Category Archives: Military

Relabeling

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What is relabeling? It means to change your outward appearance to more accurately reflect your organizations goals and purpose. That has lead to today’s leading story. The question you must ask yourselves, “Is this true? Or, is it about to be true?”

Headline from somewhere on the Internet…

Democrat Party to Relabel Itself

June 31st, 2015
OldDemSymbol

Old DNC Symbol

The DNC announced today that is was discontinuing the use of its century old icon, the Donkey, as its political symbol. After a complaint from PETA claiming the symbol was unfair to depict the party as a “beast of burden,” and after the party agreed that the symbol was inappropriate since many of its members haven’t held jobs nor worked for generations, the DNC announced it was adopting a new symbol more in line with its half century history and political goals.

NewDNCsymbol

New DNC LOGO

AltNewDNCSymbol

Alternate DNC LOGO for official vehicles

The DNC said the new symbol was adopted from the organization that has been closely aligned with the DNC since the 1960s, supporting the party and financing some leading democrat leaders. The DNC said it was finally time to openly display their aims and goals with their new symbol. The DNC included an alternate symbol in their announcement suitable for banners and bumper stickers, especially for official party vehicles.

Party leaders, activists across the the country and academia applauded the announcement.

Yes, I’m feeling snarky this morning.

***

Is the US and NATO acting to blunt Putin’s aggression? He thinks so. NATO troops and armored forces entered Poland for a well publicized military exercise. It is to be a show of force against Putin’s aggression in Crimea and the Ukraine.

Putin is not amused and threatened retaliation. The Cold War has returned at a time when Obama is desperate to have a legacy, any legacy, now that his major accomplishment, Obamacare, may be crippled if the Supreme Court blocks federal subsidies for Obamacare recipients. One pundit said, “You can end communism in Russia, but you can’t remove the KGB from the Russian.” The Russian in this case is Putin. He has reverted to his previous KGB mentality.

The NATO exercise is not impressing the world’s military organizations. NATO has relied too long on the US for their security. NATO and the EU has sacrificed their militaries to feed their socialist states. Now, when the Cold War has resumed and with the US military resources still tied to the Mideast, NATO is barely able to field any forces to repel Putin if he invades the rest of the Ukraine…and perhaps the former EastBloc countries.

Even if the US was not sill involved in the Mideast, the US has reduced it’s military to a century-old level. The US Navy has fewer ships than it did prior to World War I. Much of the US war stocks, built up in Europe during the earlier cold war, has been expended during Gulf Wars I and II. With the military reductions imposed by Obama and the democrats, those war stocks have not been replenished. In some cases during military actions in Iraq and elsewhere, the US Navy ran out of cruise and land attack missiles.

Those miliary stocks have been slowly replaced. If at all. Some of the tooling needed to build more missiles was destroyed by DoD orders when the contracts expired. Now, when more missiles are needed, those tools are gone and it will be expensive to remake them.

But Putin isn’t the only aggressor on the horizon, The PRC, Communist China to everyone but the socialists around the world, is building a military base in the territory claimed by several other nations.

China builds new island military bases in South China Sea

Posted: May 20, 2015 8:06 PM CDT Updated: May 27, 2015 8:06 PM CDT
 
The new islands have been called unsinkable aircraft carriers. (Source: CNN)

The new islands have been called unsinkable aircraft carriers. (Source: CNN)

The new islands have been called unsinkable aircraft carriers. (Source: CNN)

SOUTH CHINA SEA (CNN) – It’s a tense confrontation between China’s military and an American spy plane monitoring disturbing developments in disputed waters hundreds of miles off the Chinese coast.

China’s activity in the South China Sea has peaked the interest of the U.S. military.

“Foreign military aircraft. This is the Chinese Navy. You are approaching our military alert zone.”

High above the South China Sea, the radio crackles with a stern warning.

“You go!”

The source of dispute appears on the horizon, seemingly out of nowhere.

