I will add my totally worthless two cents.
I have no problem with women in combat roles. In fact, I don't believe there should be a box to check if a person is male or female, black or white or yellow or purple or whatever.
I believe the Army should set one standard, not adjusted for age, or sex. Imagine the outcry if the Army had a standard adjusted to make white people do less (or more) than black people. It would be totally unfair and stupid, without any benefit to the Army itself. But, the Army does that for men and women, why?
I can remember my brief time dealing with these issues in the late nineties and thinking how silly it was for a girl to get the same score on the PT test as I did having to do less than half as many push ups, and run the two mile several minutes slower. Yes, I admit, we had to do the same number of sit ups.
I can also tell you that gear and weight carried on long runs was distributed so as to not make the women fall back. That meant that the better runners were having to carry more than their fair share, and the weaker runners were getting off easy.
Now, if women are going to be let in the infantry all will rejoice that women are pulling their weight, and that certainly is a feel good story. I can tell you that until the APFT changes, they are being required to do less to get the same opportunity for promotion or schools.
Again, set a standard where you need it to be for performance for the whole unit and make everyone, without exception, perform to that standard. What is between your legs matters less than what is in your chest, just don't tell me that things are equal until they really are.
I have no problem with women in combat roles. In fact, I don't believe there should be a box to check if a person is male or female, black or white or yellow or purple or whatever.
I believe the Army should set one standard, not adjusted for age, or sex. Imagine the outcry if the Army had a standard adjusted to make white people do less (or more) than black people. It would be totally unfair and stupid, without any benefit to the Army itself. But, the Army does that for men and women, why?
I can remember my brief time dealing with these issues in the late nineties and thinking how silly it was for a girl to get the same score on the PT test as I did having to do less than half as many push ups, and run the two mile several minutes slower. Yes, I admit, we had to do the same number of sit ups.
I can also tell you that gear and weight carried on long runs was distributed so as to not make the women fall back. That meant that the better runners were having to carry more than their fair share, and the weaker runners were getting off easy.
Now, if women are going to be let in the infantry all will rejoice that women are pulling their weight, and that certainly is a feel good story. I can tell you that until the APFT changes, they are being required to do less to get the same opportunity for promotion or schools.
Again, set a standard where you need it to be for performance for the whole unit and make everyone, without exception, perform to that standard. What is between your legs matters less than what is in your chest, just don't tell me that things are equal until they really are.
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