OK, I gotta say it. Women don't belong in combat.

[cer7711]

71. Good Response!

Let's take those point-by-point:
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These biological differences are used to determine what the "average" man or woman can accomplish using/applying the test elements.

Men carry less fat around their behinds, for example, and have more upper body strength. I'll wager if you strapped a twenty five pound bag of potatoes to a man's ass, and five pounds to his chest, he'd have trouble with those pull ups, even with the increased upper body strength.
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REPLY: Of course we would. But we don't. You've made the point for me.
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More to the point, PT tests are required to be passed by EVERYONE--doesn't matter if you're filing personnel records, repairing a computer, wrench bending in the motor pool or on the flight line, or toting that weapon in a combat environment.

The PT test is NOT a "gatekeeper" exam for entry into combat arms. It's a gatekeeper exam for entry into the Corps and continued service in the Corps.

All services have PT tests. They're designed to ensure that personnel meet standards set by each Service's Chief. If you seriously think, though, that the standard applied to the average schmuck, regardless of gender, in the Navy, for example, is the same as the physical standard expected of a Navy SEAL, you're not looking at the full picture.
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REPLY: I don't think any such thing; never asserted any such thing. I'm simply pointing out here something that seems to make you wild with fury: the fact that the physical fitness test for active duty personnel is qualitatively different for men and women.
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For this reason, your analogy is a fail.
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REPLY: I would argue that it is your logic that has failed here. You attempt to arm-wave away the differences in the PT tests and standards, use emotional language ("schmuck" instead of "person&quot , and then . . .
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The implementation period will be used to determine if additional qualification standards need to be applied to combat specialties. If they're needed they will be crafted, tested and implemented.
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REPLY: Translation: "If this doesn't work out for combat arms we'll assess what needs to change and implement those changes after careful consideration." We have found our point of agreement.
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Years ago, whiners complained that women couldn't be postal clerks because the mail bags were TOO HEAVY, and that MEN would have to come and lift the bags for the helpless little women. Because of this, any woman who was slotted into a military US mail handling position was required to pass an additional test at the Armed Forces Entrance/Examining Station (later Military Entrance Processing Station) that consisted of having to lift fifty pounds over their heads several times. That nipped that shit in the bud, and there was no more griping about women in the postal ranks.
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REPLY: Again, you make my point for me. When you strip the heavy sarcasm from that paragraph we're left in complete agreement with one another once again: A woman should be accorded the full respect, full pay and full, fair consideration for promotion and recognition her male counterparts in mail-bag toting would be accorded, since she passed the exact same physical standard!

But combat isn't mail-bag toting.

And alleging that any male who confesses to conflicted/mixed feelings over women routinely fighting and dying alongside men in infantry combat = hateful, retrograde, idiotic sexism is unfair and unworthy of your argument and intelligence.
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I found, during my decades in service, that mixed gender units performed far better than single sex ones.
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REPLY: Now there's a sweeping generalization and assertion if I ever heard one! What kind of "units" are we talking about? If, in your experience, "mixed gender units performed far better than single sex ones" what proof of this assertion do you offer? Exactly how and in what ways did they "perform better"? As the math teachers say: show your work. What am I--and others--to make of the truly hideous, outrageous and upsetting statistics coming out about the high incidences of rape and physical abuse of women in the service? (PLEASE do not insult my intelligence or capacity for moral judgment by telling me "it's a male problem"; I get that and agree with you in advance. I truly do.) What I am asking is: How confident are you that your personal experience (the microcosm) reflects the macrocosm?
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There aren't many obstacles that can't be overcome if someone is motivated and qualified.
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REPLY: Full agreement--again--here.
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And only qualified personnel--of either gender--will be slotted into these combat positions.

Not all men are Rambos, you know. In fact, quite a few aren't.
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REPLY: I'm not! Heh! I'm far from the "lean-and-mean, green killing machine" I was when I enlisted in the Marine Corps at 17. Now I'm a bookish, bespectacled, pudgy diabetic pushing 50 with a failing heart who has lived long enough to recognize that war is an obscenity and should only ever be tolerated/endured as a last-resort/necessary evil, not an idiotic bloodsport for sociopathic yahoos. But I do wince at the thought of women being thrown into the meatgrinder of infantry combat alongside men. And if we won't tolerate or socially sanction hard physical contact between men and women in the NFL . . .
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I know more than a few women who could kick the living shit out of many men in their units.
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REPLY: Bluntly: And I knew quite a few men who could kick the living shit out of every woman in their unit. You're arguing with a straw man here: I never said Woody Allen could defeat Rambo-lina in hand-to-hand combat. But then we wouldn't find Woody Allen in Force Recon, the Navy Seals or Special Forces, would we?
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I suggest you stop worrying about this decision by DOD and the Service Chiefs. They know what they're doing. Your concerns about "unfairness" are entirely unfounded. This is a smart move, and LONG overdue.
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REPLY: And I suggest you stop telling informed, decent, intelligent and morally-compassionate citizens--like yourself--to refrain from engaging in public dialogue on hot-button issues simply because they have a different opinion than you do.
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The vestigial chauvinists will just have to shrivel up and fall away--there's no place for them in the uniformed services anymore. Adapt or die.
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REPLY: "I am woman, hear me roar . . ." It's a little hard over the sound of the artillery, assault rifles and exploding grenades. But I do hear you, indeed I do MADem, and I very much honor and respect your desire to die here in the mud and blood alongside me and my fellow male Marines--who had to pass a tougher, more physically-demanding physical fitness test than you did to be accorded the same number of points for promotion and advancement.