Islands, manmade by China, located hundreds of miles from its coastline.

CNN got exclusive access to classified U.S. surveillance flights over the islands.

The first time journalists have been allowed on the operational mission by the state of the art P-8 Poseidon, America’s most advance surveillance and sub-hunting aircraft.

Three islands are the target of the mission. It’s the three islands that have been the focus of China’s building in the South China Sea over recent years.

China’s alarming creation of entirely new territory in the South China Sea is one part of a broader military push that some fear is to push U.S. dominance in the region.

Sailing its first aircraft carrier, equipping its nuclear missions with multiple warheads, developing missiles to destroy aircraft carriers, and now building military bases far from its shores.

For the U.S., the islands are a step too far. And the flight is a part of a new and old American military response that may soon include sailing U.S. warships close by as well.

In just two years, China has expanded the islands by 2,000 acres. The equivalent of 1,500 football fields and counting, an engineering marvel in waters as deep as 300 feet.

An American commander talks about what he sees.

“It appears to be a buildup of military infrastructure and not to mention we were just challenged probably 30 minutes ago and the challenge came from the Chinese Navy. And I’m highly confident that it came from a shore on this facility,” said Capt. Mike Parker, commander in the U.S. Navy.

What used to be the fiery cross reef now has early warning radar and an airport tower and a runway long enough to handle every aircraft in the Chinese military.

Some are calling it China’s unsinkable aircraft carrier.

The videos of the island taken from the P-8 advanced surveillance cameras never before declassified.

In a sign of just how valuable that China views them, the new islands are already well protected.

“There’s obviously a lot of surface traffic down there… uhh… Chinese warships and Chinese coast guard ships,” said Lt. Commander Matt Newman, mission commander in the U.S. Navy.

And there is proof. The Chinese navy ordering the P-8 out of the airspace not one, not twice, but eight times on the mission.

“This is the Chinese Navy. This is the Chinese Navy. Please go away quickly.”

And like the surveillance video, the audio of these warnings never before shared with the public.

What is interesting is there are also civilian aircrafts, there was a Delta flight on that same frequency. And when it heard that challenge it piped into the frequency to say what’s going on?

The Chinese Navy then reassuring them but as the flight crew says that can be a very nerve wracking experience for civilian aircraft in the area.

And the more China builds the more frequently and aggressively it warns away U.S. aircraft.

The crucial issue facing American voters in the coming national election is who to choose to lead us in the coming troubled times? Some of the candidates are isolationists, although they refuse to acknowledge the label. If a military confrontation occurs in the Ukraine or in the South China Sea, will our next President refuse to act, claiming it is not our business, or will he defend our allies and national security?

As much as some libertarians deny the fact, we cannot sit isolated from the world. We are dependent on allies and, if we are to have allies, they must be able to depend on us. The US and India has entered into talks discussing areas of mutual interest…the South China Sea, being one. India has a common border with China and has had military border disputes with China before.

When we choose a new President, we must chose one who is unafraid to remain involved in the world because the world will not be afraid to be involved in us.

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Words for Wednesday

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Somedays it is hard to write a post. The difficulty is caused by a number of reasons, repetitive news cycles, ignorance of the MSM and in many areas the ignorance and apathy of the public. At other times, a lack of motivation or time conflicts conspire to push me to not post.

Today is one such day.

Be that as it may, today’s lead item is about stupidity. John Boehner’s bartender—a man who has been Boehner’s bartender for over five years, is accused of plotting to poison the Representative from Ohio.

The bartender must be an astoundingly poor planner. He had opportunities to shuffle off Boehner’s mortal coil for five years…but he just couldn’t get his act together.

When I read the article, it triggered my disbelief tripwire. After a facing mutiny in the GOP ranks, Boehner and the FBI reveal this incompetent. It just seems to be a misdirection ploy to get some positive media for Boehner. I wonder how many American have trouble with this news item?

