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Multiple sources report that on Thursday, December 3rd, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced that the US military will open all combat jobs to women. From The Wall Street Journal:
"This means that, as long as they qualify and meet the standards, women will now be able to contribute to our mission in ways they could not before," Mr. Carter said.
He spelled out the implications of his decision: "They'll be allowed to drive tanks, fire mortars, and lead infantry soldiers into combat. They'll be able to serve as Army Rangers and Green Berets, Navy SEALs, Marine Corps infantry, Air Force parajumpers and everything else that was previously open only to men."
[...] The practical effect of the announcement is to open up the 10% of positions that still remain closed to women--nearly 220,000 jobs--in infantry, reconnaissance and special operations units.
[Much more after the break.]
ABC News brings us some words from combat veteran and US congresswoman Tammy Duckworth (link again):
U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., one of the first Army women to fly combat missions in the 2003-2011 Iraq war, welcomed the decision.
"I didn't lose my legs in a bar fight -- of course women can serve in combat," said Duckworth, whose helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. "This decision is long overdue."
The Kurdish militia is another option for women who want to fight. Fox News earlier this year wrote about one such woman, Gill Rosenberg:
A Canadian-born Israeli woman who joined a Kurdish militia to fight against the Islamic State group said that after a stint in prison, she felt compelled to do something positive with her life and battle against the "genocide" unfolding in Syria and Iraq.
Gill Rosenberg, 31, was among the first female volunteers to fight in the Syrian civil war.
Vice brings us a story about another woman determined to fight ISIS, model Hanna Bohman:
As thousands of Syrian refugees flee the country, escaping Bashar al-Assad's barrel bombs and the barbarism of ISIS, one woman from Canada has headed to the war zone for a second time.
Hanna Bohman, aka Tiger Sun, joined the women's militia army of the People's Defence Unit, known as the YPJ in the Kurdish region of Syria (Rojava) following a near-fatal motorbike accident last year.
Also see NPR's coverage: Pentagon Says Women Can Now Serve In Front-Line Ground Combat Positions.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday December 04 2015, @04:54PM
I'd agree, as long as the physical requirements are the same for them as for the men. But they're not. Pretty much any male soldier could pick up a 200lb injured brother and carry him half a mile if necessary. Pretty much no female soldiers could. There are damned good reasons women have not been allowed to take certain MOSs for so long and now people who shouldn't have will die because of political correctness.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday December 04 2015, @07:11PM
Not to mention that it's going to be extremely demoralizing when those who are inevitably captured are raped, tortured, and horrifically murdered on video for the whole world to see.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 04 2015, @08:46PM
You mean as opposed to being raped on base... by your fellow Americans... and with a chain of command that dismisses your claims without actually looking into it? Yeah... that'd be bad too.
On the up-side, those videos will feature dirty "moslems" doing the deed; vile, evil creatures that are part of the axis of evil and must be destroyed by our valiant, brave, freedom-loving troops. I guess that will be good for the ministry of propaganda. Much better at least than the numerous and repeated claims of service-women and -men being raped by their colleagues.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday December 04 2015, @09:16PM
Getting drunk and willingly letting your entire platoon take turns on one or more of your three holes isn't "rape." It's only "rape" if that woman gets in trouble for something and she wants to portray herself as the victim in a desperate gambit to beat her rap - for example, if she gets pregnant while forward-deployed.
Anyway, I'm all for nuking the entire Middle-East. This is the 21st century and goddamn barbaric savages have no place in it. After we exterminate the durka-durkas we can kick out all the Jews and they can go live over there.
Yippie-kay-yay whooptie-God-damn-doo. All the world's problems solved!
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 04 2015, @11:04PM
what about systemd
(Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Saturday December 05 2015, @06:41AM
Not to mention there are already jobs in the military that women are better at so putting them on the front line is just stupid. For examples women are much better at language and make better translators, their bodies can take more g-forces so make better fighter pilots, are better at reading body language and diffusing situations and thus make better MPs, hell I could go on all day.
But of course we know what this is REALLY about, its the same as those racists that scream "this job doesn't have enough X!" with X being the race or gender they want to push. They go by the fallacy that we are nothing but plastic dolls, that race or sex is nothing but a minor change to the plastic mold, which of course science has proven time and again is bullshit. For just a few examples just look at the above or look at how you won't be seeing any White guys winning the short distance races, that is because Black folks over time have developed muscles that do not build up lactic acid nearly as fast as a White or Asian and therefor have an advantage in that event,or how many of our skyscrapers were built by American Indians because their sense of balance is so much better.
We should frankly go to a strictly merit based system, where everybody is judged NOT by the color of their skin or their sex but by the content of their character and their abilities...but we sadly know that isn't what is gonna happen here. Instead what we will get is a year, maybe two where the women have to compete to the same standards as men and then some group will start screaming "You don't have enough X, that means you are an 'ist!'" and they'll dumb it down so they can get the number of X they require. Won't matter that they aren't qualified, can't do as much as those that held the job before, hell it won't even matter when good soldiers die because they don't have the strength to drag them out of the line of fire, all that matters is not being perceived as an 'ist' and the only way you can do that is to "make sure you have enough X!" whether X is qualified or even wants the damned job. Coming soon huge bonuses for women to take the job because they don't have enough X coming to a war near you, I'm sure the enemy will thank us.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Saturday December 05 2015, @05:03AM
Hey, gender equality. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Maybe gender equality proponents, er, I mean feminists, will learn a lesson?
Next step, women need to sign up for the draft.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 2) by tathra on Saturday December 05 2015, @06:34AM
correct, [washingtonpost.com] the reason women are currently exempt from the draft is because they're exempt from combat MOSes, feminists are suing over that bit of sexism [courthousenews.com] and the courts are looking into fixing it. [stripes.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 05 2015, @05:16PM
I always thought that excuse was BS. I have to sign up for the draft despite being exempt from combat MOSes. Sure, they will stick me in a hospital or give me the shit jobs no one wants (without pay, while everyone drafted getting regular pay AND combat pay) but I'm still exempt from combat.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 05 2015, @09:57AM
I believe they have a series of "special abilities" qualifications, and women have to qualify for one. For example, CPR. Thus, while many males will qualify via the carry-injured test, females will often qualify some other way.
(Score: 1) by Squidious on Saturday December 05 2015, @09:42PM
Audie Murphy, the most decorated US soldier in WW2 and a consummate badass, was 5' 5" and weighed 112 pounds. He was initially considered too slight for combat. Bravery and marksmanship trump brawn in any modern conflict with repeating firearms.
The terrorists have won, game, set, match. They've scared the people into electing authoritarian regimes.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Wednesday December 09 2015, @04:59PM
An interesting editorial on the question:
http://jewishworldreview.com/kathleen/parker120715.php3 [jewishworldreview.com]
The most salient point: "...once women are assigned to combat, there will be no argument against drafting women."
Equality, anyone??
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.