No women in Infantry
Army chief General Peter Leah retires and talks about women in the ADF. He has no problems with the girls serving in most of the force but draws the line at direct combat units, as he should.
General Leahy said the other key issue involving gender was one of physical strength and the capacity of men and women to perform certain tasks.
“There aren’t many women playing in the Wallabies, or for Carlton, or Essendon. It’s about the physical capability and there are some men who can’t play in the Wallabies. So we need to be fairly clinical, if you like,” he said. “If you want to be in the infantry and you want to be fighting in combat you had better to able to carry a heavy pack long distances.” While army studies suggested some women could do that, “right now they are busy getting ready to go to Beijing for the Olympics”, General Leahy said.That ‘heavy pack” in my experience could, and often did, weigh about a hundred pounds or 45 kilos so his point is valid. The other reason I never wanted women in Infantry is I know full well that if Private Kevin was in a forward pit with Private Sheilah I wouldn’t be looking to my front or watching my arcs – I would be trying to chat her up. Basic but it’s true. General Leah commanded the Army over an almost unprecedented era of expansion of troops,roles and deployments and he is leaves it in good shape and I for on, wish him well in the future.
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It’s the same in the fire brigade, I was a firefighter and station officer for 22 years and what is often needed is sheer physical strength. Yet the MFB now has all new recruits pass a shuttle run to get in. What you end up with is women (and men) who weigh 50 kgs wringing wet and can run very well but when it comes to the grunt work they are useless. I don’t know about the army but if you come across a body and have to move it, even dragging it 50 metres demands strength and tenacity perticularly wearing BA etc. But it’s being able to run that is important. If they tested for strength it would not allow for the feminisation of the brigade.
Hi Kev, you may well have been in the trench chatting them up whereas I would be beating them off with my tools entrenching because I was so better looking than you were.
But on a serious note, the reason that women cannot be in the front line with men, apart from your suggestion, is that we men are hardwired to protect women. So in the event of some contact with the nemy, soldiers will ensure that their women are well protected first before taking any action against the enemy – thus putting everyone in danger.
But a platoon a mad crazy women……
Now I’d like to see that!
Everytime this issue comes up, the only people agitating for more ‘rights’ for women are those that won’t do the job themselves. As the CA stated, there aren’t female soldiers out there kicking the doors down, hankering to get a bit of ”Close with and kill the enemy” action. It’s not a job that has it’s satisfaction in the first year either. These women would have to stick with it, consistently, until there was the same ratio of males/females in the wider ADF as there were Bn Pl Sgts.
Knowing what most of the whining cows are like when you make them work through morno’s, I can’t see the battalion q-stores being stocked with stockings and skirts anytime soon. The females in the units now are there as combat service support, not warfighters. A significant difference.
He is spot on here “If you want to be in the infantry and you want to be fighting in combat you had better to able to carry a heavy pack long distances.”
But even for the tiny handful of women who could do this, there is another reason not to let them, they injure far more easily under physical stress which is no problem in a game of sport, stop the game and bring on a substitute, but hardly an option on battle field.
Cav,
You may be right but the smell of diesel had to put them off – surely.
Kev, the smell of diesel?
Wash your mouth out!
I are grunt, grunt is good.
Although the longest we went without a wash/shower was 6 weeks – the pheromones wafting from our armpits – the sheilas didn’t stand a chance.