Originally Posted by LeEnfield

Easy 8.....The black airmen did do a great job and had a fine record, but when you send an infantry Battalion over the top the losses can be horrific. In some towns in Britain by having all the locals in one Regiment every male was killed in WW1 from some of the towns between the age 17 to almost 70. I was walking around one of the WW1 graveyards in France and on the same day there were the graves of grandfather, the father and his sons three generations destroyed in a day. In WW2 they never allowed this happen again and they mixed up up the people from across the country so that to many people from area would not be all killed together on the same day. Now this is why I think that all women battalions would be wrong

The whole thing about females being in combat is a very new deal. I have talked to a a large number of veterans and a lot of them don't seem to be open to the idea save the ones that have fought alongside females or against them. From the accounts of veterans that have fought side by side or face to face with females I have gotten the impression that females will do just fine.

However like any major change we gotta take it one baby step at a time. I am not talking about creating entire battalions of females for the very reason you talked about. In order to get females ready for combat they would have pass male fittness stands. Although you probably be hard pressed to get females meet the same super-high standards of the best males, it would more than likely be able to get them up to a level that would be considered "good" and without doubt "satisfactory" for service in a combat MOS. It might be a interesting idea all create all female squads or maybe even all female platoons and then allowing for mixed units with males and females. Personally I think we should keep these all female units at the squad level and not any higher.

One thing to look at is the Israeli Army and how the women get on with combat there. The other country that used women a great deal in levels was Russia

When I was in the Navy we had a few women, so I didn't get to go into combat with them too often, well as much into combat as a carrier can get anyway. but we had a fire on the flight deck once with a Tomcat full of bombs and a F-18 next to it loaded, and the women on the flight deck were the first ones there manning a fire hose spraying the bombs so they would stay cool enough to not explode, while the crash and smash guys rescued the pilots.
I've been retired now for 10 years, but if they ever called me back and said I'd serve with women in my command, then so be it. I have nothing against women doing jobs, epically since a woman can do just about anything we men can do, plus in a aircraft it has been proven that a womans reflexes are way faster than a mans.

Originally Posted by wolfen

plus in a aircraft it has been proven that a womans reflexes are way faster than a mans.

Really? I did not know that. Firearms instructors often state that it is easier to train females to use small caliber pistols than it is to train a male.

Well generally women have smaller hands, therefore it stands to reason that a smaller hand will fit a smaller gun better. But I personally know a 26 year old woman who can out
fly a combat aircraft computer.

Originally Posted by wolfen

Well generally women have smaller hands, therefore it stands to reason that a smaller hand will fit a smaller gun better. But I personally know a 26 year old woman who can out
fly a combat aircraft computer.

Pardon my ignorance but how smart is this combat aircraft computer?

I Stand corrected as well,
look http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/s...3-3102,00.html

Originally Posted by Easy-8

Pardon my ignorance but how smart is this combat aircraft computer?

Well after working on navy planes for 17 years including A-4's, F-4's F14's, and several helo types, I'd say personally a combat aircraft computer is about as smart as a 10 year old with ADD, but the experts say the F-18 and above can fly a entire mission with no pilot just the computer.
I highly doubt a computer will EVER replace a pilot.

Mmarsh made this good and valid point from history:

MMarsh......I'd like to point out to those that feel women should not be in combat that there is already precedent:

Women served on the Front for the Red Army during The German Invasion of Russia, including the infantry.

Some of the soviet union best snipers were women such as LYUDMILA PAVLICHENKO (309 confirmed kills)

There was even a Guards Squadron called the "Night Witches" all women, the leading ace Anna Yegorova 38 confirmed kills.

All in all I believe there were 80000 Russian women in combat roles during WWII.

Women also served in various partisan group/resistence cells
and there were many women in the Vietcong (against us unfortunatly).

So I dont buy the 'women can't serve' arguement. history proves different.

However I'm not convinced these kinds of women can be found in the Western Society of Generation X, Y, Z and so I side more with Charlie when he wrote:

Originally Posted by uncle charlie

Women do not belong on the front lines, and I'll tell you why. Some of these reasons have already been stated, but bear with me, please.

1. Women as a whole are weaker than men, and sometimes you have to hump over 100 pounds of sh@!

2. Women (especially American) require certain hygeine considerations, which would be impossible to meet in a protracted combat situation. I dont think I need to get in depth here.

3. Women are a distractor, especially to a bunch of guys who've been isolated from women for months. Pretty soon, you've got a whole squad fighting over a chick, instead of fighting the enemy.

I don't think I need to go on. Women in the Army, sure. But keep them where they belong.

I would also add from my experience in training army recruits - and I don't think officer cadets would be too different - that if you/we do have female military recruits/cadets, in whatever capacity, they should not do their training in the same platoon / squad as males. The number of frat cases that resulted in loss of focus on the misssion, failure in the mission, and division and discord in the platoon due to romantic rivalries of hormone charged males in their late teens / early twenties convince me of the wisdom of separate training or at least separate accommodation.

Well - I do have to say that from 15 to 20 years, the biggest (very big) deprivation for me, as a seaman and as a soldier, was that of the company of women. At sea hitting port was glorious, every 2 months or so, but a year in a tent in the desert was a different matter.

Please feel free to take this as a positive or a negative for this thread!!