"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

All hail DA BUG!

Pint of cider with two shots of rum: got it. That actually sounds pretty good.

Unlike martinis however, one is probably quite enough.

"Hard" cider. 🙂 double that kick

Should I use 86 proof or 151 proof rum?

Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen aren't saying. 😉

Ha!…

Armand

This is old ground … no need to debate it. Many of us feel women don't have the strength nor testosterone to be in combat arms. However, since combat arms being opened to females back during the Obama Admin, IIRC. How come females made it thru Ranger school ?

"Bumbo" was a rum drink quite favored in those times. Check it out! Recipe online (many variants, however, so choose your poison).

Thought this was funny. Pretty sure people everywhere in western societies were pretty heavy drinkers. Water could have a tendency to be well ….. rather unhealthy. Also good way to use up abundance of crops instead of going to waste.

Or maybe women back then were really hard to live with. 😉

"Sure ANOTHER WAR George!! I'm sure it's off again!! Just another excuse to leave me with taking care of everything and you go off drinking with the boys!! Your drinking buddies going too?! I never liked that Arnold gentleman! Did you take the trash out?! What about the South 40?! That outhouse is still stinking!!
I suppose your mother is coming over! She never has liked me George! George, do you think I'm looking fat? Look at these dresses! They are all so old! I haven't been shopping in a month!!"

"George! George! Don't you grab your rifle and uniform while I'm talking to you!!"

"Don't you dare walk out that door!! GEORGE!!!"

"The amount of alcohol the colonists consumed was "staggering," Adrian Miller, author of "The President's Kitchen Cabinet," told NPR.

"They were very open about how much they were drinking," he said.

George Washington wrote a recipe for "small beer" in a journal he kept as a young colonel in charge of the Virginia militia during the Seven Years' War, Fox News Digital previously reported. The New York Public Library houses the journal.

"Small beer," according to the library, derives its name from the small amount of alcohol it contains. It was quick to make, safer to drink because the brewing process helped eliminate bacteria in the water — and it was an "everyday, mainstay beverage," the library reported.
….
Some of the Founding Fathers drank a lot of ale, often in the morning, Young noted."

The drink sounds interesting. In Israel women have served as fighter pilots since 1955 and all branches of the military since 2000.

As for the USA. Gerald Ford opened the military academies to women in 1975. By 1993 women were allowed to fly combat missions. US Senator Tammy Duckworth lost both legs during fighting in Iraq in 2004. It was during Obama's presidency that Leon Paneta lifted the combat exclusion policy in 2013.

In answer to Legion 4's question about how many women have made it through ranger school: In August 2015 two women graduated from ranger school alongside 94 men out of a class of 19 women and 381 men who started the class. Since then about 154 women have graduated. There are about 4000 students per year with an overall graduation rate about 50% Only about 10% of women graduate. The army does not release official quotas.