***

Guns and Taxes

From WMSA.NET…

From the PoliticMO Newsletter for January 14, 2015.

GUNS — ‘Gun groups vow to fight Missouri lawmaker’s bill taxing guns to pay for police body cameras,’ Raw Story: “A Missouri state legislator has drawn criticism from gun enthusiasts for introducing bills that would pay for body cameras for police officers through a tax increase on firearm and ammunition sales… House Bills 75 and 76, which were introduced by state Rep. Brandon Ellington (D), would implement a 1 percent tax raise on gun sales, with the money going to the “Peace Officer Handgun and Ammunition Sales Tax Fund,” to be used to buy the cameras. Officers would then be required to wear the cameras during any interaction with the public, and keep the footage in their records for at least 30 days. Undercover officers and detectives would be exempt from wearing the cameras. …

“The National Rifle Association (NRA) has already come out against Ellington’s proposal. ‘Forcing law-abiding Missourians to pay an additional tax on firearm and ammunition purchases is unmerited. Gun owners and purchasers should not be responsible for funding these projects,’ the group said in a release. ‘The NRA will continue to fight against such misguided encroachments on those who exercise their Second Amendment rights.’” — PoliticMO Newsletter, Jan 14, 2015

We continually hit with taxes and more taxes. A new tax to one thing or another, another hand in our pocket stealing our money under the guise of law. Every tax has some benefit, we’re told. I just don’t believe it. We don’t need a new tax to fund body cameras now, especially one that taxes guns and ammunition.

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The rank and file of our military do not like Obama. Who’da thunk it?

AMERICA’S MILITARY: A conservative institution’s uneasy cultural evolution

The force is changing — often reluctantly — alongside the civilian society it serves

In his first term, President Obama oversaw repeal of the controversial “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

Then he broke with one of the military’s most deeply rooted traditions and vowed to lift the ban on women serving in combat.

And the commander in chief has aggressively sought to change military culture by cracking down on sexual assault and sexual harassment, problems that for years were underreported or overlooked.

Obama is an unpopular president in the eyes of the men and women in uniform. Yet his two-term administration is etching a deep imprint on the culture inside the armed forces. As commander in chief, he will leave behind a legacy that will shape the Pentagon’s personnel policies and the social customs of rank-and-file troops for decades to come.

Go visit the Military Times and read the complete article. It confirms the opinions of many now serving and some fears as well.

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Second Class…or Third

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Obama and his democrat/liberal cohorts continue to push the country into mediocrity. Increasingly, we see our military weakness exposed before the world. Democrat policies have severely damaged our capability from worn-out troops, worn-out equipment, worn-out aircraft and worn-out ships.

While this is going on, Putin is deploying new nuclear ICBM missiles and China expands its deep-water navy. Obama wants to reduce our nukes to only 300 all the while allowing Russia and China to expand their stocks.

China is expanding their fleet of nuclear missile subs—built with stolen US technology while our ships lie in the shipyards waiting for funding to make repairs. And where are those funds? They’ve been diverted to pay for some of Obama’s schemes.

Roby: US Military has been ‘cut to the bone’ by Democrats

by , 14 Mar, 2014

Rep. Martha Roby, R-AL02, today called on Senate Democrats to abandon what she described as a “misguided” plan to divert defense spending to fund aid to Ukraine and reform the United States’ relationship with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

It is absolutely senseless to strip funding from the U.S. Military and send it overseas to prop up the IMF. I agree that we must stand strong in support of the Ukrainian people, and that’s why the House passed a simple, responsible package that uses funding already allocated for diplomatic purposes.

Our military has already been cut to the bone. The additional cuts proposed by Senate Democrats would further inhibit our readiness and send the wrong message internationally.

Now is a time for the United States to project strength in the world, not further erode our military capabilities. I urge Senate Democrats to abandon this misguided plan and work together with the House in a bi-partisan manner to provide responsible assistance to Ukraine.

