What is your advice for Females joining the ranks of the combat jobs in the Military?

What we have is a cultural thing of our women not being in combat which is not shared in other countries. There were women in the Bible that were in combat and where they were exceptions, they were with God! I say any woman that goes into a combat unit, learn your craft, carry your weight, know there will be those that will box you in of what their image of what a woman should be and can do. You can be just as deadly in combat as that male soldier next to you and still not lose your feminine side. Stay true to who you are and be a professional. When you or if you have to be in a fire fight brawl with the best of them. Remember close with and violence of action! The other thing to remember is that we all have weaknesses and a true team covers each other because where one may be weak in an area and other is strong in that area and that counts whether in an all male or male female combat unit! Combat is not pretty and even training in case of combat is not pretty. know there will be days of no baths, not being squeamish when one has to expose parts of their body for leach checks and so on.
HOLD YOUR OWN, KNOW YOUR CRAFT, LEAD BY EXAMPLE, AND BE PROUD TO BE A WARRIOR!

I would only take the advice from those that served in combat MOS. IMHO.
THESE FAIRYTALE pixie dust crap will never be anything but few and far between. Guarantee only these things; a wet ass, a hungry gut, and one hell of a hard time.
Seriously

Greetings,

If the ship has sailed as you say, the following will help being in the field.

1. Noise discipline and stay out of the open. Nothing shinny. Cover your face and hands somehow. Use mud if you have to.
2. You are part of a team. Go slow on patrol. (no smoking, no coughing, no nothing!) Swamps are your friend. Snake and turtle tastes good.
3. Match stick heads (the big kind that come in a box have a lot of sulfur). I ate several in the morning and several in the evening. Once, I tested this. I let a large spider craw to my arm while taking a break in my shelter half. It stayed a second next to my arm. Then, turned around and left. No ticks that trip and only about two chiggers. Remarkable.
4. As acting Platoon Sgt. of Charlie Company SOI 1991, I made sure I was on fire watch at 0000hrs until 0200hrs. Force Recon would sometimes probe our lines to practice their juju. Throw rocks at them. But, sometimes it is just an Armadillo. Don't be the person on firewatch that gets stuff stolen. Be especially watchful at night.
5. Get a stinking haircut. Why? Try to take care of hair in the field. The water bull is not to make sure your pretty. Over 90 degrees. have two extra canteens.
6. If I'm your enemy, I will be attacking under low light, 3/4 moon, or a storm. Be ready to counter attack, get on line and/or fall to Rally point. Regroup. Prepare to kill. Leave no enemy fighter alive as you assault through. SOP

There is a lot more information. But, your Platoon Sgt. should teach you and explain to you the rest in the manual. Get good at it. It may mean your life. BTW. ROE suck. Strength has it's own deterant. Also, no John Wayne's (not the can opener). Keep your head down!

Two downloads for your phone I recommend. The Art of War and Marine Corp Platoon/Squad tactics. Just look and read through them while in your hooch. Trip wire is cheap.

Enjoy your youth. It goes by too fast.

Mark A. Morris BS, RDMS, RVT

Don't quit! Develop thick skin. Don't take anything personal. Give 100% and then some. Your only limitation will be yourself.

Have them be prepared mentally and emotionally to be among the lower 1/3 of their class in physical requirements. This is simply because of the differences in the sexes in how we are physically built. Example; Most reasonably fit men come up out of the prone head first and can go straight into a run. Most females, even those very fit, come up from the prone butt first. This is not a critique, it is simply because of the differences in bone structure & musculature in men and women. Combat arms is a VERY physically demanding field and most women will not be able to excel in them simply because of the differences in the male and female physiques unless the military changes the standards to allow for those differences.
The BEST thing you can do for your recruits is to show them the physical standards they must meet and explain that these are the minimums. Have a PT mat and chin up bar handy so they can attempt to meet those standards and then have a idea if they want to try to meet them on a daily basis.

If you wanna go 19D, close quarters in bradley's and such be able to lift the Tow. Upper body strength. PT, PT, PT...

Don't.
Why?
The increasingly toxic environment of the present day battlefield makes it impossible to protect mothers and their potential children from the unpredictable admixture of poisons that have been and will continue to be unavoidably present. Research "Teratogen". If you thought Gulf War Syndrome was a ruse, Agent Orange was just a "mistake", the Nuclear Soldiers a rumor, mustard gas.....

There is no way to control for all the variables, the risks to any children you may ever want is way too great. Want to serve with honor? There are still Hundreds of ways that won't jeopardize your future generations.

And that's the abbreviated version of my opinion of women in combat.
Hope this answered your question.

During my days (WWII) the only women serving in the Navy were the WAVES. They did wonders at their job and released guys for combat sea duty. No one thought anything about it. That's just the way it was. Those women sailors earned respect and got it. Aboard ship, there never was mention of females being assigned sea duty, and as I remember , none asked for it. We still won the war.

The Coast Guard allowed females to enlist on active duty as opposed to reservists in the 70's and shortly thereafter all rates (MOS's) were open to them. Since then, we have never been excluded from combat roles. Though most people don't think the Coast Guard goes into combat, we do get around and have been all over the Middle East and Afghanistan not to mention all previous wars. Anyway, having gotten the T-shirt, the best advise I can tell you to give your young soldiers is this:
Leave your gender at home. When you put on the uniform and especially when you deploy you are and should be a member of the team and represent your rank and MOS not your gender. Be physically fit and know your job so well that you can do it better than the man next to you . You will have to give 150% to earn the respect that they already have because they are men. Finally, leave your feminism and thin skin at home too. If you make them feel they have to watch their language they will resent you. They can be crude, but unless you are being personally insulted, laugh and join in the banter and let them know they don't have to worry about being themselves around you. Learn to both dish it out and take it and you will enjoy the comeradery and bonding that only combat deployments can forge.

I say no matter the gender whatever the MOS, the standards that are set are the standards to be met. You meet the standards, then there should be no issues. What we have are cultural issues that will have to be dealt with. Combat units get pretty close and it is not a time to be squeamish when just going across a water area and having to check each other for leaches. We did not touch each others junk, but everything was exposed to the eyes. This may sound extreme, but there are other situations where if there are gender hangups, then there are going to be problems. Get wounded on the battlefield there is no time for modesty. Opening the field up, but realize what one may be exposed to and how will leaders and fellow soldiers react?