Here's a reply from a friend of mine who was on the front line in the Army in Afghanistan for 3 years:
I did 3 years in a line unit so I can chime in here. I'll start by saying that women should be allowed to apply for these positions if they can meet the requirements of those units. In the army, and I assume the Marines are the same way, your unit can set the fitness and readiness standard above what the branch requires. In my unit you had to meet 70% minimum in every category of the apft just to avoid getting chaptered out. 80% if you didn't want to do pt 2x a day plus other remedial pt throughout the day. As it was in 2010 before I got out 80% of the men's standard was well over 100% for women. There's a common knowledge in the services, that I feel is justified, that women aren't as well respected as their male peers due to the lower standards they have to meet. If women want to serve in line units they should be held to the same standards.
As for the psychological aspect a women shouldn't be held to a different standard either. We would do these ridiculous 12-20mile ruck marches ending in a live fire combat simulation. Our bags would usually be weighing 75-125lbs depending on your role in the unit plus the 40-50lbs of armor plates, extra front loaded ammo and radios. The guys who couldn't hang were always moved to a HQ unit or some place else equally as terrible. I used to think those exercises were ridiculous until we walked 7k ft up a mountain with those weight loads and immediately took RPG and mortar fire once we hit the summit. We didn't sleep for ~2days. Then we did the same thing a week later. When you're deployed that stuff can be constant.
What I'm saying is that the standards exist for a reason. Everyone does basic training so everyone knows how to hold a rifle and take care of it. After that there isn't a gradual warming up period when you get to a combat unit - its 100% from day one. If they can't do it then they can't do it. That's the truth. I'd expect a man to get the same treatment.
I can say that 90% of the men in those units wouldn't have a problem with women being brought in. At the end of the day nobody cares what sex you are so long as you can carry your weight, not crack under pressure and are able to throw the heaviest member of your unit on your back and carry them off a battlefield.
I did 3 years in a line unit so I can chime in here. I'll start by saying that women should be allowed to apply for these positions if they can meet the requirements of those units. In the army, and I assume the Marines are the same way, your unit can set the fitness and readiness standard above what the branch requires. In my unit you had to meet 70% minimum in every category of the apft just to avoid getting chaptered out. 80% if you didn't want to do pt 2x a day plus other remedial pt throughout the day. As it was in 2010 before I got out 80% of the men's standard was well over 100% for women. There's a common knowledge in the services, that I feel is justified, that women aren't as well respected as their male peers due to the lower standards they have to meet. If women want to serve in line units they should be held to the same standards.
As for the psychological aspect a women shouldn't be held to a different standard either. We would do these ridiculous 12-20mile ruck marches ending in a live fire combat simulation. Our bags would usually be weighing 75-125lbs depending on your role in the unit plus the 40-50lbs of armor plates, extra front loaded ammo and radios. The guys who couldn't hang were always moved to a HQ unit or some place else equally as terrible. I used to think those exercises were ridiculous until we walked 7k ft up a mountain with those weight loads and immediately took RPG and mortar fire once we hit the summit. We didn't sleep for ~2days. Then we did the same thing a week later. When you're deployed that stuff can be constant.
What I'm saying is that the standards exist for a reason. Everyone does basic training so everyone knows how to hold a rifle and take care of it. After that there isn't a gradual warming up period when you get to a combat unit - its 100% from day one. If they can't do it then they can't do it. That's the truth. I'd expect a man to get the same treatment.
I can say that 90% of the men in those units wouldn't have a problem with women being brought in. At the end of the day nobody cares what sex you are so long as you can carry your weight, not crack under pressure and are able to throw the heaviest member of your unit on your back and carry them off a battlefield.
