Posted on May 19, 2017
First women finish enlisted infantry training, become Army infantrymen
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Congrats to these Soldiers!
First women finish enlisted infantry training, become Army infantrymen
Posted from ledger-enquirer.com
Infantry
Women in the Military
Combat Arms
Basic Training
Posted 7 y ago
Responses: 5
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I'll be the first to say I thought there was going to be problems and did not like this decision. Not because of the physical aspect since I have seen women that can out perform males in physical training. I was more worried about the standards being lowered. However looking at the attrition rate I can say this, they earned their cord just as any other infantry soldier today. I can foresee some issues coming up in the future due to not having the all male units, not worrying about the natural human instruct with hormones and deployments/training being with one platoon for months on in. But like I said they earned their cord. So now it's up to us leaders to ensure that they are treated the same as any other infantryman since I seen males treat females differently. We as soldiers need to ensure they are treated failrly and enforce the standard and help with this integration so there would not be problems in the future. And the reason I say this is because there are some people who will be hard headed and try to treat them different, and they shouldn't be leaders in my eyes, because of their beliefs and what they think an ifsntry unit should be. Overall I want to congratulate the new INFANTRY soldiers both male and female and hope they have good leadership to put them on the path to success.
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The author of this article is not doing these women a favor. I wonder how long that the author of the article has been working for the Ledger-Enquirer?
"There were 48 women trainees who arrived at Fort Benning in February, and 32 of them were deemed ready to attempt basic training without any additional physical training. The 18 graduates were among those 32 soldiers.
There were 148 men who started the class, and 119 of them graduated."
"The fact that 18 of 48 women made the cut to infantrymen in the initial class speaks to the maintaining of standards, Snow said."
This information should have been left out or fully explained, it does not help these fine soldiers nor does the obfuscation help Fort Benning or the Infantry.
At least they had a female NCO to look up to during this stage of experience. I am glad that a soldier with experience in the 82nd volunteered for this. Congratulations to SFC Karen Carter.
Last complaint about the article - When did they start attaching the Infantry cord to the button first before placing the arm through? And if not how did SSG Howe get set up for picture #7?
If that is how they put it on for the ceremony, I would be deeply embarrassed to attend.
Is this an indicator of how far down D&C has fallen?
For those headed to Fort Bragg, I would hope that they would look for mentors of the Paratroopers that have already tread the Airborne Path, Such as Sally Rejas and CPT Fiona Peden. Both of which can be found on LinkedIn. AATW.
"There were 48 women trainees who arrived at Fort Benning in February, and 32 of them were deemed ready to attempt basic training without any additional physical training. The 18 graduates were among those 32 soldiers.
There were 148 men who started the class, and 119 of them graduated."
"The fact that 18 of 48 women made the cut to infantrymen in the initial class speaks to the maintaining of standards, Snow said."
This information should have been left out or fully explained, it does not help these fine soldiers nor does the obfuscation help Fort Benning or the Infantry.
At least they had a female NCO to look up to during this stage of experience. I am glad that a soldier with experience in the 82nd volunteered for this. Congratulations to SFC Karen Carter.
Last complaint about the article - When did they start attaching the Infantry cord to the button first before placing the arm through? And if not how did SSG Howe get set up for picture #7?
If that is how they put it on for the ceremony, I would be deeply embarrassed to attend.
Is this an indicator of how far down D&C has fallen?
For those headed to Fort Bragg, I would hope that they would look for mentors of the Paratroopers that have already tread the Airborne Path, Such as Sally Rejas and CPT Fiona Peden. Both of which can be found on LinkedIn. AATW.
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I don't have any issues with females filling the roles if they can pass the same standards as the men. And seeing that they are, is great.
I only wonder what happens when they are integrated into units with with male soldiers. Is there going to be issues with hygiene procedures in the field. In integrated fighting units do male and female soldiers come together in two halves of a shelter? Does the Army even use shelter halves any more? Would personal hygiene in integrated unit field ops require some changes? The male soldier would have to change the way he relieves himself to some extent. As I don't think just whipping it out and going on the nearest bush would be acceptable any longer. Or am I just out of touch with the modern Army, not having served in the current century? Maj Marty Hogan,COL Mikel J. Burroughs,SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas,TSgt Dawn Premock,SSG Shavonde Chase
I only wonder what happens when they are integrated into units with with male soldiers. Is there going to be issues with hygiene procedures in the field. In integrated fighting units do male and female soldiers come together in two halves of a shelter? Does the Army even use shelter halves any more? Would personal hygiene in integrated unit field ops require some changes? The male soldier would have to change the way he relieves himself to some extent. As I don't think just whipping it out and going on the nearest bush would be acceptable any longer. Or am I just out of touch with the modern Army, not having served in the current century? Maj Marty Hogan,COL Mikel J. Burroughs,SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas,TSgt Dawn Premock,SSG Shavonde Chase
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PFC Roger Goff
I guess to me having served when and where I did. And not really being around many female soldiers. The idea of being around female soldiers just sounded more problematic than it really is. It was another time, and attitudes were different as well. Carry on young soldiers!
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SPC Donald Moore
CPL (Anonymous) - I was in the Infantry, I remember how horrible some of the male soldiers behave and it is something they need to work on as individuals and the military may need to step in and discipline them or provide remedial training, but the failure of the individual to be a properly functioning human is not the fault of the female soldier. Females are not the problem, some males (and some females too) have not had proper, early, home training in how to interact with other humans. It is part of the failure of our society. We can't fix everything at once, it takes time and sometimes we stumble, but we must keep working on a solution. We can't give up because it is difficult. That is quitter talk. Never quit.
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PFC Roger Goff
CPL (Anonymous) What you bring up is part of what I was eluding to. The guys I served with were a wild and crazy bunch. And in the absence of NCO's the atmosphere was like party central. With an anything goes morality. Adding females into that mix would have In my opinion resulted in a rash of non judicial and even judicial punishment.
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SPC Donald Moore
PFC Roger Goff - When my infantry battalion deployed to Kuwait back in 1994, we took some females with us and there were several incidents, so you are correct, but those behaviors are not going to go away if the people are not punished when they exhibit them. Like training a dog, when they poop on the floor, you rub their face in it and they learn not to do it again. The bad behavior needs to be trained out of the troops instead of ejecting the troops from service. They don't learn better behavior if you just kick them out...
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