Author Topic: Army study to determine how women will be deemed fit to join the front lines  (Read 10874 times)

JOHN MATRIX

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Ah, well then I agree with you guys then  -- I don't agree with changing the standards unless they're super irrelevant as in "combat soldier must have testes" (which would not disqualify Cyborg, apparently).
;D

Ken Fresno

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I was on a course once with women in my section and we ended up having to carry most of the the heavy section equipment after they moaned that it was too heavy for them. One of the chicks did appalling on her test appointment and when told she had failed started to cry and complain that she was "on". Low and behold, the DS then decided that his decision had been wrong and she had in fact passed.

dario73

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It has happened just as it was predicted last year on this very board.

The wussification of America continues.

StreetSoldier4U

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Ah, well then I agree with you guys then  -- I don't agree with changing the standards unless they're super irrelevant as in "combat soldier must have testes" (which would not disqualify Cyborg, apparently).

Hahaha, so fucking true.

Dos Equis

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One time in the field some females complained about the condition of porta potties, so someone made a command decision to block off half of the porta potties for female use only.  Men outnumbered women by about 10 to 1.  Made the "men's" porta potties even more disgusting because it more than doubled their use.  So much for equal treatment. 

OzmO

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One time in the field some females complained about the condition of porta potties, so someone made a command decision to block off half of the porta potties for female use only.  Men outnumbered women by about 10 to 1.  Made the "men's" porta potties even more disgusting because it more than doubled their use.  So much for equal treatment. 

must have been an officer.   lol



RRKore

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must have been an officer.   lol


...who was too heavy/out-of-shape to do her thing while squatting asian-style.

Shockwave

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One time in the field some females complained about the condition of porta potties, so someone made a command decision to block off half of the porta potties for female use only.  Men outnumbered women by about 10 to 1.  Made the "men's" porta potties even more disgusting because it more than doubled their use.  So much for equal treatment. 
they dont want equal, they sang special.

Dos Equis

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must have been an officer.   lol




No doubt.

Dos Equis

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they dont want equal, they sang special.

Definitely true for some, although there are some pretty tough ones. 

240 is Back

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take gender out of it.
and raise the physical standards by 10%.

Kick out every man OR woman that can't reach those standards.  It's that simple.  

headhuntersix

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If they went gender neutral and then raised the standards....you'd loose a lot of chicks.
L

Dos Equis

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If they went gender neutral and then raised the standards....you'd loose a lot of chicks.

And men.

Dos Equis

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No Women Pass Army Ranger School, Three Invited to Start Over

U.S. Army Soldiers conduct combatives training during the Ranger Course on Ft. Benning, GA., April 20, 2015. Soldiers attend Ranger school to learn additional leadership and small unit technical skills. (U.S. Army/Pfc. Antonio Lewis/Released)
Military.com May 30, 2015 | by Matthew Cox

It has been a hard road for women in Army Ranger School. All of the female volunteers have failed on their second attempt to pass the first phase of the traditionally, all-male infantry course, the Army announced Friday night.

The Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade held its first co-ed course of Army Ranger School on April 20 at Fort Benning, Georgia. Nineteen women and 380 men were pre-screened for the combat training course.

Three of the women failed to pass the Ranger Physical Fitness Assessment, a requirement to enter Ranger School. Eight out of 16 female soldiers completed the Ranger Assessment Phase, or RAP week, which consists of day and night land navigation, obstacle courses, skill tests and a 12-mile road march with a rifle, fighting load vest and rucksack weighing approximately 47 pounds.

But the remaining eight females weren't able to complete the first phase and advance to the second phase of the course. Instead, they were allowed to repeat the Darby Phase along with 101 male candidates.

Fort Benning officials announced May 29 that none of the eight passed the Darby Phase on their second attempt. Three of those females, along with five males, have been invited to start over on day one of the grueling course.

"This is normal course procedures and is used when students struggle with one aspect of the course and excel at others," according to the press release.

The next Ranger School class begins on Sunday, June 21, 2015.

The announcement comes one day after Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno said that the Army will likely run a couple more pilots where females go through Ranger School.

