It’s no secret I’m no fan of Gen. Amos. I am still really pissy about the sleeves down deal and I’ve been out for 7 years. Fuckin’ wingers.
Now the Corps is trying to do something dumb that the army was smart enough to get rid of: Banning PMAGS. Now, my internal Marine apologist at first blush actually let this fly. Unlike the army, the Corps offers a legitimate justification. They’re concerned with seating issues in the new Infantry Automatic Rifle, the replacement to the M249 SAW. It appears this issue is going to be resolved soon as Magpul has acknowledged this and is updating their next generation PMAGs to handle the issue.
But you know, it’s still a foolish move for 3 reasons:
1) Let’s play the game of percentages. The guys that make the call on this sort of thing are the type of people that haven’t had a day in the field since they left TBS. They don’t understand stoppages because the only workout their rifle gets is when it goes to the range to qual once a year. How many magazine malfunctions are remedied by PMAGs when compared to mag malfunctions in IARs in the rare circumstances the automatic rifleman is bumming mags off of other Marines?
2) Have you ever tried firing a SAW that was being magazine fed? The M249 was already a jam-prone piece of garbage. Having it mag fed was an absolute nightmare when using the issued USGI metal mags.
3) You should never issue orders that you know will not be obeyed. It degrades your authority.
But regardless of the length I’ve gone into on this matter, that isn’t what this post is about. Rather, I’m talking about chicks, Wookies, Field Mattresses, Bag Nasties, WMs. Under Amos the Corps has actually made a few good moves. The most recent is that women are going to start being required to perform pullups instead of flexed-arm hangs. The closer we bring all Marines to the same standard the better. Word on the street is that this is a simple PR move to show that women cannot hack infantry life. That’s possible, but I think the fact that every woman to date has dropped out of infantry school is a much better indicator.
Regardless, the Corps is doing the right thing by giving women the opportunity to go through infantry school. I’ve gone into depth on why I think women should be allowed in the infantry, so I’ll try not to rehash the same arguments. While I do think having women operate by the same standard as men is a good thing, the Corps still misses, because women aren’t put to the same requirements as a man — 20 pullups. Women can score a perfect PFT with 8 pullups.
If we insist on demanding different standards, perhaps the better way to do it is to allow women into the infantry, but all infantry Marines operate from a certain standard, while ground combat units have a second set of physical requirements, and the most basic of office pogues have a third, far more lenient standard. I want the woman in the fighting hole next to me capable of cranking out 20 pullups; I could give a damn what the admin guy can do.
Now, apparently the ACLU is getting involved in the matter and are helping 4 female vets file suit to allow women into ground combat units. There are a few things people on each side need to understand about this:
1) Having a helo shot down and ending up in a firefight is not what makes a grunt. Feel free to chime in here about me being a TOW Gunner John, but being a grunt isn’t about pointing a rifle at somebody and shooting. Being a grunt is about being cold, wet, sleep and food deprived, and putting something heavy on your back and walking. Being a grunt is about enduring hardship. It’s about being delirious with heat exhaustion but holding a post anyways even though all you’ve eaten is a rat-fucked MRE pound cake a hot bottle of water and are operating on 2 hours sleep.
2) Females don’t get much respect in the military, especially amongst ground combat units. Why? BECAUSE THEY AREN’T IN GROUND COMBAT UNITS. We talk about espirit de corps and the love of your brother that no woman would understand, but we do not give women the opportunity to experience that. Then we speak of them disparagingly as walking mattresses as if their failure to understand espirit de corps makes them inferior creatures.
I’ve known of female Marines to shuck their uniform during the Marine Corps Ball in order to put on a dress. This infuriates me to see someone care so little about the uniform and what it represents; what THEY are a part of. But then again, how will a woman love her Corps the way I do when she never experiences what makes me love my Corps?
P.S. 200 posts and 5288 hits!
