Women On the Front Lines - An Outsider's View

For the first time in a while, I actually sat down and cracked my knuckles to get started on this post.
I'm not quite sure how this one will turn out, obviously.

I'm pretty sure every single post I've ever written has worked that way.
I pick a topic then forget about it until about 5 seconds before I start writing.

Let's see.. If a post might be controversial, I put in my little disclaimer.
This post is going to be quite controversial, so I'm going to put up my disclaimer.
I'll probably go back and add things to it if I feel it's needed.

*Disclaimer*

I am in no way, shape, or form, belittling men or women.

I have no intent to disrespect our military.
I have no intent to disrespect women.
I have no intent to disrespect men.

I am not claiming that men are better than women.
I am not claiming that women are better than men.

It is not my intent to disrespect or offend anyone.

As the title says, this is an outsider's view.
I am not in the military.
I do not claim to understand everything in the military.
This is purely how I see it from where I stand.

I don't claim to be right.
I don't claim to be better, or smarter than any of you.

This entire post is... Pretty much me thinking on paper.
As I write this disclaimer, I don't have an opinion on this topic.
By the end of the post, I might, I might not.

My goal for this post is just to maybe give people some things to think about.
I'm not trying to change your opinion.
Okay?

Okay!

*/Disclaimer*

SO.
There we go.
Long-ass disclaimer.

I'm going to try avoiding repeating those.
So remember everything in that disclaimer.


Without further ado, let's get this show on the road.

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I'm not in the military.
(Oh look, I repeated part of my disclaimer. Already. Off to a bad start. BUT ANYWAY).

I've seen quite a few arguments about this.
I'm hesitant to say "debate" because a debate involves intelligent responses, geared towards addressing all the points your opponent makes.
I've seen arguments about this though.
People yelling and typing with CAPS LOCK ON, yelling and swearing at each other that they're smarter.

It gets annoying.
Very, very, very annoying.

The reason I'm writing this post was because I joined into a debate about this, then it turned into an argument, then back into a debate.
I figured I'd get out my thoughts on this subject, because typing all of this in a comment wouldn't work so well.

Let's see.
I'm not quite sure how to approach this.
So I'll start writing how I'm thinking.

Damn. This pink lemonade is good.
Tom Delonge's voice is annoying.
I'm hungry.
I need to work out.
I have 3 pounds of Jolly Ranchers next to my computer.
I need to focus on the blog now.

...........
Okay we're not writing what I'm thinking.
We'll write about my thought process.

I suppose the first thing I hear about this is that it's sexist to assume that women can't be on the front lines of a warzone.



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Sexism:
1 : Prejudice or discrimination based on sex; especially discrimination against women.


Now, assuming that the belief that women do not belong on the front lines is sexist, this would mean that we are:


1. Discriminating against the women, assuming that women are not equal to men, and therefore should not be on the front lines.


2. Stereotyping men as the only ones who are able to fight in a warzone.


I'd like to look at these individually.


1. Discriminating against the women, assuming that women are not equal to men, and therefore should not be on the front lines.


If this is how we were looking at it, we would assume that women aren't able to handle the physical and mental demands involved with combat in a war zone.
Frankly, that's a pathetic reason. You can't say that they aren't able to meet physical demands because the truth is, there are women that are in shape for this. Perfectly. There are women who could do a boot camp obstacle course easily.
I think it needs to be pointed out that, if a woman can pass all the tests as easily as a man, doesn't that make her physically fit?
If the tests are used strictly enough, a woman that has strength and endurance equal to a man has every right to be there as the man does.
There are women that could drag a comrade in full gear behind them.


In fact, I asked my mom about this topic, and she had an interesting story that I'll throw in here.

(My mother works as a 911 dispatcher for the sheriff's department in Larimer County).
She told me a story of a woman who is currently in law enforcement. She is about 5 feet 4 inches tall, and weighs maybe 110 pounds. There was a Code 6, a call for a deputy to get on the scene immediately, she got there first. 


When the rest of the dispatch got there, she was on top of a 250 pound man, her knee in between his shoulder blades, with his hands cuffed behind him.
She kind of whooped some ass.
There are many other stories that could be put here, that's just one of them.
Keep in mind, that's just to emphasize that there are women who are physically capable to take someone down. 


However, it is a biological fact that men, on average, have more muscle mass, and tend to be stronger. 
Obviously not every man is stronger than every woman.
For example, I could get my ass handed to me by an 11 year old girl.


Because of this, it's not safe to assume that every man is automatically more powerful than any given woman.
That's why I don't agree with the physical reason for women not to be on the front lines.


Assuming women are unequal in every way also means you have to think that women are mentally unsuited for the task.
Again, I think that's sort of a weak reason.
In order to even get into the military, women have to go through a mental gate. I mean, we generally, generally, not always, stereotype the military as men.
In order for a woman to join the military, she automatically has to realize that she is going into what the world perceives as a "Man's World". 
Mental capability is something hard to measure objectively, but needless to say, women can be just as mentally fit as men.
I don't see how a man could be mentally capable, but a woman couldn't.


Yes, the mental capabilities necessary to live in harsh conditions, fight, take others' lives, and place your own lives in danger are STRICT.
Not many people can do that.
It takes a select few to actually adopt that mental attitude.

But I don't see why a woman wouldn't be able to be mentally capable just because she's a woman.
Some men are, some aren't.
Some women are, some aren't.


(Also, the phrase "needless to say," assumes what you are going to say next is needless... Then why do we still say it? Weird). 