Senior Army leaders recently decided to allow females to attend the historically male-only, infantry course. The effort is a result of former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's January 2013 directive that all services open combat-arms roles to women that so far have been reserved for men. The services have until 2016 to decide how to execute this.

According to the release, 29 students, including five females, failed to meet the standards of the Darby Phase of Ranger School and will be dropped from the course.

"For a variety of reasons, these students were unsuccessful at meeting the standard -- some for leading their graded patrols, some for a poor evaluation of their teamwork from their peers, some for accumulating too many negative spot reports, and some for a combination of all three," the release states. "However, the vast majority who are being dropped from the course were unable to successfully lead a patrol. All students received multiple opportunities to lead a patrol as a squad leader or team leader."

The Darby Phase of Ranger School is 15 days of intensive squad training and operations in a field environment at Fort Benning.

The phase consists of a day for basic airborne refresher and sustained airborne training, as well as a day for an airborne operation for those Ranger students who are airborne qualified; a day for the Darby Queen, an advanced obstacle course; a day of techniques training; two days of cadre assisted patrols; three days of student led patrols; one day of retraining; three days of student led patrols; and two administrative days where the students are counseled on their performance during the phase.

Col. David G. Fivecoat, commander of the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade, and Command Sgt. Major Curt Arnold addressed the Ranger students this week, Fivecoat said.

"The group that was unsuccessful was, of course, disappointed in their performance," Fivecoat said. "However, each Ranger student, whether successful or unsuccessful, learned more about themselves, leadership, and small unit tactics, and returns to the Army a better trained soldier and leader."

http://www.military.com/daily-guy-school-three-invited-to-start-over.html?ESRC=army-a.nl

Dos Equis

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Respect.

History made: Army Ranger School to graduate its first female students ever
By Dan Lamothe
August 17, 2015


A female Ranger student shares a laugh with fellow soldiers while waiting for a C-130 plane ride Thursday, Aug. 6, ahead of an airborne jump. (Photo by Dan Lamothe/ The Washington Post)

Two female soldiers will graduate from the Army’s grueling Ranger School on Friday, becoming the first women to ever complete what is considered one of the U.S. military’s most difficult and premier courses to develop elite fighters and leaders, a senior Army official said.

The accomplishment marks a major breakthrough for women in the armed services at a time when each of the military branches is required to examine how to integrate women into jobs like infantryman in which they have never been allowed to serve. But even as the two new female graduates will be the first women allowed to wear the prestigious Ranger Tab on their uniforms, they still are not allowed to try out for the elite 75th Ranger Regiment, a Special Operations force that remains closed to women and has its own separate, exhausting requirements and training.

The women will receive the Ranger Tab alongside dozens of male service members in a ceremony at Fort Benning, Ga., the home of Ranger School’s headquarters, a senior Army official said Monday night. The official spoke on condition of anonymity while the Army finalized a news release.

The event is expected to draw not only family and friends, but hundreds of well-wishers and media from across the country. The female graduates are expected to speak to the media for the first time Thursday alongside instructors and other soldiers at Ranger School.

The women have not been identified by the Army, but both are officers and graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., Army officials said. The female graduates started Ranger School on April 20 alongside 380 men and 17 other female soldiers in the first class to ever include women. The female soldiers were allowed into Ranger School as part of the Army’s ongoing assessment of how to better integrate women.


A female Ranger student tackles rappel training during the second phase of Ranger School at Camp Frank D. Merrill in northern Georgia on July 12. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Scott Brooks/ U.S. Army)

Some skeptics, especially in the military, have questioned whether the women were given an easier path to graduation. But senior Army officials have insisted that is not the case, and opened Ranger School to media for a few days during each phase to underscore the point and allow Ranger instructors and others involved in their evaluation to speak.

The course includes three phases: The Darby Phase at Fort Benning, the Mountain Phase in northern Georgia’s Chattahoochee National Forest and the Florida Phase on and around Eglin Air Force Base on the Florida Panhandle. About 4,000 students attempt Ranger School each year, with some 1,600 — 40 percent — graduating. They include some service members who serve in the Ranger Regiment, but also many others who serve in jobs ranging from military police to helicopter pilot.

