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I'm of the mindset of Colonel Cooper, that man, instinctively, likes to fight. He wants to prove that he is superior. He wants to dominate. He wants to come out on top. He wants to beat other men who are well armed, well led, and well motivated. That's his natural instinct. The Army merely digs it out from the politically correct brainwashing he underwent through years of public schooling. And I may be way, way off base. I'm simply speaking for myself and my squad of Georgia Army National Guardsman. Hell, we might have liked to fight because we were too dumb to know better. And I feel that the natural instinct to protect women is as deeply ingrained as the instinct to fight. I'm not anti-women in the military, I'm anti-women in combat MOSs. |
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Another similar example is a friend of mine, also from my rotation, who on his first tour when he was still an infanteer, came out of the closet for the first time in the back of a LAV under mortar fire - "F**k it, I don't want to die living a lie. Sgt, I'm gay." He took some shit for about a week, and then the rest of his platoon were standing up for him when the rest of the battalion found out. Point being I think people in general will be pretty open minded if you give them a chance to be. Don't take this as an argument for political correctness - the army is the army and if you can't do the job then you shouldn't be in it, but there's plenty of straight men out there who can't handle it either. I'm definitely NOT saying the standards should ever be lowered, I just think that women should get the same chance to prove themselves that men do. No argument on the soldier on soldier rape - anyone in the states hear of Russell Williams, the former commander of CFB Trenton who's currently serving a life sentence for several rapes and two murders. I was in Afghanistan when he was arrested, and we were ordered that he was always to be referred to as Mr. Williams. When he got his dishonorable discharge, they burned his uniforms, shredded his commissioning scroll, and broke his medals, and our only objection is that he's in civilian and not much harder military prison. Totally unrelated, but were the Kiowa pilots also complete insane on your tour? Seems like every week we had a new C/S Shamus story. Were you with 1-17 Cav? They actually took over Dand district from us at the beginning of 2010. |
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No, I was 1-108. But a couple of guys from OSUT wound up in the 1-17. |
Yeah, I refused to believe the story about the Shamus pilot expending all of his ordnance and landing so he could shoot the guy with his pistol - until I saw the AAR.
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1. Be batshit crazy 2. Demonstrate this 3. Wait until they just give you a Kiowa (you will know how to operate it instinctively) 4. Throw beer bottles and shit at hadjis for fun from your Kiowa until you leave the military |
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It was nothing to find .50 brass in your gear if they were around. |
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I haven't served, so I admit that I don't have any anecdotes like yours. But I did spend enough years rowing when I was in college to know that there are plenty of women who have the instinct to dominate and come out on top. The kinds of women who I saw on the team are, I would think, exactly the kinds of women who would be fine in combat arms jobs (perhaps they wouldn't excel, but they could at least hold their own). If they can carry a Vespoli shell, they can ruck. I wish k9870 were still here - he was at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, right? I always found it weird that k9870 was opposed to women in combat, given what I know about his school's oarswomen. When I was in college, I remember CGA had women's varsity crews which were about as fast as my school's men's varsity crews. (Also, during my sophomore year, their freshmen men's boat beat our second varsity boat - which was my boat.) If I were a combat arms officer, I would have taken a platoon of those ladies over the guys from my own boat. In the end, though, I believe that women in combat should only get the green light provided that there is good, hard data to suggest that this is a good idea (as opposed to progress for the sake of progress). I would never get behind a social engineering program that is not supported by empirical evidence. And I am concerned that Panetta jumped the gun on removing the barriers to women in combat, before sufficient evidence was presented. But...I suspect that this is still a (rare) case where the forces of liberalism and political correctness are actually right, even if it is for the wrong reasons. |
UPDATE ELEVEN YEARS LATER: New York Post dated Sept 8, 2015, stated that there are only 214 six-shot .38 revolver carrying officers left on a force of about 35,000.
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""It's put me through 20 years, and I'm still alive," said Officer Gregg Melita, 41, who not only carries a Ruger Police Service revolver, but the old "dump pouches," two leather carriers that hold loose cartridges. "This is when guns were guns, and cops were cops," he said. "The new guys don't even know what dump pouches are. They go, 'Hey, what's that hold?' " He chuckled. "'Bullets, kid.'"" I get the appeal of revolvers, I like them myself, but come on, at least use a damn speedloader. And a DS on an ankle holster? That seems a bit on the heavy side. |
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I'm with you. I like revolvers and now own fourteen. No fifteen revolvers. Love the old handguns, but use a speed loader if you're carrying a revolver in the real world. My herd as of 08/23/15. Sorry for the picture quality. going to a gun auction tomorrow. Hope to get either a S&W Model 65 3", Colt Model 1917 (45acp) or a S&W Model 520. Smith made 3,000 of the 520 for the New York State Police in 1980 only to have the NYSP cancel at the last minute. It's just the Model 28 Highway Patrolman only with fixed sights instead of adjustable, but it's rare and would make a great addition to my collection. If I get any of those three you know I'll be posting. Wish me luck. http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...pspep7ipcx.jpg http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...psywvy2fwk.jpg http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...psg6wrloqo.jpg http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...psssqoswdq.jpg |
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