More Marine Corps female combat tests

[Peter1469]

More Marine Corps female combat tests

Now here are some practical field exercises that the Marine Corps is using to test the viability of females in combat arms units. An interesting read.

For infantry and weapons Marines, the task is to assault the same hill every two or three days, completing a specific set of physical and live-fire tasks over a span of a few kilometers. Special devices on their rifles capture every round's impact to measure accuracy, while the heart rate monitors and surveys administered after each assessment capture individual physical exertion levels.


On alternating days, they hike nearly five miles with their weapons and packs weighing just shy of 60 pounds, then spend two hours digging fighting holes that will later be filled back in with earth movers.


The goal of the task force is to develop gender-blind job-specific standards for each ground combat arms military occupational specialty that remains closed to female Marines. But there's a broader underlying question: Can female Marines do the job at all?


The Marine Corps' answer to that question is likely to be a nuanced one.

[Peter1469]

And now for part two in the series.

This part in the series discusses the statistics gathered in the various studies.

TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. — Gun four was on the clock. The M777 howitzer's six crew members shouldered rounds from the 155mm gun, each weighing around 105 pounds. Test observers watched as the Marines trudged or loped 100 meters carrying the unwieldy cylindrical weights, then paused with an unweighted lap before completing the same trip again.


Several of the male Marines completed the task at a light jog, though their pace flagged noticeably on the second lap. Cpl. Allison Devries was not far behind, completing her circuits at a determined trot. Cpl. Carolina Ortiz, the gun's other female crew member, took a different approach. Eyes fixed straight ahead, cannon round supported on her left shoulder with both hands, she finished the task at a paced walk, without faltering or attempting to speed up. Since this was a team activity, the clock stopped only when Ortiz, the last crew member, crossed the finish.

Capt. Mark Lenzi, the commanding officer of Weapons Company, contended that the unit, which consists of machine gun, anti-armor and mortar platoons, had the most physically challenging of the ground combat tasks, a role that often required Marines to carry well over 100 pounds in combat gear and weapons, with all the speed and maneuvering capability required of ground troops with a lighter load.


"If you weigh 115 pounds and you're carrying 160 pounds on a regular basis, there's a point at which things start to break down," he said. "We have studies that tell us that."

[waltky]

Womens inna Army, womens inna Navy...

Woman Commander Leads Way for New Female Combat Engineers
Apr 06, 2016 | Army Lt. Col. Lynn Ray has become one of the key female officers in the Pentagon's grand design to have them serve as combination role models and taskmasters in moving women into previously restricted military occupational specialties.

The implementation plan varies from service to service, but the bottom line is that "the standard is the standard across the board" for men and women, said Ray, the first commander of the newly formed "Pioneer" Regimental Engineer Squadron of the storied 3rd Cavalry Regiment of the First Cavalry Division based at Fort Hood in Texas. "I think it's a fantastic thing that we've opened up the combat engineer 12B MOS to enlisted soldiers. I think it's phenomenal. I think everything comes in the time that it should, and I think the time is right -- where our society, our military and the way we think -- is more open to it," Ray said.

Lt. Col. Lynn Ray at the activation ceremony of the newly formed "Pioneer" Regimental Engineer Squadron of the storied 3rd Cavalry Regiment of the First Cavalry Regiment at Fort Hood.

However, the "young ladies" seeking to make the grade in her unit will get no slack, Ray said. "As a woman deciding on whether women qualify as 12 Bravo -- well, I look at them as just the same, the same training, the same reception, the same standards that need to be met by a male soldier. That is the absolute most important thing."

Lt. Col. Lynn Ray

Of the 760 troops in her squadron, about 60 now are enlisted women, Ray said. "They are volunteering to do something, break the mold, go outside of themselves -- that tells me they want to be a combat engineer, they want to be in that MOS. They weren't forced into it. That's half the battle." "I did not shave off the standards or anything when these young ladies got here, and they have not disappointed" thus far, Ray said.

Army Opens Up Positions

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Female Navy Recruits Get First 'Dixie Cup' Hats at Boot Camp
Apr 06, 2016 | The Navy's Recruit Training Command at Great Lakes Illinois marked another milestone in efforts to make uniforms more gender-specific Monday when female recruits received their first enlisted white hats, informally known as Dixie cups.

