Do women really belong in the military?

Question

First and foremost, just calling a spade a spade. The only time I worked with women was in the Navy. Man it was bad. Women did all the easy work (if anything) like paperwork and men did all the tough jobs. They were getting themselves pregnant to skip out of deployment. I transfered to an all male command, and it was a thousand times better. No PC enviornment. No pregnancies to deal with. None of my subordinates had females to fight over. No chemistry between anyone to interfere with their jobs. Didn't have to take up their slack. All this money spent on women could be put to better use. It's is my opinion women don't belong and I want to hear all of yours too, provided any "yes" answer uses logic rather than basing your answer on reasons of equality or PC correctness.

@ Jackie- Adapted? Hah! Are women in general going to get as strong as men? Are their bodies's reproductive sytem going to shut down a few months before deployment. How exactly? If you or anyone else truely believes women are just as capable in the physical department, let's take a lesson from our Israeli friends. http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/11/01/israel.soldiers.ap/index.html
@Rich K- In a way, we're not in total disagreement. On shore duty, it's just like any other 9-5 jobs, very few, if any problems. Deployments are the biggies. Maybe those initial glitches weren't really initial, were they.

Answer 1

Yes they do. Women have as much right to serve their country as men do. I've worked in all male units too and enjoyed it but I've also worked in mixed units and enjoyed that also. Sounds, like you and your men have a problem and its not women. If women can work with men but men can't work with women.... who really has the problem. I've seen a lot of female soldiers who easily pulled their weight. Maybe Army females are just better than Navy females? I've watched female soldiers in combat and they are just a brave as the male soldiers. When rounds are incoming who cares about PC. I guess you navy guys have a lot more time to think about it than the Army.

Answer 2

First of all, what are you even talking about? Labor in the Navy is determined by rate, not gender. If you're a female undesignated seaman, or GSM or some other rate of that nature, you're doing just as much physical labor as anyone else. If you're a male YN, you're doing paperwork.

I lost a female from my division just prior to deployment when she got pregnant, but I don't think she was trying to skip out. I think she was just having a normal sex life with her husband and that sort of thing happens. Nine months of pregnancy plus eighteen years of being responsible for a child is hardly less taxing than a six month deployment.

Now, depending on how long ago you were in the Navy, things might be very different now. There was some rough adjustment when they first came in, but I'd say most of that is behind us now. The females I've worked with were easily as professional as the males, officers and enlisted alike.

As far as subordinates fighting over women, that sounds more like men being stupid and immature, and that's hardly the woman's fault. The military as a whole would be better off if both genders just grew the hell up and stopped treating the armed forces like high school.

Answer 3

Well, im a girl that lives in parris island wich is basicly the mainboot camp for the eastcoast and when i stand at my front door a lot of the times i can hear men screaming and i live way down the street from any sort of recruits i can always hear what the men are saying and sometimes the women but i can never hear what they're saying...but i think thats out of lazyness..my dad is a drill instructor and ive seen what hes has the guys doing ( he doesnt work with women tho) ... and its not as easy as what the women can do i know cuz i go for walks to watch.. i think determined women who are commited should be in the military cuz some are really hard workers dont judge all by some you know...plus we need all the defense we can get

Answer 4

Great Question. Its one that needs to be asked.

Yes, a Marine combat veteran i belieave they belong in the military if they want to be. However, i do not belieave they should be allowed into the infantry. It would causes more problems then it would solve. Interesting, i have no problem with Gays in the infanry. Anyone who thinks anyone is going to be playing "grab a**" in combat has no concept of what combat is really like. Anyone who wants to be in the military should have the right to try out.

Perhaps, at this time women would be best allocated to logistics or even command (non-infanty). Something like the navy or air-force. if you can't get along with women at work, then the problem is not only them, but with you. Struggle, adapt, change. You are able to over come challenges, yes?

And i will take advice or opion from those isrealis anyday. They are good to go.

I wish everyone would be stop being so narrow minded. Women are not equal to men. Men are general better at some things. But, women are certainly better then men at some things. Recognize the shortcomes and strengths of each gender, don't ignore them and put a happy face on and wish everything is equal. Women do not belong in the infantry at this time.

But then again... When the bullets start flying i don't care who are. You want to fight with me? Then come Get Some!!

If WW2 Russia taught us anything; its that women may have a natural talent for combat sniping. (i know, i am contriditing myself. but i am only trying to give credit where it is due) Those russian chicks were as deadly as they were tough. Its a shame that Army/Marine chicks don't have a chance to prove themselves at 400 yards like those Ruskie chicks.

