman “comes aboard?” News of women joining other units on other bases can even spread, so long as she is attractive enough. Women literally become celebrities just by virtue of their gender out here – Meritorious Mediocrus, anyone?
My only fear of the “crackdown” on sexual assaults ["Zero Tolerance," Dec. 28] will be male Marines fearing to even speak around female Marines because they’re afraid of nonjudicial punishment for offending a woman. – NRTrackChamp2004
There’s nothing to fear. Most of the more sensible male Marines already do avoid speaking around female Marines because they’re afraid of nonjudicial punishment! What you should really fear is the fact that male Marines are almost certainly going to face nonjudicial punishment as ‘investigations’ turn up instances of ‘harassment.’ Pretty easy to convict someone of something that the “victim” has 100% leeway to define, now isn’t it? Complete avoidance seems the only way to avoid such outcomes – but this is antithetical to ideals of unit cohesion (or as the Marine Corps calls it, “esprit de corps“).
Long-time MRAs will love this quip about service members who commit suicide while deployed (from the editor):
…One group of families does not receive such letters [of condolence from Defense Secretary Robert Gates]: the families of troops who die by their own hand in the war zones. Pentagon officials explain that there is no official policy to exclude the families of suicide victims; it’s simply the way it’s always been done…That is no excuse for ignoring the pain of these families’ loss, which they feel no less keenly than do the families of troops killed in action…The suicide rate is at a record high in the military. That suggests troops are struggling to cope with truly extraordinary levels of stress.
Somebody really pulled out all the feminist-language-ideology stops on this one. Notice how use of gender is avoided (because we all know that the vast majority of “troops who die by their own hand in war zones” are, first and foremost, men), and how the suffering of the men in combat zones is downplayed by comparing it to the grief of the families they leave behind. Such rhetoric assumes that all families are supportive, when more reasoned and cognizant individuals could postulate that families may be an additional source of stress and woe for the men overseas – it’s not ‘out-there’ to think that a man might ’snap’ or ‘lose-it’ after receiving news that his wife is cheating on him or walked away with all his assets. These horror stories are all too common in the service. Lastly, I like how the editor acknowledges that suicide rates are at a record high, yet the only suggestion is to help comfort the grieving families, rather than address why (mostly) men are killing themselves at accelerating rates.
Ending on a more light-hearted note, I suppose at least we can be enthused that even women are beginning to recognize the illogic of females in combat situations – although, it did take motherhood to knock her into her senses. One blogger thinks, contrary to popular wisdom, marrying young may have a good effect on women. Perhaps motherhood plays a role in that?