The course is 61 days for students who complete each phase on the first try. But only a minority do so. In the April class, for example, 37 of the 380 male students — about 10 percent — advanced directly through training, graduating earlier this summer. The remainder of the students — including all of the women — have struggled more than that.

The nineteen female students were whittled to eight in April during an initial assessment that includes everything from chin-ups to push-ups to an exhausting 12-mile road march through Fort Benning’s hills while carrying a full combat load. All eight women then failed the first Darby Phase twice, and only three were allowed to try Ranger School again. They did so as a “Day 1 recycle,” an option that is offered on occasion to both men and women who excel in some aspects of Ranger School, but fall short in something specific that can be improved.

Two of the three women left then passed through the Mountain Phase on the first try in July, and completed the 17-day Florida Phase over the weekend. The third woman was held back in the Mountain Phase last month; her status was not immediately clear Monday night.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/guy-school/

Dos Equis

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Navy SEALs to open to women, top admiral says
By David Larter & Meghann Myers, Staff writers
August 18, 2015

(Photo: U.S. Southern Command)

The Navy is planning to open its elite SEAL teams to women who can pass the grueling training regimen, the service's top officer said Tuesday in an exclusive interview.

Adm. Jon Greenert said he and the head of Naval Special Warfare Command, Rear Adm. Brian Losey, believe that if women can pass the legendary six-month Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training, they should be allowed to serve.

"Why shouldn't anybody who can meet these [standards] be accepted? And the answer is, there is no reason," Greenert said Tuesday in an exclusive interview with Navy Times' sister publication Defense News. "So we're on a track to say, 'Hey look, anybody who can meet the gender non-specific standards, then you can become a SEAL.'"

The push to integrate the storied SEAL brotherhood is coming on the heels of a comprehensive review led by Losey, the head of Naval Special Warfare Command, that recommended women be allowed under the same exacting standards required of male candidates. The Army and Air Force are also moving to open all combat jobs to women, according to officials who spoke to the Associated Press. It's believed the Marine Corps may seek to keep its ground combat jobs, including the infantry, male-only.


The move to integrate the military's most storied commando units comes the day after news broke that two women had passed the Army's arduous Ranger course. Nineteen women began the course, which has about a 45 percent passing rate.

The Navy has said it is on track to open all ratings to women by next year, but this is the first indication that the SEALs are leaning toward accepting candidates. Greenert didn't specify a timeline for allowing women candidates into BUD/S training.


In an interview Tuesday, Adm. Jon Greenert said the Navy was "on a track to say, 'Hey look, anybody who can meet the gender non-specific standards, then you can become a SEAL.'" (Photo: Lars Schwetje/Staff)

Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command is also conducting a review of its standards with an eye to including women, according MARSOC head Maj. Gen. Joseph Osterman.

The SEALs would be the latest, and the last, of the traditionally male-only branches to open to women during Mabus' tenure.

In 2011, the first female officers reported to ballistic missile submarines, and early this year several more reported to Virginia-class attack subs. Enlisted women are on track to join them next year and the service is already recruiting enlisted women off the streets to enter submarine ratings.

And in 2012, riverine training opened to women, making way for the go-ahead to assign them to billets and deploy them last year.

It's not clear how many women will attempt to join the SEALs when it opens to them. The percentage of women in expeditionary specialties, like Seabees and Navy divers, are exceedingly low.

Out of an end strength of 1,153, there are only seven female Navy divers — just .61 percent of the force. And there are only 10 women in the Explosive Ordnance Disposal community of the 1,094 total enlisted sailors.

EOD officers fill billets at EOD and fleet diver commands — billets that have also been open to women for decades — but less than 3 percent of those billets are held by women.

http://www.navytimes.com/story/military/2015/08/18/women-seals-greenert-losey-buds/31943243/

Dos Equis

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Report finds female Marines cannot meet some standards for special forces
By Paul Alster
Published October 07, 2015
FoxNews.com

A report conducted by the U.S. Marine Corps on integrating women into all military units concluded that even the top female troops likely cannot cut it in the special forces -- even though they typically have better disciplinary records and perform better at problem solving.