All female enlisted sailors at ranks E-6 and below will be required to wear the hats by Oct. 31, according to a Navy administrative message released this year. But all sailors can now wear them with service dress uniforms, and recruits at Great Lakes will now get them as part of uniform issue. The development is part of a series of gradual changes that will result in a more uniform look across for sailors of both genders. In February, officials at the U.S. Naval Academy announced that the women of the class of 2016 would be required to wear pants instead of skirts at graduation.

More changes are on the horizon. Navy officials said men and women will get redesigned jumper-style service dress blue uniforms beginning Oct. 1, creating a unisex version of the iconic "crackerjack" uniform in place of the current female version. The new jumper uniform will include a side zipper, and the slacks will have a front zipper to assist with ease of changing and fit.

Engineman 2nd Class Shanice Floyd, a recruit division commander, ensures the proper fit of Seaman Recruit Megan Marte's white enlisted hat, or "Dixie cup," during uniform issue at Recruit Training Command.

In a news release Tuesday, female recruits spoke positively of their new "Dixie cup" covers. "This feels incredible as we are making a part of history," Seaman Recruit Madeleine Bohnert said in the release. "It's really awesome how something as simple as our cover is so symbolic in regards to equality and the uniformity in the military. It's a sense of pride knowing that we are a part of getting the first Dixie cups."

Another seaman recruit, Maria Frazier, said she liked the consistency of the look. "I think it's really beneficial because as we work side by side, we have to work as a team," she said. "For me, it's important that as we're working together, we look uniform so we can work in uniform."

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2...boot-camp.html

[Peter1469]

This isn't going to end well.

[waltky]

Womens rarin' to go, Mabus says "Whoa, there...

Chief: 44 Women Have Volunteered to Become Army Infantry Officers
Apr 07, 2016 | The U.S. Army could have as many as 44 of the first female infantry officers by this time next year, Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told Congress on Thursday.

Milley told lawmakers at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that the first principle in his plan to open all combat-arms jobs to women is grow female infantry leaders in these units first. "We are going to graduate coming up in May-June timeframe from both West Point and ROTC -- I think it's 44 women that have volunteered to be infantry lieutenants," Milley said. "If they meet all the appropriate standards -- they will go through the various infantry schools, such as BOLC, the Basic Officer Leadership Course at Fort Benning, Georgia -- they will graduate in the fall. "They'll do follow-on training that is normal for infantry such as Ranger School, and if they continue to meet all those standards, then they will be assigned to infantry units sometime about this time next year ... you will start seeing female infantry and armor officers, non-commissioned officers and junior soldiers in those combat units."

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter reversed centuries of U.S. military tradition in December with the historic announcement that all military occupational specialties, including infantry, armor and special operations jobs, are now open to women. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, raised the concern that critics have said that the only way women will become infantry, Rangers and SEALS in real numbers is to lower standards. "Do you plan to allow the lowering of standards and how do you plan to deal with these views from the leadership and junior personnel levels?" Gillibrand said. "Absolutely not," Milley responded. "Standards are standards, and those standards are developed through years upon years of blood-soaked lessons learned in combat. They are neither male nor female. They are combat standards. "If you meet the standard for combat, then you pass go, collect $200 and move on your way. If you don't, then you do something else in life."

Army leaders must guard against lowering of standards, Milley said. "If we do that, we are actually putting at risk the unit and the women that would go into those services and potentially putting at risk the lives of their teammates as well," Milley said. Gillibrand then asked how Milley intended to deal with the perception from personnel who believe standards are being lowered. "How do you reinforce that these women are properly trained, are ready and have met everything and will do a great job?" she asked.

MORE

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Mabus Says Marine Boot Camp Will Stay Gender-Segregated -- for Now
Apr 12, 2016 | Male and female recruits in the U.S. Marine Corps will continue training in gender-specific units when they arrive at boot camp, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told Marines at Camp Pendleton, California on Tuesday.

The secretary traveled to the West Coast base as part of a series of stops he has made to discuss efforts to open previously closed infantry and ground combat units to women, a move for which he has been an outspoken advocate. While Mabus has occasionally clashed with Marine Corps leadership over issues related to the topic, he told the Marines he had made a concession to top brass over the boot camp issue.

