Hopefully, I will not upset anyone with this article, but so be it if I do; It is not my intent, my actual intent is to save lives.
Before I get into details of the report, I ask you to take a look at the picture above. This is a United States Marine repelling from a helicopter which is a very frequent insertion technique used under combat situations and frequently done while under fire from enemy troops. This is performed while also wearing combat gear weighing anywhere from fifty to a hundred pounds, or more, in addition to your own body weight. Would you consider doing that safe if you could not perform at least a minimum of 3 pull-ups in a physical fitness test.
My concern is not out of trying to be sexist in any form or fashion. There are other issues to also be considered such as living conditions in a co-ed fox hole for days on end, etc., that I’m not going in to here, but this issue is concerning LIFE & DEATH! My concern is that if you can not meet at least some extremely basic physical fitness standards, your safety, and the safety of all your fellow service men or women are in extreme danger and lives will be lost because of it! Nothing worries me more than the loss of life for political or social advantage; I’ve personally seen it way to much in my military career and this will only increase it 50 fold. I have absolutely no issue with women in the United States military, however, when you’re placing their life, or someone else’s life in danger, not to mention the success of a military operation itself, I have major issues!
More than half of female Marines in boot camp today can not do three pull-ups which is the minimum standard that was supposed to take effect with the new year prompting the Marine Corps to delay the requirement which is part of the process of equalizing physical standards to integrate women into combat jobs. The military services are, by law, being required to place women in combat roles but should we be doing that if their physical fitness standards can not even come close to what they will need to be able to do in those combat roles? If a person, male or female, can meet the standards to perform the job, no problem. If not, then they should, for their own and everyone else’s safety, not be placed in those roles. Male service men today, and in history, who were not able to meet the standards, were not placed in such positions and the standards were not lowered.
The delay rekindled sharp debate in the military on the question of whether women have the physical strength for some military jobs, as service branches move toward opening thousands of combat roles to them in 2016. Although no new timetable has been set on the delayed physical requirement, Marine Corps Commandant General James Amos wants training officials to “continue to gather data and ensure that female Marines are provided with the best opportunity to succeed,” Captain Maureen Krebs, a Marine spokeswoman, said Thursday.
In preparation for the new combat roles for females, with the start of the new year, all female Marines were suppose to be able to do at least three pull-ups on their annual physical fitness test and eight for a perfect score. The requirement was tested in 2013 on female recruits at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina but only 45 percent of women met the minimum, Krebs said. The Marines had hoped to institute the pull-ups on the belief that the pull-ups require the muscular strength necessary to perform common military tasks such as scaling a wall, climbing up a rope or lifting and carrying heavy munitions.
Because of the change being put off, women will be able to choose which test of upper-body strength they will be graded on in their annual physical fitness test. Their choices will be:
– Pull-ups, with three the minimum. Three is also the minimum for male Marines but they need 20 for a perfect rating;
– A flexed-arm hang. The minimum is for 15 seconds; women get a perfect score if they last for 70 seconds. Male Marines do not have this option;
Officials said training for pull-ups can change a person’s strength, while training for the flex-arm hang does very little to adapt muscular strength needed for military tasks. The delay on the standard could be another wrinkle in the plan to begin allowing women to serve in jobs previously closed to them such as infantry, armor and artillery units.
The decision to suspend the scheduled pull-up requirement “is a clear indication” that plans to move women into direct ground combat fighting teams will not work, said Elaine Donnelly, president of the conservative Center for Military Readiness and a critic of allowing women into infantry jobs. “When officials claim that men and women are being trained the same, they are referring to bare minimums, not maximum qualifications that most men can meet but women cannot,” Donnelly wrote. “Awarding gender-normed scores so that women can succeed lowers standards for all. Women will suffer more injuries and resentment they do not deserve, and men will be less prepared for the demands of direct ground combat.”
I offer my regret for those I may have upset with my opinion but do not apologize. It is for the person that you may feel I’m being unfair to that I’m actually trying to save that same persons life and those of their fellow service men and women also. You may change training standards but I can personally assure you, an enemy combatant WILL NOT grant you a lower standard, nor will they delay killing you!!!
This is not a picture I enjoy seeing:
