Part 2 ~ Does Equality Mean One Standard.
In Part 1 I wondered if filling combat jobs is really what women wanted.  In Part 2 I am of the mindset that this conversation is not adequately framed to provide the appropriate discussion on the subject.  The question is not whether women should be allowed to serve in Combat jobs because when Combat comes calling either you get your @$$ to work and fight or you run or you die.  To me the question is whether women should be allowed to serve in the Infantry or Infantry related jobs.  I say ‘No’ until someone can practically explain to me how we implement this decision.  I’m over 6 feet tall and weigh approximately 225 pounds.  Over my career I’ve been at the top or near the top of all physical fitness requirements the Marine Corps demanded of me.  I’ve served in the Infantry and I can tell you there were a lot of men that could not handle the job; and yet they had no option.  I accept and believe the premise that there are a few women that can handle the job.  The issue is whether this is what’s best for the military.  How do a handful of women, in a group of a thousand men handle themselves, and how do the services treat them?  What are the negative impacts brought about by taking this action?  Have women’s demand for equality outpaced practicality?  War actually has only one standard, and if you say there will be only one standard for service members, then you must remove the Gender adjustments applied to physical training.  Using the current ‘male’ standard would most assuredly mean, in my opinion, almost 90% of women might fail physical fitness requirements for most Infantry type jobs.  So what do we do?  Raise the current physical standard for women or drop the current standard for men?  Do we set women up for physical and career failure or degrade the Infantry’s combat effectiveness by lessening the requirements.  In either scenario War and Combat do not care because they have only one standard.  Remember, some men cannot keep this standard and we have been bred since the beginning of time to go to war.

Another point to address is how do we assign women to these jobs?  Everyone keeps saying a woman should be allowed to enter if they want to.  A lot of men don’t want to go into the Infantry but the service forces them to.  Do we apply the same standard to women?  If we say ‘yes’ then I would surmise we should expect a huge increase in claims from both sexes of unfair treatment by women who were ‘forced’ to serve in the Infantry.  What we currently do with Infantrymen who aren’t performing is training them harder.  So, now we’ve increased the rate of injuries; bone fractures, muscles tears, back problems, estrogen and fertility concerns.  Is the Service (society) going to tell women they are being assigned to the Infantry and may run the risk of having fertility complications?  Keeping a military ‘Can Do’ attitude, I say we can do that but when a woman says ‘I’d like to have children someday so I’d like to go into another job’ how do we respond. Should it not be with the one standard and an ‘oh well, suck it up.  You’re in the Infantry now girl!’  That’s what we might do and say to a man so why not same to a woman.  Remember, equality at all cost.  War is not for the weak.

Eddie Wheeler is a Major in the United States Marine Corps, who enjoys sports and spending time with his family.