Women in combat?

Yes, when you are in the front line and don't bathe for a month, and have your period, no problem.

the real problem no one wants to talk about: rape. By fellow soldiers, and especially if captured (nearly all women soldier POW's are sexually assaulted, but no one wants to discuss the matter).

The UKMail reports that one in three military commanders who were fired were removed for "zipper problems".

For top officers, the numbers are startling.
Eighteen generals and admirals- from one star to four stars- were fired in recent years, and 10 of them lost their jobs because of sex-related offenses; two others were done in by alcohol-related problems...

So MacArthur would have been sacked because of "Dimples", and USGrant would never have been promoted because he got drunk a lot.

‘I think we're on the path. I think the last two defense secretaries have made this a very high priority and have very much held people accountable. But we've got a ways to go,’ said Michele Flournoy, a former undersecretary of defense under President Barack Obama.

OF course, Flournoy is a policy wonk, without combat experience.


But given the present day war against 8th century jihadi types: the real problem is a dirty little secret that the Israelis could tell you about: If these primitives find they are fighting against women, they are more likely to fight to the death rather than flee or give up because to do so would mean they are less powerful than women.

But women already are serving with front line troops, so they can search Muslim women in their homes without having their menfolks horrified.

StrategyPage comments on women's roles in the present day wars here.

More women are in uniform now because there aren't enough qualified men, especially for many of the technical jobs armed forces now have to deal with.

My take? Women are already "in" combat. It's now going to be official.

Wikipedia on Combat Barbie:

The real problem is that Obama is hated by the military, and he is trying to remake the military to be politically correct, replacing warriors with his ideological friends. Alas, in times of war, reality tends to get in the way.


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Related item: US Navy go kaput.

Blame the beancounters for underfunding.
A local kerfuffle shows that there is a problem: A "US minesweeper" is stuck on a reef near the Philippines and they are having trouble getting her off.

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and no, my only war experience was as a civilian doctor in a country with a civil war. We had two 22 rifles on the mission, mainly used to kill vermin or baboons raiding crops, and we only had four people who knew how to shoot: Brother Charles (who would shoot the baboons when locals requested his help), Father Erney, who had once been an officer in the Swiss Army, my mom, who was a sharpshooter in her high school gun club (she had five brothers), and old retired Sister Ambuya, who during World War I learned to shoot a shot gun to chase theives and kill vermin attacking her farm animals.

And yes, I can shoot a rifle badly, but had a waiver in the National Guard not to carry a handgun.

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Sort of related item: Obama wants 100 thousand American students to study in China.

yes, our grandson is studying Mandarin, but didn't get a grant to study there. Wonder why. Guess as a FilAm he didn't fit the profile.

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update:

From the right:

Belmont club blog on the US quiet policy change on Syria:

Foukara gave two reasons for the about face. The first was the steadfast support of Russia and Iran for Assad. They were not backing down. The second was the realization stemming from Benghazi debacle. “The other concern is that the United States has for some weeks now been saying that jihadi groups, as it’s called them, are operating in Syria, having come from Iraq, affiliates of al-Qaida, and giving weapons to the Syrian opposition may end up in the wrong hands. So they will not do that.”..Obama has kept the true import of Benghazi from everyone but America’s foes: it was the moment when the Obama administration realized it had been duped into arming al-Qaeda.  The ship of Obama’s state is now beached on the shoals.

From the left:

TPMBarnett

America thinks it's in charge of all this, so when we decide the "decade of wars is over" (Obama), then by God, they're over - right?  No American troops, no headlines (that matter) and no wars (that count)....
But Obama is the great peacemaker.  We know this because he has a medal to prove it.  He stops America's over-stretched ambitions on nation-building and replaces it with worldwide targeted assassinations, and we are pleased with his wisdom.  But his total lack of caring for what happens next in those places where the smoking holes are all we leave behind?

he also talks critically about Obama's "pivot to Asia" which he says is not needed because China will either become a democracy or self implode.

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addendum: Obama will use the "unintended pregnancy" argument to push military hospitals to do abortions.

This was attempted by Clinton who backed off when surveys showed the docs wouldn't obey.
But given that the Obama administration is ordering chaplains to perform "same sex" ceremonies, one can see where this is going.

Sigh.