"Women in Combat Arms" Topic

"The women in combat arms debate is one of those topics where people immediately reach for their knives.

Question anything and you are accused of wanting women out of the military. Support integration and you are accused of ignoring reality. Somewhere in the middle are the veterans who saw things with their own eyes, still have questions, and often stay quiet because the conversation has become too toxic to have honestly.

A retired Marine artillery officer recently shared two stories with me that I have not stopped thinking about.

His point was not that women cannot serve in combat roles. In fact, his observations were far more complicated and, frankly, more nuanced than that.

He described watching the 2014 combat arms integration debate unfold inside his regiment. Interestingly, he said the most forceful objections came not from the junior Marines who would actually live with integration, but from senior leaders and peers. The Lance Corporals and Corporals, after asking intelligent questions, were often the least dramatic about it…"

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Armand

….

"The night before Allen and the boys seized the fort, they all met at Remington's Tavern in Castleton, Vermont. There, they sat down with Benedict Arnold who was sent by the Continental Congress to capture the fort and its guns. The Green Mountain Boys were there because they were going to take the fort anyway, sanctioned or not—so Arnold and his regulars might as well join in.

The liquid courage being poured at the tavern was what was a Revolutionary War cocktail common for the area during that time period: hard cider. Colonists planted apples in the new world primarily for the purpose of drinking them. The crop thrived here and kept people healthy, as it was often safer than the drinking water.

In fact, cider was pretty much used as currency. But back then, drinking men needed more of a kick, so they added shots of rum to their cider, two shots of it to every pint of cider. They called the drink a "Stone Fence" because after more than one, it created a feeling of running down a hill into one."

Subject: Celebrate America's 250th with a real Revolutionary War cocktail


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Well, that's a coherent series of posts. 😄

DA BUG is our friend…

Armand