This concludes a four-part series on the danger to our nation if we implement the new policy of allowing women in close-combat units. In previous weeks we discussed that women do make very good soldiers and can handle combat. However, they do have hygiene and other sanitation needs different than men. We also discussed the physical differences between men and women—women are smaller and frailer and are unavailable for duty due to health issues much more than men. And we dealt with the devastating issue of sexual tension and rape in units.
Continuing on, a gent who served as a Marine infantry squad leader during the 2003 invasion of Iraq reports: We rode into war crammed in the back of amphibious assault vehicles. They are designed to hold roughly 15 Marines snugly; due to maintenance issues, by the end of the invasion we had as many as 25 men stuffed into the back. Marines were forced to sit, in full gear, on each other’s laps and in contorted positions for hours on end. That was the least of our problems.
The invasion was a blitzkrieg. The goal was to move as fast as possible to Baghdad. The column would not stop for a corporal, lieutenant, or even a company commander to go to the restroom. Sometimes we spent over 48 hours on the move without exiting the vehicles. We were forced to urinate in empty water bottles inches from our comrades.
Many Marines developed dysentery from the complete lack of sanitary conditions. When an uncontrollable urge hit a Marine, he would be forced to stand, as best he could, hold an MRE (combat ration) bag up to his rear, and defecate inches from his seated comrade’s face.
During the invasion, we wore chemical protective suits because of the fear of chemical or biological weapon attack. These are equivalent to a ski jumpsuit and hold in the heat. We also had to wear black rubber boots over our desert boots. On the occasions the column did stop for a break, we would quickly peel off our rubber boots, desert boots and socks to let our feet air out.
Due to the heat and sweat, layers of our skin would peel off our feet. However, we rarely had time to remove our suits or perform even the most basic hygiene. We quickly developed sores on our bodies.
When we did reach Baghdad, we were in shambles. We had not showered in well over a month and our chemical protective suits were covered in a mixture of filth and dried blood. We were told to strip and place our suits in pits to be burned immediately. My unit stood there in a walled-in compound in Baghdad, naked, sores dotted all over our bodies, feet peeling, watching our suits burn. Later, they lined us up naked and washed us off with pressure washers.
Yes, a woman is as capable as a man of pulling a trigger. But the goal of our nation’s military is to fight and win wars. Before taking the drastic step of allowing women to serve in combat units, has the government considered whether introducing women into the above-described situation would have made any unit more or less combat effective?
Societal norms are a reality, and their maintenance is important to most members of a society. It is humiliating enough to relieve yourself in front of your male comrades; one can only imagine the humiliation of being forced to relieve yourself in front of the opposite sex.
Despite the professionalism of Marines, it would be distracting and potentially traumatizing to be forced to be naked in front of the opposite sex, particularly when your body has been ravaged by lack of hygiene. In the reverse, it would be painful to witness a member of the opposite sex in such an uncomfortable and awkward position. Combat effectiveness is based in large part on unit cohesion. The relationships among members of a unit can be irreparably harmed by forcing them to violate societal norms.
In conclusion, ‘tip of the spear’ infantry battalions attack the enemy with deliberate offensive action. Thirty years of studies and reports have shown that in this environment, women do not have an equal ability to survive, or to help fellow soldiers survive. As long as the mission of our military is to protect our nation—and not to give equal opportunity to play soldier to all—then the adding of women to direct combat units cannot fail to severely degrade our military. Under our form of government, and I totally agree with this, our military’s leaders take their direction from our civilian leaders; they have no options. Thus, as this agenda is forced on them, we will see commanders having to alter standards to achieve the needed acceptance of women in our ‘tip of the spear’ units. We will also see our very best combat soldiers starting to leave the military as their honor will not permit them to participate in the pretend combat ready force that our military will become. I hope we’ll see top generals and admirals leaving the service in protest—however, that almost never happens and is a major weakness of our current system.
Besides the political flag officers who are currently dancing to the tune of their Politically Correct masters, virtually no one who has actually been in extended close combat sees any wisdom in this degrading of our military. Congress can act to investigate this, but there is little to suggest that the President will pay any attention to anything they find or do. This is a very, very dangerous time for our military and our nation. Pray for America.