Last week, the US House of Representatives passed a Ukrainian aid bill, H.R. 4152, that would provide loan guarantees to the Ukrainian government. The House bill does not appropriate new funds, but instead redirects existing funding from within State Department.

A separate Ukraine aid package passed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday includes an additional provision taking $157.5 million from the Department of Defense to pay for reorganizing the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The House passed its Ukraine aid bill last Thursday by a vote of 385 to 23.

Roby’s comments come only a day after her House colleague Rep. Mo Brooks, R-AL05, issued a strongly worded statement saying he was “flabbergasted” by the idea of dolling out cash to Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund while slashing defense spending at home.

“Further cuts to national security, on top of the cuts imposed by sequestration and the Budget Control Act, embolden Russia’s Vladimir Putin and America’s other geo-political foes while making America weaker,” Brooks said.

The events today are remarkedly like those events between the World Wars, of the 1920s and 1930s. European and Eurasian dictators, Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini, were rebuilding their militaries. The Japanese  were expanding theirs and had invaded Manchuria, expanding their empire to seize resources needed for Japan’s expanding economy, industry and military. The Europeans dictators were field testing their weaponry in the Spanish Civil War.

While these events were happening, what was the west—the winners of World War I doing? Disarming and reducing their armies and naval fleets. See: the Washington and London Naval Treaties.

When you combine Obama’s deliberate emasculation of our military with the military expansion of Russia and China, the events of Russian aggression in Georgia, and the Ukraine, along with China’s territorial aggression in the Western Pacific, the similarities of events now, compared to those before World War II, are extremely discomforting.

The democrats between World War I and World War II had drastically cut the US military. For instance, in 1939, the entire US Marine Corp was 19,432 officers and enlisted. That number included the Marine aviation component. The army was similarly cut. When the events in Europe finally lead to warfare, the US had to resort to conscription to rebuild the armed services.

A decade ago, the US Navy had 12 carriers spread around the world. That number has now been reduced to 9 with several in or about to enter dry-dock for repair. Ronald Reagan, in the 1980s, built the Navy to over 600 ships. The number of ships currently in the US Navy, 290, is less than the number of ships prior to World War I. That weakness invites our enemies to act and act they are.

Obama thinks foreign policy is talk, talk being cheap. Russia and China follows Mao’s philosophy, “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”

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SOTU and other fiction

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Are you planning to watch Obama stand before Congress and insult the nation tonight? I’m not. I’ve also sent emails to my US Congresscritters and asking why they bother. Senator Bullmoose…Blunt will be speaking as the opposition which is a joke since he is known to vote as a Demlite whenever the chips are down.

So, why bother? Obama will brag that he’ll ignore Congress and write any edict on any issue at any time. Harry Reid will block any opposition, little that there will be with McConnell as the Minority Leader.

Even some of the Washington media are asking the same question.

State of the Union: Few will tune in as Obama becomes lame duck

By Stephen Dinan, The Washington Times, Monday, January 27, 2014

Obama has been losing his TV audience — literally.

With the State of the Union proving ever less entrancing for viewers, the White House is desperate to turn the speech into a multiday event in an effort to bolster interest in Mr. Obama’s policies, even if people don’t tune in to hear his words.

The recent tradition is for presidents to deliver their State of the Union address, travel to several key cities, then head to the legislative trenches to fight for their key policies.

Mr. Obama has travel planned for Wednesday and Thursday with stops in Prince George’s County, Md., Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, and Nashville, Tenn. But he also has a lot more planned.

In an email to supporters, the White House urged Americans to “stick around after the speech” and go online to see White House aides expand on the key parts of the president’s address. The email also invited supporters to tweet their favorite moments and encouraged them to come back later in the week for more question-and-answer sessions, including Friday’s video exchange with the president.

“No matter how you watch, we have a version that fits your experience,” the White House said in its email.

That last paragraph is telling…”we have a version to fit all audiences.” If you don’t like one version, we’ll make another. Yeah, that really makes me believe in your liberal fantasy.

