Screams of the Unicorn: Women in the US Infantry A quick, unedited note: The idea that women should become full-fledged infantry troops in the US military is asinine. Anyone promoting this idea is at best clueless, and certainly has not experienced infantry combat. Women do perform courageously in ground combat -- I have witnessed it many times in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and have published video of women involved in firefights. Did they bring much to killing the enemy? No. As pilots, yes, but as ground troops, no. As medics, women can apply bandages like the best of them, but I have yet to meet a female medic who can carry her weight and that of a wounded Soldier. I doubt she exists in the US military, or UK, or IDF, or in the Royal Thai Army. When it came to real shootouts, I have yet to meet an above average woman who could out-perform a below average infantryman. Anyone who says otherwise is living in Rainbow World filled with unicorns and hallucinogens. Combat gear is heavy, and the speed with which you can move it makes gigantic differences in killing the enemy and surviving. There is a reason why women do not compete in mens rugby, American football, or even soccer. They cannot even keep up in tennis and golf. Women never enter martial arts competition hand-to-hand with men, whether that be boxing, wrestling, or karate. But in combat today, hand-to-hand remains surprisingly common. In the dispatch attached, I was witness to hand-to-hand in Iraq. I have never met a woman who could do what CSM Robb Prosser did that day. If Robb had been Roberta, she may have been killed in that hand-to-hand, along with several others. That battalion sustained 183 casualties (killed and wounded), and hand-to-hand combat. Typically those casualties had to be evacuated quickly from combat, often while under direct fire. Speed and brute strength were essential. As example, on 23 April 2005, a suicide car bomber detonated against a Stryker vehicle belonging to the Deuce Four battalion. There were KIA and wounded, and one wounded was trapped inside the burning vehicle. The first Soldiers were unable to wrestle out a wounded Soldier from the vehicle, and this required evens stronger Soldiers to go into the burning vehicle. Needless to say, there is no timed event like this at Fort Benning or Camp Lejeune. Unfortunately the Soldier later died in Texas from the burns. As the wars raged on, events like this were common. Vehicles flipped upside down, often on fire, bullets snapping by. Truck bomb hits building. Soldiers trapped in rubble. There are no machines to rescue buddies. Only hands and willpower. Rocket hits building. Mans legs cut off, buddies must take him down multiple flights of stairs and through gunfire to get to vehicle. Muddy ground. People can hardly walk. Shot. Facedown. Who can get him out? Would you send a squad of women across that road to pull out trapped and unconscious Soldiers from a burning vehicle whose doors way almost 400 pounds? If your daughter were trapped in that vehicle, would you want three men to rush in there to get her, or three women who cannot do a pullup wearing their body armor -- when climbing atop vehicles or over walls or through windows is a common task? Sending unicorns to battle will end badly. Combat will strip away all fantasies with brutal disregard. Only the strong and the lucky survive. GoPro will be there to capture the Screams of the Unicorn. https://michaelyon-online/gates-of-fire.htm
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 10:37:43 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015