Two drill instructors with P Company, 4th Recruit Training Battalion, Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., yell at U.S. Marine Corps Pvt. Olivia K. Downing and U.S. Marine Corps Pfc. William A. Crouch

Mabus initially sent a memo to Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller ordering him to integrate boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina, where men and women have always trained in separate battalions. But the Navy secretary walked back his stance, he said, when Neller and Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Ronald Green met with him and advocated for keeping a status quo in which the genders did not train together until later in the pipeline. "They made pretty good points," he said Tuesday. Mabus did not offer additional details about the meeting. But Marine officials have previously defended single-sex training units at boot camp as limiting distractions, providing recruits with a safe environment to learn, and offering same-gender Marine role models with whom to identify.

While the Marine Corps would continue to move in the direction of total training integration, Mabus said, it would not do so all at once. "We're not going to do it in one day ... we're not going to disrupt training," he said. Mabus also appeared to take a softer stance on a study the Marines conducted last year to determine how women would fare in ground combat units. When officials announced last fall that data showed teams and squads with female members were slower, less accurate, and more injury-prone, Mabus publicly denounced the findings. In an interview with NPR, he claimed that the Marine officials behind the study had "almost presupposed" a negative outcome, and that "there should have been a higher bar" for female study volunteers to meet.

MORE

[Cthulhu]

This isn't going to end well.

Yep.

This will end badly. No doubts.

Sent from my evil, baby seal-clubbing cellphone.

[Peter1469]

I believe many of these are officers who have already been in and they are transferring from whatever their branch is into the infantry. That means they will go to Ranger School at some point. The ones that don't pass (only 3 have so far) will pretty much kill their infantry officer career. They will likely have to move back to their first branch or never get promoted to Captain.

Womens rarin' to go, Mabus says "Whoa, there...

Chief: 44 Women Have Volunteered to Become Army Infantry Officers
Apr 07, 2016 | The U.S. Army could have as many as 44 of the first female infantry officers by this time next year, Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told Congress on Thursday.


See also:

Mabus Says Marine Boot Camp Will Stay Gender-Segregated -- for Now
Apr 12, 2016 | Male and female recruits in the U.S. Marine Corps will continue training in gender-specific units when they arrive at boot camp, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told Marines at Camp Pendleton, California on Tuesday.

[waltky]

Uncle Ferd ain't sure womens should be officers...

Army Approves 22 Women to Become Infantry and Armor Officers
Apr 15, 2016 | The U.S. Army has approved requests from 22 women to attempt to become 2nd lieutenants in infantry and armor units.

Thirteen women will enter into the armor branch and nine will enter into the infantry branch in the coming weeks as commissioning and commencement ceremonies occur across the country, according to an April 15 Army press release. All 22 women must complete the training requirements and standards before fully qualifying as infantry and armor officers, the release maintains. The volunteers come from the Army's three traditional officer accession programs - Officer Candidate School, Reserve Officers' Training Corps and the United States Military Academy. The announcement comes after Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told Congress on April 7 that about 44 female women preparing to graduate from the West Point and ROTC have volunteered to become infantry officers.

Milley told lawmakers at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that the first principle in his plan to open all combat-arms jobs to women is grow female leaders in these units first. Commissioning serves as the first step in the process to become a qualified Army officer. After commissioning, women selected to serve in infantry and armor will conduct branch-specific initial training for several months at Fort Benning, Georgia. Once the branch-specific training is successfully completed, the officers will report to their first units of assignment qualified to assume duties as platoon leaders in armor or infantry units, according to the release.

The Army is also seeking applications from Army Competitive Category female officers from Year Groups 2014 and 2015 interested in a branch transfer into infantry or armor from their current duties. Those selected to serve are expected to be announced near the end of June. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter reversed centuries of U.S. military tradition in December with the historic announcement that all military occupational specialties, including infantry, armor and special operations jobs, are now open to women. Aside from attending the Basic Officer Leadership Course at Fort Benning, some of the women will likely attend Ranger School, the Army's grueling infantry leadership course.

