Woman In Combat Arms...

[Wagon]

hogun said: Link Removed
Say goodbye to your jack shacks and wank tanks on deployment.
That is sad on its own. You saying a group of you toss off in one room???

At the risk of derailing... In the Navy it's called "Salty Cracker" and if one of the squids comes forward and actually explains that little game....I'll just turn and join everyone else in calling them gay. And if you can't explain what it is, there is no way you are sailor. It's my Saturday Gordian knot. Weeee. The Marines may know what it is too, but their version probably involves knives..

 

[Ned]

Are we saying that women on deployments is a bad thing because it inhibits wanking?

 

[Wagon]

We've driven into one ditch, got out, crossed the road, and driven in to the other.

 

[JarHed]

For me it's simple; if they can do the job OK, if not NO. That goes for either sex.

 

[tho9900]

I agree with Jar... one of the people I would follow down whatever road and have him on my back any time any place was Cedric Dupree... he was gay.. but he was as gung ho as they came.. and never once tried anything on anyone.. he got a bronze star, or maybe a silver... gotta look it up, man I havent thought abt him in years... for being one of the 5 surviving Corpsmen out of the 30 or so originally there in the Beirut bombing in 83 able to treat the 400ish casualties from it.. one of the most understanding but up in your face mofo's if you screw up - people I have ever met...

There were so many slackers and non hackers I saw in my time in... all I cared about was can I trust someone when the shit goes down... Even in peacetime deployed on a ship, someone skipping a step could mean disaster for the entire crew and Marine detachement.. I didn't care who did it, only that they did it right..

Y'all feel free to hate on me now... for all the jokes abt gays in the Navy.. gays woulda last 3 weeks deployed till they were medevac'd out for "falling down the ladder" stairs for you non Marine ground guys.. or in some cases be missing in morning roll call... but at the same time there were ones we knew were, but never had a problem with.. they put in their 110% and were shipmates/platoon mates depending on the service...

I extrapolate that over to having women onboard.... my story is when we got to Palma Mallorca off the coast of Spain we got off the ship and as we walked out of the shipyard I almost walked nose to breast into 4 beautiful topless German girls.. 3 days later here is this 18 year old Marine next to me looking at a girl in a bar and (yes looking in her eyes) telling her how beautiful she was and he could lose himself in those same eyes... nevermind she was almost nekkid...

I think it possible... I think someone onboard caught harrasing a good female shipmate might have a problem with falling down that same ladder...

ok said my piece... gone... and feel free to hate me lol

 

[Ned]

No, Tho, that's fair. My last unit we had a bloke who we 'never knew' until one day my mate Charlie & me were talking about the inevitable outcomes of marriage, and this bloke says 'Well that's never going to be a problem for me, is it?' and walks out of the stores.
It was a bit of a comedy moment, Charlie & me looked at each other and went 'Ohhhhhh..........' in that drippy way you do when you've been dense.
Thing is, the bloke was a proper hard bastard you would rely on. No hate, mate.

 

[shogun]

Lol. We Marines are a bit different than others. If you have the discipline ti not "toss off" over an 8 month deployment I commend you. Ship life for Marines is a Hell in itself. Was just trying to point out some of the smaller details that get overlooked. My point was that life as an infantryman would be turned upside down should women be integrated into those units. And while yes their are those men who also claim harrassment and hazing, (flame suit on) they are more prevalent in the Army than the Marine Corps. This is simply a matter of culture and of the average type of person that chooses between the two branches. Like why the army now has time out cards in bootcamp. Sorry for going off topic.

 

[Ned]

If you have the discipline ti not "toss off" over an 8 month deployment I commend you. Sorry for going off topic.

No, mate. My wanking jibe was just that. I've served with lasses on Ops and the good ones measure up. The bad ones are just the same as the bad blokes, either of 'em will piss you off and steal your air.

 

[Alex1991]

If a woman can pass all the training requirements without compromise....and also carry a 16 stone male soldier in full combat order 100 metres across the battlefield..... whats the issue. I had lads in my section in afghan that acted like 13 year old girls 95% of the time

 

[shogun]

I'm just saying the guys who are non hackers or f*ck ups got dealt with pretty severely, at least in my unit. If we had a woman and treated her just as we treated each other it would have no doubt ended with njps or court martials.

 

[JarHed]

Like it or not we're heading for a society that is going to have an integration of race, sexual preference and gender. There may even be a time in the future when people will laugh about how we in this age saw these things as 'problems'. The time of change is upon us like it or not.

I've worked in a number of fields and have worked with and had women and gay people as coworkers and bosses. Like anything; some were good and some sucked. Personally I only really care how someone treats me and none of that other stuff. Never cared about it. I fought against troops in nam that were both male and female and there wasn't a difference in how hard they fought.

When people are brought together to do something, as in the military for instance, you're always going to have some difficulties but nothing that I can see that won't be worked out eventually.

One thing that I do see is that woman that have served in combat are still treated like second class citizens and that's wrong. Just Jar's 2cents.

Jar

 

[shogun]

I hear what you're saying Jar. I have no doubt the women in Vietnam were hard as nails. I would counter that Combat today is vastly different. Could one of them in 50lbs of gear with rifle lift up a 190lbs man wearing 50lbs of gear and then carry him 100yds? From what I understand those women did not wear body armor etc etc etc. And keep in mind a sniper today carries twice the weight of a standard grunt when out on an op.

I fully agree with you on the direction the world is headed. In most cases I have no problem with it, some people will just suck regardless of orientation, sex, creed, religion etc etc. It's statistics. I just hope that things happen for the right reasons and things aren't changed for personal/ political reasons. In war, its life and death. Mission accomplisment is the chief objective. When I enlisted I knew I was sacrificing ALL my rights and privileges previosuly enjoyed. But that's what it meant to serve, to forego all personal agendas in complete service to your country. Whatever they ask of you, you do and feel proud you were asked. This was the sacrifice made so that our families friends could enjoy theirs right? Makes me angry (have to stop saying pissed so the brits don't think I mean drunk) when I hear peoples first reason for joining the military was, "huge enlistment bonus" or "they'll pay my college man and I go shoot guns once a month." Is there no such thing anymore as selfless service or does it exist now only in an award ceremony?