MEN, NOT WOMEN, IN HOLES

MEN, NOT WOMEN, IN HOLES

By Andy Weddington

Saturday, 14 January 2023

The only way out of a hole is to climb out. - Cheryl Strayed

Earlier this week I was loaned a book.

An autobiography. A tome. More than 600 pages. And was told there's Volume 2. 

I'm about half way. 

Typically, I reserve comment on a book until finished and given time to digest and consider. Not necessary for this book.

The author is a Marine. 

Recently deceased. I neither knew nor heard of him. 

He served four years during World War II - including battle of Okinawa and served with occupation force after Japan surrendered. 

Much of his Marine service, and combat, brings to mind the memories of the late E. B. Sledge recorded in his classic 'With the Old Breed.'

Though Sledge an infantryman, the author of the book a radio operator; who saw and did plenty under fire.

What caused me to pause more than a few times was his descriptions of the ground combat - the extreme conditions, the hardships, the brutality.

What he described, women, as General Robert H. Barrow, USMC (too a World War II combatant) testified to more than 31 years ago is, " ... women can't do it ... ". 

That is, women cannot perform at the level necessary to survive and win in ground combat. [Heart is documented as not a substitute for strength, speed, and stamina.]

Digging and fighting from fighting holes, day and night, covered in detail. 

The raw fear of darkness. The terrifying sounds of a stealthy, brutal enemy attacking - to stab and slit throats. 

If the author intended the reader to feel a chill he succeeded. 

Two men, typically, in fighting hole. Sometimes three.

What if one man one woman?

What if a threesome?

What's the fighting going to be about?

Back to General Barrow ... "If you want to make a combat unit ineffective, assign some women to it."

He, a Marine infantryman who fought in three wars, knew what he was talking about. 

Fools dismissed him irrelevant.

Less courageous commandants faltered.  

And so the General's prediction, today's Corps, exactly correct. 

I suspect this book, like Sledge's masterpiece, is not on the Commandant's Reading List - for not endorsing left wing agenda.

But ignoring facts and truth does not make them not reality.

Female is not equipped to be male. That includes climbing skills; out of holes, too.  

Make time for 'An Interruption That Lasted a Lifetime - My First Eighty Years' by E. Bruce Heilman (published 2008).

Mr. Heilman was honorably discharged a Sergeant. 

He proudly carried on as a Marine and wore uniform to the end.

There's quite a few surprises - Marines, especially, will appreciate. 

In short, memories of a self-made man - who enjoyed a lot of help along the way; and attributes success to being a Marine. 

Familiar.