Capt. Kristen Griest, a 26-year-old military police officer from Connecticut, and 1st Lt. Shaye Haver, a 26-year-old AH-64 Apache helicopter pilot from Arizona, became the first two women in history to graduate Ranger School last April. Maj. Lisa A. Jaster, a combat engineer with the U.S. Army Reserve, was a 37-year-old mother of two children when she became the third female to graduate Ranger School in October. Milley said that the women who meet the standards and complete the training will begin being assigned to units sometime next year.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2...-officers.html

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Corps Receives First Infantry Request from Female Marine
Apr 14, 2016 | The Marine Corps has received its first request from an enlisted female Marine to join the infantry ranks, an official confirmed.

Marine Capt. Philip Kulczewski said the Corps had received a lateral move request from a female Marine to join a unit ground combat Marine occupational specialty. "These requests take time, and to help put things in perspective, lateral-move processes involve counseling, reviewing physical readiness, completing resident Professional Military Education, individual performance, competiveness in MOS and ultimately needs of the Marine Corps," he said, using the acronym for military occupational specialty. "This process ensures the Marine Corps will adhere to its standards and will continue its emphasis on combat readiness," he added. A source with knowledge of the request said the Marine was a lance corporal. The Marine had requested a job in an 03XX MOS, the source said, indicating one of a number of previously closed jobs in the infantry field.

Only 233 female Marines have completed basic enlisted infantry training at the Corps' infantry training battalion at Camp Geiger, North Carolina. These Marines completed the course during a test period before combat jobs were formally opened to women. They all received an additional infantry MOS on top of their primary job specialty in January, and were offered the opportunity to make a lateral move to an infantry unit if they wished. That month, the Marine Corps highlighted the story of Cpl. Remedios Cruz, a 24-year-old supply clerk who had participated as a volunteer in the Corps' women-in-combat study last year and said she hoped to be one of the first women to join an infantry unit.

Marine Sgts. Emma A. Bringas, left, and Amaya Marin Garnica take cover while maneuvering to conduct an enemy counterattack during an exercise at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif.

But until now, neither Cruz nor any of the other eligible Marines have made a formal lateral move request. With all combat jobs now open to women, any woman enlisting or waiting in the Corps' delayed entry program can request an infantry contract. Marine officials have said that female recruits who want to enter a "loadbearing" ground combat specialty, such as rifleman, mortarman, or machine gunner, will not ship to boot camp until October 1 at the earliest.

Meanwhile, a female Marine lieutenant is now participating in the 13-week Infantry Officers Course at Quantico, Virginia, officials said, in hopes of becoming the first female infantry officer. Earlier this month, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told Congress that 44 women have so far volunteered to be Army officers. The Army has also enlisted its first female infantry recruit: Tammy Grace Barnett, a 25-year-old police officer.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2...le-marine.html

[Peter1469]

Regarding the enlisted FM request for marine infantry- a reasonable number already graduated the enlisted marine infantry course. Why have they not stepped up for an infantry billet?

[waltky]

Uncle Ferd says it don't surprise him...

DOD Official on Women in Combat: ‘Numbers May Be Very, Very Small Or None At All’
April 22, 2016 – A Defense Department (DOD) official said on Friday that for the number of women who want to fill combat posts heretofore not open to them, and then being able to meet the standard set for those posts, the number who actually serve will be “very, very small or none at all.”

“There’s a full recognition that the numbers may be very, very small or none at all,” Juliet Beyler, principal director, force resiliency in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel & Readiness, said at a discussion at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C. “And that’s what the secretary said – that equal opportunity does not mean equal participation,” Beyler said. As one of the panelists at the discussion, Beyler was asked if the military had a quota for how many women would fill these newly available military posts.

Beyler said there are no quotas and that any post across all military branches requires meeting a certain standard, regardless of gender. Beyler said Secretary of Defense Ash Carter’s decision in December to open all military positions to women sparked a review of the standards required for each post. Beyler said, “So that’s why when you look at Secretary Carter’s memo and he has his guiding principles, he specifically talks about one, right, the need to make sure that we have the right standards; that they’re occupationally specific; they’re current and they’re operationally relevant – because, again, that’s the core of the standard of everything that we do. “That was why it was so important to review and validate the standards because now we have an ability to kind of definitively stand behind a standard that is unemotional, that we can explain and articulate, and it is what’s required to do the job,” Beyler said. “Recognition also, right, is the number of women who are going to want to do these jobs is small and then the number of women that can meet the standard – beyond that – is even smaller,” Beyler said. “So there’s a full recognition that the numbers may be very, very small or none at all. “And that’s what the Secretary said – so equal opportunity doesn’t mean equal participation,” Beyler said. “We recognize there may be, again, very small or maybe none.”