Liars, all liars.

***

Obama, with the willing help of Paul Ryan and a host of spineless ‘Pub congressmen, cut benefits to our military and military veterans. Today he announced he will arbitrarily raise the minimum wage for Federal employees and Federal Contractors.

Obama to sign executive order raising minimum wage for federal contractors

FoxNews.com

President Obama, in the first of potentially many executive actions tied to his State of the Union address, will unilaterally increase the minimum wage for workers under new federal contracts to $10.10 an hour, from $7.25, in an effort to build momentum for a minimum wage hike for all Americans. 

The executive order, which had been pushed by progressive Democratic lawmakers, applies to all contractors performing services for the federal government and would affect more than 2 million employees, according to an administration official.

The president will then use Tuesday night’s address to press Congress to pass a Democratic plan to increase the overall federal wage to $10.10 over three years, then indexing it to inflation, while also raising the minimum wage for tipped workers, the official said. 

Critics of the minimum wage push claim that raising the rate could have an adverse effect, discouraging businesses from hiring more workers at a time when the government is trying to spur job growth. 

“The minimum wage is mostly an entry level wage for young people,” Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell told “Fox News Sunday.” “We have a crisis in employment among young people right now, and generation 18 to 30, people that got out of college, are finding there are no jobs for them. The last thing we want to do is have even fewer jobs for younger people.” 

But the president is reviving the issue as he tries to focus again on the economy. Obama, who does not have the power to unilaterally raise the minimum wage for private sector workers, also used last year’s State of the Union speech to call for a federal minimum wage hike.

Just despicable.

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Political wars

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This will be a short post today, I’ve a number of errands to do.

The topic today comes from this news item—Budget Negotiators look a Military Pensions. The democrats, looking to maintain and preserve their political allies, the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, as it is better known, want to cut military pensions. Instead of trimming civilian personnel—union members, they plan to attack those who have placed their life in peril to defend this nation. I cannot describe how much this disgusts me.

Budget negotiators looking at military pensions

By DAVID ROGERS | 12/8/13 4:47 PM EST

Can savings from military pensions be part of the solution to avoid deeper cuts from defense next month?That’s an important question facing House-Senate negotiators as they try to close out a deal this week to avoid another round of sequestration in January and restore some certainty to the appropriations process for the remainder of this Congress.

The two sides appear close but Democrats are anxious about the level of savings being sought by Republicans from civilian federal workers. Finding some money on the military side of the equation could lessen this burden and make the package more equitable too from a political standpoint.

Indeed, the Pentagon has the greatest stake in some agreement and faces a further $21 billion cut in its 2014 budget if nothing is done. There is a greater recognition too –in Congress and among the Joint Chiefs— that it must come to terms with personnel-related costs, which are eating up more and more of what money remains.“Forty-four cents of every dollar we spend goes to military personnel,” said House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R.-Calif.) “You look at Detroit, you look at General Motors, you look at what happens when you build up these costs, but we aren’t doing anything about it in our [defense] bill this year.”On the retirement front, President Barack Obama’s 2014 budget opened the door for the GOP by proposing to increase what federal employees contribute to their pensions: adjusting the number upward in three increments from .8 percent of pay to 2 percent.When this was last proposed, Congress instead decided to charge newly-hired workers even more. The administration proposal seeks to impose its earlier plan on those hired before 2013. The estimated savings are about $20 billion over the coming decade.

 

The article continues at the website. The column says that 44% of the Defense budget goes to military personnel. That slants the issue, that people, our active and retired troops are expense items, cost line items that can be manipulated to balance the DoDs budget. It’s easy to turn people—veterans, into numbers and ignore the OBLIGATION this nation has acquired to serve these people when they are no longer on active duty as they were prepared to serve us when they were on active duty.