A copy of the report, titled “United States Marine Corps Assessment of Women in Service Assignments,” was obtained by FoxNews.com. The 37-page document was prepared by a brigadier general for the USMC commandant ahead of the Jan. 1, 2016, deadline for implementation of full gender equality in every area of the military.

“The data in this report indicates that even striking what appears to be a balance for setting standards will likely introduce some level of risk across all of these factors,” the report by Brigadier Gen. George Smith concludes. “The recommendation to open or to request such an exception to policy for any MOS [Military Occupational Specialty] or unit will depend on the Marine Corps’ tolerance for the level of risk that such a change would impose.”


“The data in this report indicates that even striking what appears to be a balance for setting standards will likely introduce some level of risk across all of these factors.”

- Report by US Marines on integrating women into elite forces

The report is likely to fuel the rift between advocates of full integration, even in the military’s special forces units, and many present and former service personnel who have questioned the suitability of women to serve as absolute equals in the most elite combat units. Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta in 2013 ordered the Armed Services and U.S. Special Operations Command to integrate female service members into the remaining closed occupational specialties and units throughout the Department of Defense.

While highlighting the achievements of many outstanding female Marines, the report finds that overall elite female troops do not reach the same physical standards as their male counterparts. Smith notes that more than 400 women have received Combat Action Ribbons for service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“There is no more compelling evidence that our female Marines have served very capably and courageously in combat and have distinguished themselves in non-linear, extremely complex operating environments,” the report states. “However, none of those rewards reflected a female Marine having to “locate, close with and destroy the enemy” in deliberate offensive combat operations. Rather, these actions were all in response to enemy action in the form of IED strikes, enemy attacks on convoys or bases or attacks on female Marines serving in the Lioness Program or on Female Engagement Teams.”

The report does note that female service members have better overall disciplinary records than men, and highlights that “in a decision-making study that we ran in which all male and integrated groups attempted to solve challenging field problems [that involved] varying levels of both physical and cognitive difficulty… the female integrated teams (with one female and three or four males) performed as well or better than the all-male teams.”

But “there were numerous indications of lower performance levels from combat arms females or female-integrated groups,” the report states.

The Marines report echoes the findings of the 1992 Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces.

“Winning in war is often only a matter of inches, and unnecessary distraction or any dilution of the combat effectiveness puts the mission and lives in jeopardy,” that report stated. “Risking the lives of a military unit in combat to provide career opportunities or accommodate the personal desires or interests of an individual, or group of individuals, is more than bad military judgment. It is morally wrong.”

However, U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told NPR that studies showing women cannot keep up with men in certain areas could be flawed.

“It started out with a fairly large component of the men thinking this is not a good idea and women will never be able to do this,” he said. “When you start out with that mindset you're almost presupposing the outcome.”

One former U.S. Marine told FoxNews.com on condition of anonymity that full integration in all units could hurt morale if it is perceived as being done for political correctness and not merit.

“The Marines are being asked to treat female soldiers as absolute equals – in possibly life-threatening situations – even when every other measure has long ago proven that such physical equality between males and females does not exist,” he said.

Israel, which has long integrated women into its military, has reached similar conclusions regarding the most elite units, according to Lt. Col. Yuval Heled, the Israel Defence Force’s top military physiologist.

“Women in Israel and the U.S. do very good field operations,” Heled said. “But I would say that in the front line, with the potential of engaging in close combat, I would still recommend leaving things as they are.”

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/10/07/report-finds-female-marines-cannot-meet-some-standards-for-special-forces/?intcmp=hpbt1

Dos Equis

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Military leaders: Register women for draft
By Leo Shane III, Military Times
February 2, 2016

Chief of Staff of the Army Mark Milley
(Photo: Daniel Woolfolk/Staff)

The Army and Marine Corps' top uniformed leaders both backed making women register for the draft as all combat roles are opened to them in coming months, a sweeping social change that could complicate the military’s gender integration plans.

Both services, along with the Navy, have begun work to open all military jobs to any service member after a decision by Defense Secretary Ash Carter in December to lift all gender-based restrictions on combat and infantry roles.

