Posted on Feb 26, 2016
Will female recruits see Combat Arms MOS's as a viable enlistment option?
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Interested in getting the female perspective on choosing an MOS previously closed to women. Do you feel that branches like the Infantry, Armor, and Artillery will offer the career experience you seek from military service? Do you feel this policy change is genuinely for the wants, needs, and desires of potential female recruits, or more of a political statement?
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 14
This is not an easy question, and it has no simple answer. Women, like men, are all different. Some will want the CHANCE to try something previously closed off from them, and others won't. Some will probably excel in fields that they could never have attempted before, and others will walk away, but again, its not a male-female thing, its simply a person thing.
When I was a kid, my father, having three younger brothers himself, and no idea how to handle three daughters, pretty much raised us as Marines. We learned hand-to-hand when my mother left us in his care... we learned some impossibly shocking WWII marching songs, and we learned to shoot. I mention this, because I was a damned good shot, and with the childhood I had, you might understand why my dream was to be a sniper.
I was not all that great at social interaction because I was shy, and Dyslexic, but the second I understood Windage and Elevation, I was hitting targets at 300 yards with shocking ease. That was the ONE thing I really wanted to try when I earned the uniform. I'd have done the side-stroke thru raw sewage to get the chance to try it, but it was closed off to me. Not because I couldn't do the job, but because I was female.
I have no idea if I'd ever have been able to DO the job, or if I would have been able to handle the job if I'd had it, but I was never given the chance. That is all most women want... is the CHANCE to try. Most will never want to even attempt one of these fields because it just isn't them... but somewhere out there, there are a few little girls like I was, who have this dream that they want to try for... let them. If they succeed, then find a place for them that won't be disruptive to the operation. If they don't, well, they at least had the chance to reach for a goal, and maybe the next woman in line will do it.
When I was a kid, my father, having three younger brothers himself, and no idea how to handle three daughters, pretty much raised us as Marines. We learned hand-to-hand when my mother left us in his care... we learned some impossibly shocking WWII marching songs, and we learned to shoot. I mention this, because I was a damned good shot, and with the childhood I had, you might understand why my dream was to be a sniper.
I was not all that great at social interaction because I was shy, and Dyslexic, but the second I understood Windage and Elevation, I was hitting targets at 300 yards with shocking ease. That was the ONE thing I really wanted to try when I earned the uniform. I'd have done the side-stroke thru raw sewage to get the chance to try it, but it was closed off to me. Not because I couldn't do the job, but because I was female.
I have no idea if I'd ever have been able to DO the job, or if I would have been able to handle the job if I'd had it, but I was never given the chance. That is all most women want... is the CHANCE to try. Most will never want to even attempt one of these fields because it just isn't them... but somewhere out there, there are a few little girls like I was, who have this dream that they want to try for... let them. If they succeed, then find a place for them that won't be disruptive to the operation. If they don't, well, they at least had the chance to reach for a goal, and maybe the next woman in line will do it.
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No I think that it is going to weaken us more then help because males are going to be more worried about protecting that female to his right then fighting. It is just plan crazy to let female into the combat mos.
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I recall a survey the Marines did, asking every woman Marine if they were interested in serving in the infantry.. According to the report, only 1% of all the women in the Marines were interested in serving in the infantry.
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