Beyler pointed out that in the 25 years since Canada “integrated” its military, women only fill about 1 percent of combat posts. Beyler called that fact “informative” and repeated the expectation that this new military policy does not necessarily mean large numbers of women will sign up for or qualify for combat posts. When Carter announced the new policy, the Military Times reported that his decision would open up about 220,000 jobs, or about 10 percent of the entire active and reserve force, and that most of those jobs would be in the Army and Marine Corps infantry and armor units.

“At its core, the decision means that as of Jan. 2, female service members — both current and incoming recruits — will be allowed to serve in any military job for which they meet the gender-neutral performance standards and other requirements,” the article said. "They'll be allowed to drive tanks, fire mortars, and lead infantry soldiers into combat,” Carter said when making the announcement. “They'll be able to serve as Army Rangers and Green Berets, Navy SEALs, Marine Corps infantry, Air Force parajumpers and everything else that was previously open only to men.” "And even more importantly, our military will be better able to harness the skills and perspectives that talented women have to offer,” Carter said.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/...ll-or-none-all

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First Female Combatant Commander Nominee May Get Quick Confirmation
Apr 21, 2016 | Air Force Gen. Lori Robinson on Thursday appeared headed to swift confirmation as the first woman to head a combatant command as the next dual-hat commander of U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command. "I look forward to moving your nominations through the U.S. Senate," Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told both Robinson and Army Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti, the nominee to be the next Supreme Allied Commander of NATO and U.S. European Command, at the end of their joint confirmation hearing.

Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, and Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, also pledged to support both nominations. Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the ranking SASC Democrat, told Robinson, currently commander of U.S. Pacific Air Forces, that in addition to her new responsibilities "you will also make a bit of history as the first female to lead a U.S. combatant command." To meet the concerns of McCain and several other committee members, Robinson said one her first actions, if confirmed, would be to go to the Mexican border to gauge how the command could contribute to the efforts of the Department of Homeland Security in stopping the flow of "black tar" heroin into the U.S. "It's important for me to work the landscape," Robinson said. "I commit to you I will do that -- go down to the border and look at it." McCain said "I'll be glad to escort you." He said that the Army base at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, was flying surveillance drones to aid DHS but was not flying them along the border.

McCain said he was aware of the "posse comitatus" limits on the military's cooperation with law enforcement but "this is insane." Others panel members pleaded with Robinson to get command more involved in stopping the heroin flow that Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, likened to a "public health hurricane." Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, said "those drugs are going up right up Interstate 35 into rest of country. The epidemic is absolutely heartwrenching." Sen. Joe Donnelly, an Indiana Democrat, said, "We desperately need you to be the point person in stopping this epidemic." Robinson said "I commit to you that I will do everything to understand and to work with DHS."

Air Force Gen. Lori Robinson

Robinson, 56, joined the Air Force in 1982 through the ROTC program at the University of New Hampshire and lists New Hampshire as her home state. Her Air Force biography states that "she has served in a variety of positions as an air battle manager, including instructor and commander of the Command and Control Operations Division at the Air Force Fighter Weapons School, as well as Chief of Tactics in the 965th Airborne Warning and Control Squadron. "She has commanded an operations group, a training wing, an air control wing and has deployed as Vice Commander of the 405th Air Expeditionary Wing, leading more than 2,000 Airmen flying B-1 Lancer, KC-135 Stratotanker and E-3 Sentry in Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom."

Robinson also has logged more than 900 flight hours as a "senior air battle manager" aboard the E-3B/CAirbone Early Warning and Control (AWACS) aircraft and aboard the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (J-STARS) plane, the biography said. As commander of Pacific Air Forces, Robinson currently is responsible for 46,000 airmen serving principally in Japan, Korea, Hawaii, Alaska and Guam. If confirmed, Robinson would replace the retiring Adm. William Gortney at NorthCom and Norad. "It would be a tremendous honor to build on his efforts," Robinson said of Gortney.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2...confirmat.html