On Tuesday, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller told senators during a Capitol Hill hearing that full integration of those jobs will likely take a few years, to overcome logistical and cultural issues.

One of those complications will be how to handle the Selective Service System, which requires all men ages 18 to 26 to register for possible involuntary military service.

Women have always been exempt, and past legal challenges have pointed to the battlefield restrictions placed on them. With that reasoning moot, lawmakers will need to determine what becomes of the system.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus Jr. said there needs to be “a national debate” over what the changes mean, balancing social concerns over the idea of drafting women with the reality of national security and military readiness.

But the uniform leaders were more blunt in their assessment.

“It's my personal view in light of integration that every American physically qualified should register for the draft,” Neller said. Milley echoed those remarks, saying “all eligible men and women” should be required to register.

The comments drew support from some Democratic lawmakers — “I agree with you,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. — but concerned looks from Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee, who spent most of the hearing criticizing how abruptly the decision to drop gender restrictions was made.

Several pressed military leaders over whether job standards would be lowered to allow women into combat roles, a charge officials repeatedly refuted.

Milley and Neller said no quotas for positions have been set. Mabus said that watering down physical standards is “unacceptable under the law, and unacceptable to me and every other senior leader in the Pentagon, because it would endanger not only the safety of Marines, but also the safety of our nation.”

But committee chairman Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said military officials still have not provided enough study or implementation plans to justify the rapid changes laid out by military leaders.

“I am concerned that the department has gone about things backward,” he said. “This consequential decision was made and mandated before the military services could study its implications, and before any implementation plans were devised to address the serious challenges raised in studies.”

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa — the only female veteran on the Senate committee — said she fully supported the changes “as long as standards are not lowered” to boost the number of women in combat jobs or force them to meet quotas.

“We need to ensure we don’t set up men or women for failure,” she said. “It’s clear we need to ensure that we’re taking into account the impact this could have on women’s health.

Marine Corps officials had requested to leave some of their infantry and combat jobs closed to women, citing a service study showing concerns about unit effectiveness. Carter denied those requests.

For many advocates, the controversy over women in combat jobs is an outdated debate.

Army leaders noted at Tuesday’s hearing that more than 9,000 women have already earned the Combat Action Badge for actions in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. More than 1,000 women have been killed or wounded in that fighting.

http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/capitol-hill/2016/02/02/army-marines-women-combat-jobs-draft/79695978/

headhuntersix

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While I don't see either Miller or Naylor resigning....nobody is happy. I wasn't initially happy with the SOCOM response to that either as the CDR is a SEAL but somebody did some SEALsplanning on a MILBLOG and basically the dude said, fine send us all the women you want. We are not changing shit and honesly won't get through the accessions course let alone BUDS. If you read what they had to do for Ranger school to get these chicks to pass....no way one will serve in Ranger Regiment as door kicker let alone as a platoon Cdr. They won't get through RASP..which is the Regiments indoc school. Guys who go in and out of the RGT have to pass it each time. It 9 or 10 weeks of misery. I could see the Chairman of the Joint chiefs telling Obama to pound sand. He's a masshole and has not been happy with the way things have shaken out in the Pentagon. For all you libs...unlike when the fags got to serve...we never heard rumblings from leadership, nobody cared as much. This is different...people aren't happy
L

Dos Equis

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First female infantry recruit is a Louisiana police officer
Published April 10, 2016 
FoxNews.com

Tammy Barnett takes her oath as the first female infantry recruit. (KSLA News 12)

Tammy Barnett said she figures her new job will be a lot like her old one.

With one notable exception: She’ll be the first female to do it.

The 25-year-old Louisiana police officer is set to report to basic training as the Army’s first female infantry recruit, The Army Times reported.

Barnett will serve in one of the military occupational specialties opened to women on April 1. She made her initial visit to recruiters in November, took her oath on Thursday and will report to Fort Benning, Georgia for basic training in June 2017.

She initially planned to enter the military police, “but infantry is similar,” she told The Army Times. “And they are more on the front lines, like law enforcement here, and I said, ‘that’s what I want to do.’”

