Women In Combat: Misunderstandings
BY Herschel Smith
9 years, 9 months ago
It isn’t necessary to recapitulate what we’ve discussed concerning women in combat since it is so well rehearsed here on these pages. But occasionally something comes out that needs correction.
David Martin: Now you’ve been through this training, what’s your own opinion about whether women can serve in the infantry?
Nisa Jovell: My opinion would be that it would be pretty difficult for them. We’re just, unfortunately physically, we are not built for it. And I’m not saying that we can’t do it, what they do. But our body structure is different.
David Martin: So what is it really, physically that you think?
Nisa Jovell: Honestly, it was really just carrying a lot of weight. And learning how to move as fast as you can with it.
David Martin: It’s what? Bone density that wears you down over time?
Nisa Jovell: It’s mainly hips that affect us.
David Martin: Hips?
Nisa Jovell: For females, yes.
David Martin: How does that play out on a 15K or a 20K?
Nisa Jovell: We had to learn how to put on the pack a certain way to like — relieve the stress off of our hip, so the hip problem is definitely a big deal.
No, no, no, no, and a thousand times no! Any backpack that places the weight primarily on the shoulders will cause spine damage and ultimately cripple a man over the long haul. Proper designs can be seen in the civilian market, and they place the weight primarily on the hips, not the shoulders.
While trying to emphasize that there is a “workaround” of sorts for the fact that females are designed differently than men and suffer from mechanical disadvantages unique to their structure, Ms. Jovell has in fact highlighted and emphasized those differences rather than the workaround. And women still aren’t designed for combat, no matter what the progressives want to believe and no matter how much they would like the military to be the grand experiment in gender-neutral homogeneity.
On March 19, 2015 at 11:02 am, Bobbye said:
Women have been in combat through-out history, and still are.http://www.christianpost.com/news/kurdish-female-forces-are-fighting-isis-in-kobane-to-protect-the-rights-of-women-everywhere-128832/ But women’s combat units have never been expected to put on 85 pound packs and hike up a mountain. When women are used effectively in combat their physical limitations are acknowledged. Women can be very effective in some defensive situations and even in some limited offensive situations. But they will not carry an 85 pound pack up the mountain. If I were in a house with 10 women and we were attacked by a hoard of armed assailants, I would be glad if the women were proficient in shooting, and more so if they knew/had some military combat discipline. It is the idiotic insistence by those in power that everyone pretend like men and women are the same that bothers me. If you want female combat units they should be separate from the men and trained according to their own attributes and used accordingly. Personally I do not believe that any nation should have a standing army. I also do not believe that boys and girls should be schooled together. It bothers me that conservatives and 2nd amendment advocates come off in a way which allows their adversaries to depict them as men who desire their women to be huddling behind them for protection, which of course, is not true at all.
On March 19, 2015 at 2:38 pm, Herschel Smith said:
“It bothers me that conservatives and 2nd amendment advocates come off in a way which allows their adversaries to depict them as men who desire their women to be huddling behind them for protection, which of course, is not true at all.”
I’m not sure what that means. From a personal perspective (and just reflecting the way I would vote), the Bible forbids the involvement of women in combat – not in self defense, but in combat. I would want my wife to know how to defend herself in the case of my absence. On the other hand, Scriptures lay the duty of protection of women and children squarely on the shoulders of men. That much is crystal clear.
As to the article, I am saying nothing concernin the morality of women in combat. The article goes to the issue of physical capability.
On March 19, 2015 at 11:12 am, Pat Hines said:
My mother was an army nurse, winning the Bronze Star for evacuating patients from her hospital while under hostile fire during the Battle of Manila. There’s a piece of Japanese shell that landed at her feet alongside that medal in its box.
That said, being caught in an artillery shelling while performing your duties is a far cry from being an infantryman, at any time, much less in combat.
More importantly in my mind is the degenerate morals exhibited by a society that would promote women entering combat positions with men. That demonstrates a society with crumbling morals.
On March 24, 2015 at 1:10 pm, Ned Weatherby said:
Amazing perspective from a woman. First – any add for a high-end backpack will explain how it keeps the wight on hips. Second, women typically have wider hips. Lots of experienced female backpackers would laugh at this perspective.
Further, a woman I know who teaches martial arts, packs a gun. She knows one strike from the average man will take her out. Most women know they’re not built for infantry. Many men aren’t. This “debate” is purely PC.
Yes – lots ow women were, and are, warriors historically. Invade many women’s houses and you’ll find out. That still doesn’t mean they’re cut out for modern infantry, the loads carried, and the tasks the average infantryman has to perform.