‘Forcing women into combat’
That is the headline over a column by Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness – which is subheadlined, “The generals don’t seem to care that women don’t have the muscle to survive the battlefield.”
This raises a question I have often asked on the air – with little or no negative reaction:
If women are to be injected into combat – which can risk their lives – when may we expect the same kind of demand regarding professional and college football?
For that matter, have any of our college or pro football teams ever been faced with a demand that they include a certain percentage of women proportionate to our population? Not that I have ever heard of – and for which I am grateful.
Elaine Donnelly reported: “More than 92 percent of active-duty Army women said in a recent official survey that they do not want and would not take direct ground combat (infantry) assignments. Nevertheless, President Obama plans to order women into the combat arms by January 2016. …
“The Center for Military Readiness has independently obtained and analyzed major research findings so far, and published a 64-page interim report titled ‘Where’s the Case for Co-Ed Combat?’ Respect for military women who have served with courage ‘in harm’s way’ is greater than ever. However, nothing in research findings so far supports the theory that women should be considered interchangeable with men in direct ground combat.
“Upper-body strength and endurance are not the only issues of concern, but both are essential for survival and mission accomplishment. … [I]n timed proxy tests simulating ordnance-stowing with 95-pound artillery rounds, less than 1 percent of the men failed, compared with 28 percent of the women.
“In another test with progressively heavier weights lifted over the head, 80 percent of men could lift 115 pounds, but less than 9 percent of the women could do the same.”
Ms. Donnelly also notes: “In Vietnam, [Defense Secretary Chuck] Hagel saved his own brother by pulling him unconscious from a burning armored personnel carrier just before it blew up. No one’s brother or son should die because of unrealistic theories about the equality of the sexes. …
“In 2013, the Marines tried to make three pull-ups mandatory for female basic trainees, but had to suspend the requirement when 55 percent could not meet it. Recent tests have found that on average, men could do almost 16 pull-ups – more than four times as many as the women.”
Media wishing to interview Les Kinsolving, please contact [email protected].
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