Barnett said she planned to celebrate her oath by going fishing with her family.

“I hope that I give them the courage, because I’m a small female,” she told KSLA. “If I can do it, they can do it, too. This could give them the courage to step out of their comfort zone.”

The long delay until she begins basic training is so For Benning can “properly prepare for new trainees by having trained female officer and [noncommissioned officers] in position,” Army Recruiting Battalion Baton Rouge public affairs chief Roger Hamilton told The Army Times in an email.

“I have served the front lines in my hometown,” Barnett said in a statement, “and now I am going to serve the front lines for my country.”

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/04/10/first-female-infantry-recruit-is-louisiana-police-officer.html?intcmp=hpbt4

Dos Equis

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House drops plans to make women register for draft
Leo Shane III, Military Times
May 17, 2016

(Photo: Senior Airman Kenny Holston/Air Force)

Women may not have to register for the draft after all, if House Republicans get their way.

Republican members of the House Rules Committee during a late Monday meeting stripped provisions from the annual defense authorization bill that would have required women to register for the Selective Service System.

The controversial provision narrowly passed the House Armed Services Committee last month, and was expected to be a major point of debate on the defense policy bill this week.

But Rules Committee members instead voted to cut off consideration of the issue on the House floor and strike that entire section of the bill. The unusual but not unprecedented procedural move avoids what could be a thorny debate for both parties over women’s rights and roles in the military.

Democrats decried it as cowardice by Republican leaders.

“This is a dead-of-night attempt to take an important issue off the table, and I think people will probably see through this tactic,” said House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith, D-Wash.

The idea to make women register for the draft was introduced last month by Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., as part of an effort to highlight problems with the Pentagon’s decision to open all combat roles to women earlier this year. He voted against the idea, but it passed anyway.

Since then, conservative Republicans have scrambled to find ways to remove the provision from the annual military budget policy measure.

Under current law, men ages 18 to 26 are required to register for possible involuntary military service with the Selective Service System. Women have been exempt, and past legal challenges have pointed to combat restrictions placed on their military service as a reason for their exclusion.

Since the Defense Department announced a change in those rules, a collection of military leaders and women’s rights advocates have said they support requiring women to now register for the draft.

The conversation is largely a theoretical one, since military leaders have repeatedly insisted they have no desire to return to the draft to fill the ranks. No Americans have been pressed into involuntary military service since the last draft ended in 1973.

And watchdog groups have repeatedly questioned whether the Selective Service System could even adequately conduct a draft if one was needed. Several lawmakers, including House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, have called for a study into whether the system and its $23 million annual budget are still needed.

But the Rules Committee move stripped out that study language from the authorization bill draft as well, leaving the entire issue on the sidelines.

The Senate Armed Services Committee has included provisions making women register for the draft in its initial versions of the authorization bill, meaning the issue will likely come up again before a final compromise bill is settled. But that work will happen behind closed doors, not in public debate before Congress.

Also on Monday, the Rules Committee accepted 61 other amendments for floor debate this week on the authorization bill. Dozens more are expected to be added to the debate list before a final vote on the full measure occurs later this week.

President Obama has threatened to veto the House draft of the authorization bill, over funding issues and restrictions on transferring prisoners out of the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, Cuba.

http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/2016/05/17/ndaa-house-women-draft-stripped/84481376/

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2 female officers' applications approved for Special Forces assessment
Kyle Jahner, Army Times
July 25, 2016

(Photo: Spc. Glen Shackley/Army)

In another first for women seeking combat jobs, the Army has approved applications from two female officers to attend Special Forces Assessment and Selection class, an early step toward becoming a Green Beret.

In all, 340 applications to SFAS were accepted, according to Maj. Melody Faulkenberry, a spokeswoman for the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center. Nine total women applied for Special Forces among a total of 460 applicants; those rejected may potentially be offered slots in other two Special Operations branches: civil affairs and PSYOPS. In all, 860 officers applied to the three fields.

The accepted applicants have not yet received orders, but they could attend SFAS as soon as the fall when the first of 10 SFAS courses per year begin at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. With a long process ahead, it will be 2018 before anyone in this crop of candidates could earn tabs.

