i was told by a formor mp that the job sucks and i just want something dealing with explosives but i know i wont get it cuz that would be combat it sucks that women arnt allowed in combat
You know, I really don't like to talk to people about jobs who are looking for work in the Military, because you should do what you want to do, not what I wanted to do..... but in the past I've set off shots 10 tons of explosive weight, the cloud would look like a little Nuke going off.
Our Range overseas was in the middle of the Impact Area, and we were unlimited, oh the fun we had on that Range, although an ICM Target Box was like right next door, and some Units were closed for live fire while we were working, but strangely other Units were allowed to fire.
I've blown stuff up just for the hell of it, like office furniture, old foot lockers, a wall locker once, all because we had a quite a few cases of C4 and a few rolls of M186 to get rid of and some old stuff cluttering up the Unit.
And I've been on the Demo Range for such a long period of time in the past that I prayed to God that a lightening storm come in so we could shut down Range Operations.
I did all that after I left the Engineers and went into EOD, and I got Demo Pay as an EOD Tech, which I never got as an Engineer, even when I was a Demo Spec. I believe the rules have changed now for Engineers and Demo Pay, but no one has called and said I was getting back pay yet.
EOD is not a job to be taken lightly, as you will be blown up, but far worse than that would be you blow other people up with you, depending on what you're working on, could be many other peoples. And that's if you make it through the school, which is very hard to get through... very, very hard.
And EOD should never be looked at as a second choice job, just because the one you wanted was not available.... because you will end up a 55B driving a forklift with explosives on it at the ASP.
EOD works with things that go boom more often than Engineers in the US Army, and EOD lets in females, so whoever told you it's Combat Arms only for blowing stuff up is mistaken. EOD is also the last word on Explosives and Explosive Safety, and rules over all Ranges, second only to Range Control, which are the Lords and Masters of Ranges.... but I've never known Range Control not to take EODs word for something.
I've closed my fair share of Ranges in the past, over the objections of the Units using said Ranges at the time.
Once a Lieutenant got the bright idea of trying to set off a Dud hand grenade by tossing another, and then another, and then another....
He just didn't want to stop training because of the Dud, which was a mistake, seeing how he ended up with 2 Dud hand grenades on the same Range.
Training ended when we closed the Range, Range Control was more upset than we were, Range Cards were pulled and such, which is never a good thing.
I remember when the Infantry was working Demo and called in for a Misfire, which I explained was an operator problem, and seeing how it was non-electric I even explained the solution, which is a wait time, and try again. To which I was told that was already tried, so we picked up our tools and drove to the Range. Well there we stood, 2 Techs, scratching our heads, looking, wondering.... and then the answer was clear. The Infantry had Time Fuze and Det Cord mixed up... all over the place, and someone tried to light the Det Cord with a lighter, which is never a good thing. I called the RSO (Range Safety Officer who was in said Infantry Unit) over, and asked who lit what I was holding, and he said he had.
I asked him to show me his lighter, which he pulled out of his pocket.... which is also never a good thing to do, as no lighters or matches are allowed on the Range.
I explained that High Explosives were lit with a lighter, and I was not happy, Time Fuze was mixed up with Det Cord, and that the Range was closed.
The RSO outranked me, and said the Range was not closed. So, we walked and talked on the way to my Truck, I asked where his Explosives Manual was, he said it was left at the Unit, which I explained was also a thing which is not allowed to happen.
We got to my Truck, I called Range Control told them I was EOD and said simply that the Range was cold. I gave the mic to the RSO who asked to have the Range turned back on, but he was told that EOD had already closed the Range.
We piled all their stuff up from the Shot that would not work, and I called Range Control requesting permission to go hot for one shot. We blew their stuff up, and I closed the Range again, and we drove away.
Range Control was not at all happy when I showed them the piece of melted Det Cord and explained what happened. Range cards were pulled once again, and said Unit was not allowed on any Range within the realm of Range Control without an EOD Tech, until they were brought back up to speed. I was picked as that Tech, no doubt because the Unit and question liked me so much. It did not take long and they were good to go, and had the best group of RSO's in the area. I did what I did, many, many times because people have a nasty habit of getting blown up and such because of a mistake made by someone else on the Range.
As far as the reason you are not allowed into a Combat Arms Job, one of the reasons is not that you would not be able to do it physically, but because it would have adversely affected me, and would adversely affect those like me, because men would be looking to protect you instead of doing their jobs.
The Government tells me that if 2 guys are in a foxhole, and one gets his head blown off, well the other guy gets pissed off, and then the killing really starts.
If a guy and a woman are in a foxhole and the woman gets her head blown off, well, the guy starts to feel like he wasn't doing enough to protect the woman, and can't get on with the killing properly. I happen to agree with that finding.
Women also make life and death decisions slower than a man, which in testing has proven women correct more often then her male counterparts would be, but that's testing, and in combat making very fast decisions and compartmentalizing so more snap decisions can be made is what saves the day.
There is a conduit in the brain which connects the right and left half, which is just flat out physically larger in females, the Department of Veterans Affairs noticed such when they went digging years ago to find out why females recovered more often and more quickly from a Stroke.
Which is lucky if one is thinking about recovering from a Stroke, but unlucky if one is looking for a job where split second life and death decisions are to be made.
In short, even though in testing women choose the correct answer more often then males, women over analyze the situation, which in Combat will get you killed, or worse get someone else with you killed.
I remember a few years back when the Navy wanted to get female fighter pilots on Carriers, well someone wanted to, I doubt it was the Navy Brass.
She was killed sadly, her Aircraft was coming into the back of the Carrier in the wrong position, she was told by a man to go around and try again, but she thought she knew better and smacked into the Ship.
Now, if memory serves the guy in the back seat of the Aircraft ejected and lived, but the female pilot did not and died, sadly.
She was no doubt thinking that she could fix the problem at hand, if only given more time, and she may have known the correct solution to the problem, but time was a factor.