And your question reads like it was written by a squid. Go see combat. All this PC bull goes right out the window the first time you crap your pants.

Answer 5

Yes. They just as capable as men, and with a lot of unique advantages. In addition to the abilities mentioned by the respondents above, women on average are better with verbal reasoning, capable of going longer without food or water, have higher tolerance for pain, are smaller, lighter weight, more flexible, and eat less. An objective look would show that some tasks would (for an average case) be better suited to men, some to women, and some equally suited for either sex. The fact is if we're not utilizing every diverse strength, then we're just waiting for someone to find our weakness.

While I agree that the things you mentioned seem like problems, I would argue the problems belong to the military, not the women. I think part of the problem is your looking at the military we do have, not the one we could or should have. Integrating women into the military is hard, but that doesn't mean it's not worth doing. Quite frankly, I tend to think just the opposite; the challenge is itself worthwhile. I could go on about opportunity and equality and a bunch of high minded rhetoric, but for me it come down to this: In a world as dangerous as ours, we need the skills and dedication of everyone we can get. And everything else is crap.

P.S. - You write as if there were two types of people, normal ones and women. Just thought you should know.

Answer 6

Wow buddy that's a two-edged sword there. I know exactly what you are talking about. As a shop LPO I currently had to send away one of my females for getting harassed. Then I had to replace her with another person (just so happened to be a man) with the same quals. Pull him out of his paradise in Japan, to come here in Iraq. I have experienced young female sailors getting pregnant right before deployment. Could be just coincidental. But there are things to say about having an all male shop. Where guys can be guys. But I also have had females in the shop who are just "one of the guys" Girls who pulled their weight (no pun intended) and got planes fixed. But the majority of the females I've served with have been leaning towards just doing the paperwork part of the job, than going out and doing the job. But there have been some stellar performers. I've also have had males who are absolutely worthless! Guys who will sit in the head for hours just to get out of work! So to answer your question Yes. Women do belong in the military. Are shops more proficient without them? Not more proficient. Just a little different. Plus I believe that the military should open more rates and mos's to females. Every American deserves the privilege of protecting their country. Its up to us. Then senior enlisted to make sure they have every opportunity to excel in their chosen rate.

Answer 7

Yes.

As someone else commented, there are good and bad troops, and I've never perceived it as gender-related. I've had horrible experiences with males, and vice versa, and wonderful experiens with females, and vice versa. If the woman can meet standards, I don't care what branch of service or specialty she serves in, including combat arms. As long as he or she actually meets standards, however. That's a military-wide problem, and again, not a gender-specific issue. When manning gets tight, holes are filled with bodies that should not be in them.

Clearly, it's possible to create a cultural environment in which gender is not an issue, or at least where it's subdued. Troops of both genders should be more carefully screened, but I realize now isn't the best of times to be attempting experiments in social engineering. We're letting in a lot of substandard troops, especially in the Army, because of Iraq. But in Vietnam, for instance, female Viet Cong were often more resilient, and fought harder and gave up less ground than their male counterparts. I've served with women who were tougher than any of the men around her, including me, in a given situation. In many of the units I served with, women joining the unit learned the job faster and were better organized when we had to deal with new taskings than the men. That's been my experience. Perhaps things have improved since you were in?

Answer 8

I would say yes they belong in the Military because they have some skills that men typically dont have i.e attetion to detail and organzational type skills. But i am opposed to having them in front line combat roles not because they cant do it but because of the psychological factors. The Israelis require all people when they turn 18 to join the military. They tried to put women in combat roles and it turns out that men when they saw woment get killed they freaked out and couldnt function in combat anymore i guess it messed with thier minds alot more than if a man was killed in front of them.

Answer 9

I was in the Navy for 20 and I worked with women both ashore and afloat. In my experience it was not much different than working with men, there were good ones and bad ones. Some of the hardest working and most competent sailors I've ever known were women. Granted there were problems at first, I was on active duty when they first started putting women on ships, on one of the first to get women in fact. Any new program is going to have glitches to be worked out, overall I found the simple fact that they were women to not be an issue, it was a question of the character of the individual.

Answer 10

part of me agrees with you but another part doesn't. i feel that if a woman wants to join they should be able and expected to do every aspect of there job and be open to every job in the military. they should not be excluded from being in the infantry just because they might have to carry an m-60. i was lucky i was an engineer in the MARINES and that mos isn't open to women so i didn't have to deal with them. but then on the other hand i also think that they should be able to join and kept in jobs like being a clerk or even a cook. if they get knocked up they should be made to extend there tour of duty for another year and be made to deploy a few months after the birth. i see it as no free rides. you join you serve and you do your job like it or not