Little information is available about the two women: one went to officer candidate school and the other attended a four-year ROTC program. Faulkenberry cited security concerns for potential Special Forces soldiers. By definition, as officers invited to SFAS the women are either 1st lieutenants or captains, and this cohort of officers was generally commissioned around 2013.

These officers are entering one of three routes to Special Forces. Enlisted soldiers and recruits who directly enter the Army with an 18x MOS to try out for Special Forces apply in a different process. But all have to attend SFAS and a similar subsequent battery of courses, with some variances depending on role.

Before approval for SFAS, soldiers must pass Special Forces Readiness Assessment, a base-level test of a soldier’s physical fitness. The push-up, sit-up, pull-up and running benchmarks considerably outstrip Army Physical Fitness Test requirements to filter out anyone who might be physically overwhelmed by training requirements. There is no requirement difference based on gender or age, and all who even apply to SFAS must pass, Faulkenberry said.

The bulk of the path to earning a Special Forces tab remains in front of them after their application is accepted: the 3-week SFAS itself, Airborne School if not qualified, either Maneuver Captain’s Career Course or Special Operations Captain’s Career Course (12-16 weeks), and finally the 64-week Special Forces Qualification Course.

http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/careers/army/officer/2016/07/22/female-officers-sfas/87457530/

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The Only Female in Marine Corps' Infantry Course Drops Out

(AP Images)
By Brian Freeman   |    Tuesday, 16 Aug 2016

The only female officer taking part in the Marine Corps' Infantry Officer's Course has dropped out after she failed to complete two conditioning hikes, CNN reports.

She was one of 34 officers who have fallen out of the course from a starting class of 97. The course began in July and ends at the end of next month.

The female officer's failure comes after Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced the opening of all combat roles to women starting in January of this year. However, no female Marine has yet passed the Infantry Officer's Course.

In fact, Sputnik reports that for all the Marines combat roles, six out of seven women who have so far taken the physical fitness test have failed, a rate of 85.7 percent. Among men, the failure rate is 2.7 percent.

Throughout the entire army, there are now more than 220,000 combat positions that once were men only that are now open to women. However, only some 100 females have so far signed up.

As of now, there have been at least 22 new female officers who have been approved to enter the Army as second lieutenants in the infantry and armor branches, Army Times reports. After commissioning, the officers must complete branch-specific training before they can become infantry and armor officers.

Carter's historic move to open all combat positions to women came amid much controversy, CNN reports.

 The Marine Corps had especially fought to keep at least certain tasks men-only, citing a study that suggests all-male squads are more effective in combat and are less likely to be injured than integrated groups.

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Female-Marine-Corps-Infantry-Drops-Out/2016/08/16/id/743780/#ixzz4HWVc69ok

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Marines blast Ret. female Army Col. for saying IOC standards should be lowered so women can pass
By Michele Katz
October 18th, 2016
Military News, U.S. Marines


Retired Army Col. Ellen Haring believes the Marine Corps’ fitness standards are too severe and don’t reflect what officers actually have to do out in the field.

Haring wrote an opinion piece in The Marine Corps Times on October 15, saying the Marines’ requirements for infantry officers are ‘unrealistic’.

Eight women were apparently able to pass the Combat Endurance Test, but failed the IOC, or Infantry Officer Course. An IOC diploma is a must to earn the designation of infantry officer. The women reportedly flunked because they couldn’t hike while carrying loads over 100 pounds. That task must be done for 9.3 miles in a certain amount of time.

After asking some officers about their personal experiences in an operational setting, Haring reportedly found that there are very few cases in which officers would have to carry that kind of weight in the field, The Daily Caller reported.

This did not sit well with some infantry men who took to an online military forum  to blast Haring and her theories. One Marine, identified as Josh, points out that carrying that amount of weight was “common practice in conventional settings like World War II and the Korean War, where Weapons Company platoons carry heavy loads of machine gun and mortar assets for line companies.”

