Men and women in the military and physical standards

originally posted by: dragonridr
I don't think women need to meet the same standards frankly they are built differently they don't have the same upper body strength. That doesn't mean they can't be effective in combat however look at the Israelis they have had women in combat roles and do just fine. What I will say however each mission thr comanders would need to evaluate their needs and if a woman doesn't meet the criteria he needs for the mission he should have the option to say so. I'm afraid that commanders will not put the best people in thr right positions for fear of being labeled a sexist.

There are other reasons that wmen should not be in combat, besides physical requirements. There are historical cases of men not doing the job they needed to do, because they were trying to get women in theier area to safety instead. In combat, that can be a real problem. Also, women taken captive brings about a whole different set of issues.

It isn't a matter of being able, or not, to fight. Anyone threatens mine, they will meet a she-bear. However, that doesn't mean I want to be in such a situation, and I don't believe most women are equipped for that as a standard thing. We aren't the same. Men are typically more capable of standing up to physical aggression, and I mean that in an emotional and mental sense, as much as physically.

There are plenty of positions in the military that women can do, and there are, I am sure, a few women who might even be able to handle combat. Overall, though, that isn't something women should be doing.

As for a draft NO ONE, male or female, should be forced to serve. This is supposed to be a free country, and that amounts to a form of slavery, as far as I am concerned. Decent pay, good benefits, and the like should be enough to draw plenty of volunteers, and those who sign up of their own volition will be far more likely to perform better than those who aren't given a choice. The draft is a bad idea, all around. Adding in women just makes it worse.

I suspect, in any case, a deeper agenda in this.

The answer is easy.

Men and women aren't equal...physically.

Physical fitness requirements are also different by age. Not that just passing your PT test is exceptable in Army anyway, in particular if you are in combat arms you should be maxing it or close to it without any problem. And of course Special Operations and Ranger have their own tests. We are talking about the bare minimum here. As woman have never been allowed in combat arms it has never really mattered of course now that they are new MOS based gender neutral PT tests have been created. However as I said once you get through basic you should be in good enough shape that maxing your PT tests should be the goal anyway. Of course as you get older that gets much harder.