2. Stereotyping men as the only ones who are able to fight in a warzone.


Face it. We all kind of stereotype the military. 
When we think military, we think of men.
That's not necessarily a bad thing, in my opinion.
Going back to this blog about stereotypes, I think that visually stereotyping the military as predominately male is not a bad thing.
Face it, it actually is predominately men. I couldn't find a perfect statistic, but it seems like the average guess would be around 15% of the military is comprised of women. 
I'm pretty sure 85% is bigger than 15%.
Just a guess.
I'm no math major. 


I think that the stereotyping part kind of goes along with the discrimination point I made above.

So I'm not quite sure what else to say here....
Soooooooooooo..
Look at the point above this one.
It's better.
But my point stands.


The military is predominately male.
But that doesn't mean the women aren't as capable.



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Another point that I've definitely heard is that men's natural instinct is to protect the woman, protect the figure that can be associated with their mother. Protect the caregiver.
I think that's an extremely valid point.
It definitely is a natural instinct.
I'm not denying that.

I don't believe that means it's impossible to get past.

Okay, miniature disclaimer.
I'm going to be using other combat situations as examples.
HOWEVER.
I KNOW that SWAT team is different than a fire team in most aspects.
I KNOW that law enforcement is a COMPLETELY different environment than a war zone.
That's a given.
So before you yell at me, remember that.
I know the differences in environments, but I believe some of these points still apply.

A simple idea is that in order to kind of override the men's natural instinct, the women would have to completely avoid the "caregiver" roles. They don't offer or ask for help.
It's still hard to completely override a man's protective instinct.
But I believe that trying to avoid the caregiver role could help the problem a little bit.

I also believe that if a SWAT team can get past the protective instinct, I believe that it could also be applied in a war zone.
Keep in mind, I realize that they are different environments.
But my point stands.
A SWAT team is able to get by the fact that a team member is a woman.
When they punch through a wall into gunfire, it's not about who is which gender.
It becomes a team focused towards a goal. 
They go in, fully expecting to die, but determined to carry out the mission. 
I think at that point, the mission becomes more important.


My friend Mike said it best: "The primary goal of any mission in the Marine Corps is Mission Accomplishment. and second is troop welfare. that's what makes Marines the greatest fighting force in the world."


Accomplishing the mission is the primary goal.
The only problem is when a man would start to value their comrades above the goal.
That's an extremely sad truth, and it sounds terrible, but it, frankly, is more important.
It would be a tragedy to lose someone, especially a team member.


I'm not saying I've experienced that.
I'm not saying I've been given the choice to complete the mission or save a man's life.


I'm deferring to Mike's judgement in this case.
I have never been in boot camp, and I most likely never will be.
I'm sure that, if you're in the military, you've been taught that.


An interesting idea my mom mentioned was that, in a bodyguard-type situation, there can be groups of men and women.
Again, we stereotype men as the only bodyguards. But women are there too.
Say a pair of bodyguards are assigned to an important official. If someone pulls a gun and rushes at the official, the bodyguards have to be mentally prepared to leave their comrade and protect the official, the higher goal.
I realize that they are different situations, but I believe the mental choice of, "Save a comrade or complete the mission" is the same.
In that case, a man is trained to disregard his partner's gender or status, and protect the primary objective.
I realize it's a stretch, but the same discipline could be utilized in cases of women in a war zone.


I feel it's necessary to say that in placing a goal above comrades, it doesn't matter if your comrade is a man or a woman, as long as they are capable of working with you to complete the mission.


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I've heard from a few women that, "We gave birth! We can charge headlong into a firefight!"
I....
I don't even know.
That's just such a terrible point.
It does show that women are capable of more than most men think.
But still.....
Giving birth vs getting shot at, having to take another human's life...
I'm pretty sure they're... Kind of different. You know?
Just a lot.

They're both difficult in their own ways. But...
That point is......
Fail.
Don't use that argument. It doesn't work.

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Another thing I've heard is that women don't belong in the military because men are men.
There would be rape.
Yes, that's true.
Yes, it's hard to shut down a guy's sex drive, especially when he's surrounded by men 24/7 and his girlfriend is his hand (MASTURBATION JOKE).

There already is rape in the military, and it's under-reported.
I don't believe this means they should NOT be allowed in the military at all.
Again, this sounds terrible, but if a woman joins the military, she's already realized that she's going into a predominately male society.
I'M NOT SAYING RAPE IS EXCUSABLE BECAUSE OF THAT.

Okay? I'm not saying that because she's a woman, it's okay.

I'm just saying that it should not completely shut down a woman's right to join the military.
It's a tragedy, and terribly depressing that it happens!
It's not okay. At all.
But because something happens, it doesn't mean it should change everything related to it.

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I'm kind of hesitant to publish this.. I don't feel like it's fully developed or good.
But I guess it's just my thoughts, so I shouldn't overthink it.
It's my thought process and things I've thought about, so maybe it will help others to arrive at a conclusion.

I think it's easy to say that if you already are completely, 100% sure in your opinion, reading this didn't really do anything for you. But maybe it gave you things to think about to strengthen your argument.

I guess that's all I can really say on this topic for now.
I really hope I at least gave people some things to think on.

I still don't necessarily have a set opinion on this.
I need to get more research and thinking in before I make a decision.

I might talk about this a little more tomorrow as well.
Tonight I'm emailing an ex-Special Forces man.
I'm going to ask him what he thinks, considering he's been there on the front lines, and probably been in deeper shit than any of us will ever be in.

I hope you guys enjoyed reading this.
I was just writing down my thoughts, so I hope you have some stuff to think on.
I wasn't trying to change your opinion, just give you some food for thought (:

So yeah!

That's it for now.
Have a good evening!
-Nolan

I support our troops with all I am.
Here's to the men and women in uniform,
God keep you safe and deliver you home to us.