Sunday, October 06, 2013

4 more female Marines fall short at Infantry Officer Course

via Marine Corps Times.
Four more women took on the Marine Corps Infantry Officer Course on Thursday and washed out, the latest chapter in the service’s ongoing research into which roles women should be able to fill in combat.
The women failed the school’s introductory Combat Endurance Test, a grueling exam designed to assess physical strength, stamina and the ability to make decisions while exhausted. They were recruited on a voluntary basis to attempt IOC at Quantico, Va.
All told, 81 male and female Marines began the initial endurance test yesterday at Quantico. Sixty-five men passed; 12 male Marines and four female Marines did not, said Capt. Maureen Krebs, a Marine spokeswoman at the Pentagon.
Everyone wants to say that people are being sexist because they don't believe women belong in the infantry.

That's not true.

If I was as biased as many believe then I'd be shouting about these results.  Instead I'm a little bummed.  These female officers were put through a meat grinder when the outcome was predictable.

Its biology, not sociology.

What infuriates me is that while Amos is running these experiments, no one is thinking about the damage being done to the psychology of these women.

I'm sure they're outstanding people, winners in every sense of the word.  But instead of being setup for continued success, the Marine Corps set them up for failure.  A hard charging female officer is now doubting herself. The Marine Corps did those 4 women an injustice.  There was no way they could succeed and everyone knew it going in.

NOTE:  What will be the bigger shame is if they're babying the females at SOI-EAST.  I'm told they are and that the instructors have been warned not to let any of the females fail.  If thats the case then what does that tell us?  I think its clear.  The Marine Corps will lower its standards for the led but not its leaders?  It really doesn't matter though.  Boot Camp and SOI isn't where the wheat is separated from the chaff.  Its in the fleet.  Even if every female at SOI graduates they won't last a year in the fleet.  Biology.  Not sociology.

6 comments :

  1. I thought going through all of this was a formality?

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  2. I think I'm going to have to disagree with you about the psychological effects of these women failing infantry school.

    A good solider (or Marine in this case) should be able to overcome set backs and roll on. If this actually kills their spirit and their career, perhaps they weren't fit to be there to begin with.

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    1. when i wrote that i knew i was going to have to explain it ...here goes...these women are going to come up short...what happens to them when they know they failed and months or a year or two later standards are lowered and some other female makes it through IOC? that's where the spirit or career damage occurs. the female that makes it with lowered standards becomes the FIRST FEMALE INFANTRY OFFICER...whereas these women will be known as sacrificial lab rats.

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    2. The infantry is great, I enjoyed my time in it, but there are other pursuits equally as fulfilling. For example, studies show that women are better managers than men, and certainly there are Marine career fields where an excellent organizational manager (as opposed to a combat leader) can excel and be fulfilled. As SO suggests, life ain't all a bowl of cherries, and one has to deal with the pits. (or something)

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  3. The mark is set for them not as men or women but as marines. If they cannot pass that mark then they fail as marines. The USMC needs to put its foot down before they're to coddle women through the process. I'm not saying women shouldn't and/or can't do it, just that men failed this too as well as women.

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    1. oh you're exactly right but the feminist organizations won't see it that way.

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