Pentagon will begin review of 'effectiveness' of women in ground combat positions

[AverageOldGuy]

10. A personal experience

I'm an old artilleryman -- a cannon cocker, graduate of the US Army Comanche County Cannon Cockers' College, Ft. Sill, OK (sometimes referred to as the US Army Artillery School; home to Blockhouse Signal Mountain).

Back in the day -- back when men were men -- we had four calibers of artillery: 105mm, 155mm, 8-inch, 175mm. (The 8-in and 175 have been replaced by truck-launched rocket systems, 105 and 155 still alive and well.)

The 105 round is fixed ammo -- it looks like a big bullet -- brass shell containing the powder bags with the explosive round sitting on top. The others are "separate loading" -- which means the big bullet -- the explosive projectile -- is separate from a heavy plastic tube containing the powder, which is in bags.

To load the 105, pick up a round (40-45 pounds), shove it into the breech end of the gun, slam the breech block closed, cock, fingers in your ears, pull the lanyard, and BOOM!! -- rounds on the way. It's a little more complicated but that will suffice.

The 155, 8in and 175 are SEPARATE LOADING. Open the breech, place the projectile in a loading tray with handles on each side, 4 gun bunnies pick up the loading tray, hold the loading tray at the breech opening, 2-3 gun bunnies use a ramrod to ram the projectile into the breech, then another gun bunny pulls powder bags out of the powder canister, shoves in 1,2,3,4, or 5 bags, slams the breech, insert an igniter, everyone sticks their fingers in their ears, pull the lanyard.

The rounds for the 155, 8in, and 175 weigh respectively 100, 200, and 150 pounds -- picking up one of those rounds, loading it onto the loading tray, then holding the loading tray and the round while the round is rammed into the breech takes some muscle.

So -- there was a discussion at Ft. Sill one day a lifetime ago about assigning women to artillery units. One know-it-all colonel harrumphed "I'd like to see a woman pick up an 8-inch round and load it. " To which a grizzled old sergeant Chief of Firing Battery responded: "I don't know of one male soldier who can handle 15, 8in, or 175 rounds singlehanded -- it takes 4 gun bunnies to pick up a 155, 8-inch, or 175 round and load it -- I'm sure 4 women can manage."

Women were admitted into artillery units.

Later on, a mechanical loading system for the 155 was developed but it still took 2-4 people to wrestle the round into the hydraulic loader.