 

Our veterans are NOT numbers to be juggled to preserve union jobs. They are obligations upon the nation to support them, through decent pensions and through medical, physical care and treatment through the VA. Instead, democrats hold them hostage to preserve their power base in SEIU and other public sector unions. That must end.

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For Parker…

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I’m going to do something I seldom do—give advice. In fact, I try to never give unsolicited advice, it will be ignored. However, I am making an exception this time.

Parker is a young man who just graduated from high school. We, his friends and church family, have watched him and his brother and sisters grow up. Parker is the youngest of the four.

He has made a significant decision for his life, one I approve. He will has enlisted in the Navy. His boot camp will be at Great Lakes Naval Training Center starting next month. He has been preparing for boot camp for a year. I believe he will do fine.

But that is not what I will be giving advice…no not advice, that’s only worth what you pay for it, let’s call them ‘suggestions.’ My suggestions will be focused at that time when boot camp is over, when A-school and further training is over and he is at his first duty assignment.

Parker, until you have reached this point, you’re going to be busy—very busy. Doing well in training is important. It can make all the difference in your later naval life.  The most important thing to learn…is how to learn, how to be a self-starter, how to be a self-trainer, how to teach yourself. It is a skill all too many never acquire.

Boot camp is to be endured. My initial Air Force training was over forty years ago. I was unprepared even with years of AFROTC training. I just kept my head down and finished training as quickly as I could. I believe you, now, are in a much better position that I was. Endure boot camp, excel in A-school and in B-school if there is one.

Now, you’ve finished training and you are at your first assignment. What is the worse thing of being at a duty assignment, ashore or on board ship? Boredom.Even with a routine of eat-work-eat-sleep-eat-work, you will still have hours of time to pass. Ashore, you’ll have friends who will want to party every liberty, every weekend. Who are they? They are the ones who get written up come Monday morning, who will appear before Captain’s Mast, who gather at the ship’s store after duty hours…doing nothing. And being bored, looking for something to do.

Don’t be one of those sailors.

Instead, do something productive. Training doesn’t end, now it is OJT, On-the-Job-Training. Excel there, too. Take extra OJT training if it is available, always be working on one, it matters not if it is for your current grade, or the next one. Unless things have changed radically since I was in, your can’t be promoted until you have completed OJT requirements for your current grade. Always be working on ones for your next promotion and on the ones after that.

Still have time on your hands? Learn a new skill. I don’t know how well you did in school, nor how well they taught grammar (if they did.) Learn to read well, and just as importantly, learn to write well. You will always be writing and knowing how to do that and make what you write be understood easily, is another skill that will do you well throughout your life. If you need help, sign up for a class through the base or ship’s education office. There are many, many classes available by correspondence. If you have a shore assignment, there are classes available, through the base, in nearby civilian organizations.

If you have a long-term plan for life after the Navy, take courses that support your plan. The Navy will help pay for outside training. There is a lot available for little or no cost if you look for it.

Money—don’t waste it. There are credit unions on every military base. Set up an account and have payroll make an automatic deposit every payday. Tithe as you can, and remember to tithe to your self. When you leave the Navy, whenever that may be, you should have a sizable sum to help you shift to civilian life. (And don’t, ever, buy a brand new car as soon as you complete training. If you need a car for a weekend, rent one. When I was in the Air Force it was common to have a couple of car-rental agencies on base.)

Learn how to handle your money. The Navy will cover most of your cost of living. Make a budget and never go into debt. There will be many who will try to sell you stuff, stuff that puts you in debt, a lot of debt. Don’t do that. If you can’t pay in cash, you don’t really need it. Look at your friends. Which of them are always broke, which ones aren’t. Pay attention to those who aren’t and watch how they handle their money. Don’t be a sailor who runs out of cash four days before payday.

My primary suggestion for you is to never be or get bored. Always have something to do, whether it is directly for your rating or for something else. You never know when some isolated bit of knowledge suddenly becomes pertinent.

I’m sure a number of my readers have been in the military much more recently than me. Some, I know, were in the Navy and others in the other branches. I would ask they comment and contribute their suggestions as well.

