The following statement is excerpted from the personal Facebook page of a highly decorated Marine combat veteran and non-commissioned officer who participated in the 2015 Ground Combat Element Integrated Task Force (GCEITF). "We selected our best women for this test unit, selected our most mature female leaders as well. The men (me included) were the most progressive and open minded that you could get. The commander of this unit was a seasoned and successful infantryman. ... No one went in to this with the mentality that we did not want this to succeed. No Marine, regardless of gender, would do that. With our limited manpower, we cannot afford to not train everyone to the best of their abilities. This was as stacked as a unit could get with the best Marines to give it a 100 percent success rate if we possibly could. End result? ... [The data showed that women] are slower on all accounts in almost every technical and tactical aspect and physically weaker in every aspect across the range of military operations. ... Make no mistake. In this realm, you want your fastest, most fit, most physical and most lethal person you can possibly put on the battlefield to overwhelm the enemy’s ability to counter what you are throwing at them and in every test case, that person has turned out to be a man. There is nothing gender biased about this; it is what it is” (quoted by Hope Hodge Seck, “Marine War Hero: SecNav ‘Off Base’ on Women in Combat,” Marine Corps Times, September 14, 2015). Comments are closed.
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