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Coed combat: With female soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines stepping out in front, how are the services doing? 96
think that there are enough macho women warriors to fill these roles and [who] are capable of carrying a full combat load into battle and fighting at the tip of the spear?
“ “ Do we really
—Lt. Col. Andrew Nordby, USA (Ret)
”
these women soldiers performed as well or better than their male counterparts and,
unlike the men, there were no disciplinary problems.
—Lt. Col. Pete Minetree, USA (Ret)
” 10 MILITARY OFFICER MAY 2017 Without exception,
Women in Combat In the March 2017 issue [“The Right to Fight”], [Military Offi cer] wants us to believe that assimilating women into combat arms roles is proceed- ing with fl ying colors. However, recent reports and studies say that the military services have pregnancy problems that are getting worse and rising sexual assaults that are hurting readiness and morale. What readiness cost are we will- ing to accept as we follow the equal- ity bandwagon like lemmings off the cliff ? Are we so naive to believe that placing women in close proximity to men in infantry or special operations roles will greatly strengthen the mili- tary? Do we really think that there are enough macho women warriors to fi ll these roles and [who] are capable of carrying a full combat load into battle and fi ghting at the tip of the spear? If the American public really de-
sires to remake our military into a paradise for equality, then we ought to ensure that the Selective Service Act also applies to all women. How- ever, Congress has been hesitant to support this radical cultural change. Don’t we want to give all our wives and daughters “the right to fi ght” for their country? —Lt. Col. Andrew Nordby, USA (Ret) via email
[The military] glass ceiling began get- ting cracks in it as far back as the early 1970s. As a major, I was commanding the northern-most Army organization in the American sector in Germany, remote, separated from the parent command in Augsburg by 500 kilome- ters, and on the border with East Ger- many. The mission was sensitive, and the soldiers assigned all had received
up to two years of very technical training and had top-secret clearances. The De- partment of the Army decided to assign women to my command, and this would be the fi rst time for women to serve in such an isolated, remote location. Many up and down the chain of command were apprehensive about how well these young women would integrate into an all-male organization and what eff ect this might have on morale and discipline. Without excep- tion, these women soldiers performed as well or better than their male coun- terparts and, unlike the men, there were no disciplinary problems. If this was another Army social experiment, it was a phenomenal success, and as- signments such as this for women sol- diers became routine worldwide. —Lt. Col. Pete Minetree, USA (Ret)
Life Member, George C. Marshall (Va.) Chapter via email
During my tour of duty in the mid- 1980s as the XO of the Woman Recruit Training Command (now 4th Recruit Training Battalion), Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., I maintained a watchful eye on not only the day-to-day training of our future enlisted women, but also on related training statistics to include rifl e quali- fi cation scores and rates. With very few exceptions, female
recruit trainees routinely scored as well as or better than their male coun- terparts. Rifl e scores are what they are — no interpretation is needed. Thus, one questions the validity of the “months-long study that showed mixed-gender combat teams were outperformed by their all-male counterparts” — or perhaps worse yet — what infl uencing factors were
RETIREMENT GUIDE
SPRING ’17
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