What I do not want for you, is for you to complete your enlistment and leave the Navy with nothing more than completing an obligation of citizenship. Military life can be very beneficial. It can provide you with a number of opportunities. It can also be very hazardous. Life isn’t safe. But, you have an opportunity to make life better with a few appropriate decisions made at the right time.

Do well, Parker. Keep in touch as you can.

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The Marines maintain their standards

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There is more to the title of this post than just five words. There should be two more appended to the end, “for now.”

With the Obama administration throwing open our military’s combat arms to women, the services have been soliciting women to enter those branches. The Air Force was first with female fighter pilots. The Navy had some, too. May still have some although I haven’t heard of any recent headlines about female Naval aviators.  The ones they had are no longer flying fighters last I heard. The most publicized naval female pilot/RIO combo, was killed in a ramp strike during carrier operations in 1997. The furor afterward found that women pilots had a different training standard than their male counterparts.

But, I will agree that female pilots can be as effective as men—as long as they have the SAME training and performance standards. A quick Google search on ‘female naval aviators’ had nothing more recent than 2007. I’m not saying there aren’t any such articles but a quick search didn’t list any. The Air Force, did have an article last year about a female officer taking command of a combat air wing. She was a fighter pilot with combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But…but, what about the Army and Marines, can women be Infantry, Artillery, and Combat Engineer officers?  The Marines say, “Yes,” if they pass the Infantry Officer Course—using the same standards that the men must pass.

So far, the women aren’t passing.

Two female Marines fail to pass all-male infantry course

By Rowan Scarborough – The Washington Times, Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Two female Marine lieutenants have failed in their bid to complete the Corps’ grueling, all-male Infantry Officer Course (IOC).

The women’s recent washout after only a few days in the course follows the failure of two other female officers attempting to complete the same program in October.

The Corps now stands 0-4 in its search to find female Marines who have the physical strength and endurance to complete one of the most rigorous infantry schools in the military, located at the Quantico, Va., base.

Of 110 lieutenants in the first phase of the course, called the Combat Entrance Test, 14 failed, including the only two women, according to the Marine Corps Times.

“We will continue to solicit women to take part in the IOC program,” Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Richard Ulsh told The Washington Times. “I don’t know how [the failures] could stretch to mean something broader than what you’ve got.”

That isn’t good enough for the Pentagon. They insist that standards must be LOWERED if the services can’t provide a good excuse that the existing standards are necessary.

In January, then-Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, announced that the Pentagon had lifted a longtime ban on women serving in direct land combat jobs in infantry, armor and special operations units.

The armed services have until May 15 to submit to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel plans for integrating women into all military jobs, including those involving direct ground combat.

Gen. Dempsey has made it clear that if any service wants to continue the ban for certain jobs because the demands are too high, then the service should provide a good reason why those standards should not be lowered to allow women to succeed. — Washington Times

The Marines, however, are making a stand. The other services have not yet presented similar plans that match that of the Marines.

“The Marine Corps‘ high standards cannot be lowered, nor can we artificially lower them to ensure a certain percentage of females will qualify,” the memo states. “Conversely, we will not artificially raise standards.”

Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq as a Marine officer, has drafted legislation aimed at preventing the military from lowering standards as a way to make sure women qualify for combat jobs.

Mr. Hunter plans to try to attach his proposal to the 2014 defense budget when the House Armed Services Committee takes up the bill in May.

While the Marines Corps has conducted two test runs, the Army and special operations, such as the Navy’s SEALS, have yet to introduce women into their direct land combat training courses. — Washington Times

Any veteran will tell you that you cannot maintain effectiveness, nor maintain a given standard of performance by lowering standards. It’s pure idiocy. If women can’t meet the same standards as men, perhaps it is an endeavor they shouldn’t be in?

There is a reason why combat training is tough. No matter how difficult the training, actual combat is worse.

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