Dropping the fitness requirement just to let women in creates a very ‘slippery slope’ – many Marines believe. “Excellence comes at a price, and our nation’s enemies don’t give a damn about how politically correct and diverse our warrior class looks,” Josh wrote.

In an letter to Ellen -published on Funker530- Josh said:
 
“First and foremost, stay in your lane. This is an easy enough rule to follow, and you’ve probably bashed it into the skulls of every soldier you have ever had in your charge. Since you are A. Not in the Marine Corps, and B. Not ever going to attempt to join the Marine Corps infantry, the entire situation at Marine Corps Infantry Officer Course has absolutely nothing to do with you, and your thoughts on the subject really do not matter to the Marines.”

In March, Haring published an article in Task and Purpose comparing the gender separate Marine boot camp to the Jim Crow Laws.

“The problem with the notion of separate but equal is that we have a well-established history that documents the poor outcomes of such a practice. The military did it to Japanese Americans and African Americans, but eventually discarded the practice,” she wrote.

In 2012, Haring sued the Pentagon saying the Pentagon’s exclusion of women from most combat positions is unconstitutional.

Before Defense Secretary Carter made the decision to open all occupations to women, then-Army Gen. Martin Dempsey laid down the law saying: “If we do decide that a particular standard is so high that a woman couldn’t make it, the burden is now on the service to come back and explain to the secretary, why is it that high? Does it really have to be that high?”

During a 2013 Pentagon news conference Dempsey “planted the seeds for a future downward trajectory in standards,” the Caller reported.

Haring, a West Point graduate, is a senior fellow with Women in International Security, where she ‘directs the Combat Integration Initiative project’. She’s currently completing a Ph.D. at George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution.

http://popularmilitary.com/marines-blast-ret-female-army-col-saying-ioc-standards-lowered-women-can-pass/

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First female infantry Marines joining battalion on Thursday
By: Jeff Schogol, January 3, 2017

The Marine Corps will make history on Thursday when the first three female infantry Marines join their unit at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, officials said.

The women are headed to 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, where they will serve in the following infantry military occupational specialties: rifleman, machine gunner and mortar Marine, said 1st Lt. John McCombs, a spokesman for II Marine Expeditionary Force.

The battalion has a team of women leaders consisting of a logistics officer, motor transport officer and wire chief to support the female infantry Marines, McCombs said.

All three of the infantry Marines graduated from the School of Infantry as part of the service’s gender integration research, said Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Philip Kulczewski. 

“The Corps applauds the time and efforts of those Marines who volunteered,” Kulczewski said. “As we continue to move forward, we remain steadfast in our commitment to ensure that the men and women who earn the title ‘Marine’ will be ready, and will provide America with an elite crisis-response force that is ready to fight and win.”

In March, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter approved the Marine Corps’ plan to allow women to join military occupational specialties that had been restricted to men only. Carter had refused an earlier request by the Corps to keep women out of combat jobs after the service’s gender integration study found that mixed-gender teams did not perform as well as all-male teams and that female Marines were more likely to get injured.

It is unclear whether President-elect Donald Trump will pursue gender integration in the military with the same vigor as the Obama administration. Retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, told Military Times in September that “shortsighted social programs” could make the U.S. military less effective.

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller has said no one has talked to him about possibly reconsidering the service’s efforts to allow women to serve in combat jobs.

“I’ve heard people speculate on it,” Neller told reporters on Dec. 7. “I don’t do speculation. Until the 20th of January, we’ve been told what to do and we’re in the process of doing it.”

Neller bristled when a reporter used the term “women in combat” to describe the military’s gender integration effort, explaining that women had been excluded from certain units and jobs, not combat altogether.

“With all due respect, I would never insult a female member of the armed service and talk about women in combat,” Neller said. “They’ve been in combat throughout history.”

For example, Marine spokeswoman Maj. Megan McClung was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq on Dec. 6, 2006, he said.

“I’m coming up on the 10th anniversary when Megan McClung was killed in Ramadi … And I sent her to Ramadi,” Neller said. “So, I don’t mean to take umbrage, but when people start talking about women in combat, I don’t need a class on women in combat.”

https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/articles/women-join-infantry?utm_content=buffer46d34&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer