Should women be allowed to join the infantry?

Question

My sister and I were both in the army and she thinks that women should be allowed to join the grunts. My older brother who is a commander in the Navy thinks it a bad idea. Women test better, shoot as good if not better then their male counter parts. On the other hand they are less physically capable then men and aren't as will powered when it comes to dealing with shell shock as men. People say that it doesn’t matter because you just have to shoot the person not bench press him. on the other hand you have to be the best of the best and with the pt lower for women than men how you can you not justify some new recruit during boot saying he will do only 19 push ups because the girl next to him only has to do 19. The army found out if you have the same pt for men and women that more women would drop out of boot and we would have fewer women in the services. What are your thoughts?

Answer 1

I think it's a terrible idea. For one, think of hygiene. Being out in the field with no access to showers for long periods of time is a legitimate issue for women. All a guy has to worry about is being smelly, but for women you could have to deal with infections and nasty stuff such as that. As far as the physical stuff goes, I have encountered very, very few women who would up to the task. While it is true that you don't have to "bench press" the guy there is a very real possibility you'll have to carry his *** off the battlefield (along with all his equipment). I've seen some pretty big guys in the infantry and though I am physically a lot stronger than the average woman I know I would struggle to drag them out. I can pass the PT test by the 17-21 year old male standard, but that doesn't mean I could drag 300 pounds of dead weight. Then there are psychological reasons to consider. It has been proven over and over again that men can not handle seeing a woman hurt. So, there is the very real possibility that in a combat situation they would be focusing too much on protecting the women. Don't get me wrong...were I a guy I would jump at the chance to go infantry, but I don't believe women belong there.

Answer 2

basically ask the loads human beings struggling with adult men who had their lives stored by women human beings manning 50 high quality gadget weapons atop a Humvee in Iraq. Or ask the ladies human beings who've won Bronze Stars with the V gadget or people who've won the Silver famous guy or woman in Iraq. My daughter is an Air stress attempt against digital camera guy or woman assigned to Air stress specific Operations workers in Afghanistan. basically ask the Sp Ops human beings how they felt while she picked up an M-sixteen, positioned down her digital camera and commenced protecting their place against a damaging stress. human beings damaging to females human beings interior the Infantry have never served interior the Infantry, or are afraid that their masculinity could some how be broken.

Answer 3

I spent 20 years on active duty and I've always thought they should abolish the double standard. Something I used tell female hand-to-hand combat students, the other guy ain't gonna hit softer because your a woman. Since, in the military, women have the same privileges and benefits as men, they should be held to the same standards. They are given lower physical standards because they are supposedly weaker, but that is because they tend to be smaller. Maybe we should try abolishing separate standards by gender and make it by size. After all, why shouldn't a 5'10" 180lb woman be held to the same standards as a 5'10" 180lb man? On the flip side, how is it fair to say a 5'5" 135lb man must meet the same standards as a 6'5" 280lb man, but that a 5'5" 135lb woman needn't? Women should never expect to be considered equals as long as they are hiding behind special privileged treatment.

Answer 4

I have no problem with women being in the infantry, but think that it might take some tweaking in the physical standards. For those of you who are not in the military, there are standards of physical fitness based on age and gender. I would ask that women who joined us in infantry units be able to meet the same physical standards of thier male counterparts.

As far as women distracting men, they are already everywhere on the battlefield with us except on patrol, so not really an issue. The army has excellent "field sanitation" programs in place to address hygiene issues.

The natural physical limitations are legitimate concerns, she has to be able to carry me out of the line of fire if I get injured, and even though the type of woman with that physical prowess is rare, I think if she meets the same physical standards as males, she can be my battle buddy.

Answer 5

Women should NOT be allowed in the military- i don't care what branch and all that. men are stronger and more capable. women are not trained at the same level as men are, and even if they were, if it came down to a hand to hand fight, the woman would lose. men are built for that stuff so they would win hands down. and of course there are thoe RARE cases where the woman has some freakish ability to beat the crap out of guys...but the majority of women should NOT be in the military....call me whatever you want. that's me PERSONAL OPINION.

Answer 6

Im a 19 year old female who would love to join infantry. I would go to Iraq in a heartbeat. I know I am physically fit and possibly more fit than some men over there. Everyone knows the consequence and the lifestyle they are putting themselves up for, if they are ok with that, then women should be allowed. If they let me, I would of been gone by now, but I have tried and tried and they won't let me. It sucks...

Answer 7

I see nothing wrong with women in the Army...

but...

On the front lines of combat, it is illegal for women to be stationed there under USC Title 15. So if the Army puts women on the front lines, it is breaking the law.

Should we change the law? I can go either way on that, but on the balance I think it should stay the way it is --brute strength, reaction time and lack of emotion really count under the shock and lifethreatening situation of battle.

Answer 8

They should not be allowed to join the infantry, nor should they be allowed on submarine duty in the Navy. They shouldn't be allowed not just because they are weaker, but because there is the danger of them distracting the men.

Answer 9

I believe that women can do anything they want. I see no reason why women can not be in the infantry. You said yourself that women can score higher and shot better than some of their male counterparts. Women have cooler heads in an emergency situation than men and are better people judges than men in most cases. Therefore they would be a valuable asset to the infantry for these reasons. It's always been my personal opinion that women can do anything a man can except father children. It all depends on how badly they want to do it.

Answer 10

It is to much of a distraction it's bad enough the boys in the infantry, have to deal with officers yelling at them and bullets flying by them and now you want boobs to distract them. Give it up girl, stay at the MASH tents and behind the lines.