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Did you gain any weight in basic? I went from 145 to 155, and that was ten pounds of solid muscle in eight weeks.
Not much, just a little. But they did try and fatten me up.
I was in the medium running group. The fast group always got leftovers. And me.
"The fast group and String Bean, too! Get your asses over here!"
I was String Bean. That was the leftovers call. One time they made me eat half a dozen pieces of cake. Sometimes when guys got contraband treats sent to them during mail call, the drills made me eat it on the spot, or would confiscate it and dole it out to me periodically. You can imagine how popular that made me, someone watching me eat the brownies his Mom had made for him.
I think I was a particularly rich source of amusement for the drills.
Well, here is some food for thought ladies and gentleman. Beyond this, I would say in the Vietnam conflict, among Israel, Palestine, and certainly as in this case (Russia), women have been involved in combat for a long time.
Did you gain any weight in basic? I went from 145 to 155, and that was ten pounds of solid muscle in eight weeks.
I went from 140 to 175 over 12 months of training was in. Drove the quartermaster to near tears. And it wasn't fat, either. Except for a coiple of months in winter - doing infantry stuff in Danish winter weather cranks the body's sugar and fat cravings up to 11.
Anyway, I found an interesting and slightly related statistic: Top-level female biathletes are consistently more precise in their shooting than their male counterparts. The males, OTOH, shoot faster. In effect, the scoring system (time penalty for targets missed) will pretty much always be engineered to fit one gender over the other.
Last edited by Dane_in_LA; 02-07-2016 at 11:55 AM..
The best female athletes match the performance of the average male athletes. Enough said.
If the best female is better than half the males (50% are below average per definition, yes?), then I say the unit deserves to have her, not the below-average male.
Now, you are correct that special forces are another level. So far, exactly one Danish woman has passed the preliminary courses for special forces, but none has passed the Candidate Course. ("Jægerkorpset" - "the Huntsmen Corps" - is notoriously picky. They're well thought of by the SAS, 'nuff said.)
Well, here is some food for thought ladies and gentleman. Beyond this, I would say in the Vietnam conflict, among Israel, Palestine, and certainly as in this case (Russia), women have been involved in combat for a long time.
Sniper. Not regular infantry advancing on the enemy. She is very famous, and rightly so. In Israel, women soldiers are not on the front line. Neither are they in Palestine. Vietnam ? Doubtful.
"The IDF is comfortable with things the way they are and will not change until a court case forces them to"
If the best female is better than half the males (50% are below average per definition, yes?), then I say the unit deserves to have her, not the below-average male.
The below average male will not qualify either. I say the unit deserves the best, and none of the best will be females. Not my fault, blame biology.
Sniper. Not regular infantry advancing on the enemy. She is very famous, and rightly so. In Israel, women soldiers are not on the front line. Neither are they in Palestine. Vietnam? Doubtful.
I may be wrong, but it seems like the responses don't really match up to the links or arguments posted. For example, from the second section of the link above (you only have to read 2 paragraphs to get to it):
"Pavlichenko was among the first round of volunteers at the recruiting office, where she requested to join the infantry and subsequently she was assigned to the Red Army's 25th Rifle Division;[5] Pavlichenko had the option of becoming a nurse but refused; "I joined the army when women were not yet accepted".[5] There she became one of 2,000 female snipers in the Red Army, of whom about 500 survived the war."
I doubt if we were talking about a battle in central France during WW2 where a male sniper in a unit was taking out other snipers or enemies (which you have to be pretty darn close to do), anyone would say that that person wasn't, a) close to the action, or b) advancing on the enemy. If you are close enough in 1942 to take out enemy soldier and snipers with a rifle, you are pretty darn close.
I could give plenty examples of Vietnam where women were in combat. Here's a photo with a quick detailing, mostly because I'm working from home today and don't have time to provide more information.
I may be wrong, but it seems like the responses don't really match up to the links or arguments posted. For example, from the second section of the link above (you only have to read 2 paragraphs to get to it):
"Pavlichenko was among the first round of volunteers at the recruiting office, where she requested to join the infantry and subsequently she was assigned to the Red Army's 25th Rifle Division;[5] Pavlichenko had the option of becoming a nurse but refused; "I joined the army when women were not yet accepted".[5] There she became one of 2,000 female snipers in the Red Army, of whom about 500 survived the war."
I doubt if we were talking about a battle in central France during WW2 where a male sniper in a unit was taking out other snipers or enemies (which you have to be pretty darn close to do), anyone would say that that person wasn't, a) close to the action, or b) advancing on the enemy. If you are close enough in 1942 to take out enemy soldier and snipers with a rifle, you are pretty darn close.
I could give plenty examples of Vietnam where women were in combat. Here's a photo with a quick detailing, mostly because I'm working from home today and don't have time to provide more information.
The VietCong were a guerila, they were not a regular military force like the NVA. I don't see how a female engaged in a guerilla whose tactics led them to lose all engagements can be compared to a female infantry soldier. As you can see in the pic, she is not carrying any gear except a rifle. She is just a villager with a rifle.
Now regarding snipers, they typically take their shots beyond 500 yards. They do a job very different from the regular infantry. This has to be understood : a woman will not able to run with 90lbs of gear on her back, in an open field, carrying injured comrades, and returning fire at the same time. This is why almost no army today, including the IDF as was incorrectly reported, is willing to open combat roles to women. When they are, women always end up as snipers like in the PKK, or the russian army during WW2.
It is also wise to place the info you brought in context : during WW2, Russia lost 10 million soldiers, and 10 million civilians. They were forced to incorporate women and children in some roles. Same for the germans at the end of the war. I can show you pictures of 12 year old kids fighting war with real guns in WW2, it does not mean it is a good idea. It's a last resort option used in exceptional circumstances, when you don't have enough men to do the job.
Last edited by Sorel36; 02-07-2016 at 03:34 PM..
Reason: phrasing
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