by Andy Weddington
Tuesday, 21 April 2015
"Power is not something that can be assumed or discarded at will like underwear." John Kenneth Galbraith
Marine infantryman am I.
Because of previous commentary, the influx of articles, comments, and queries for further comment regarding women in ground combat (especially infantry and specops) is unrelenting.
I don't care.
But I do care.
I am a no-nonsense gent. Direct. Blunt. Truthful. Admittedly, to a fault. I can't help it. But, such an approach minimizes if not precludes confusion. And disaster. Marines know. Nor do I allow emotion to cloud what I say and do. In uniform, subordinates, peers, and seniors alike - gender notwithstanding - got it straight; solicited or not. Tact I practiced. Polish used sparingly as it masks truth. None of that has changed. And will not. Ever.
Believe it or not I have actually (wasted) a little more thought on this women in ground combat nonsense - snapshots between thinking about painting and fly fishing for trout; life's priorities.
Briefly...
Emotion, not logic, in play.
Emotion is without rule.
Logic is rule.
Women (in the ground combat debate) are using gender as excuse not as argument. Thus, the whacky concept of gender-neutrality (the [General Martin] Dempsey Rule better tagged the Dempsey Panty Rule).
Though the debate is most assuredly about equipment.
Women don't carry equipment. Equipment proof.
Women can't carry equipment. Endurance proof.
Men do, and can, carry equipment. Equipment and endurance proof.
Boxers I prefer.
But so what if some men wear panties - provided they carry equipment.
With that there cannot be confusion. Though disaster still looms.
The end.
Post Script
Some men choose not to wear boxers (nor panties) but go commando. They carry equipment.
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1 comment:
Right on,again sir. I hope you are sending your last few commentaries, with comments, to our new Commandant. We certainly have,by now,sufficient evidence to support what we all know intuitively, that women do not belong in the combat arms.Similar tests,with similar results, have been going on at Quantico since 1972-73 to the best of my recollection. Gen. Dunford MUST stand up and be counted if we are to remain a Corps as we have known it sinc 1775.
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