Why cant girls be in infantry?

jeligula

Like it or not, women are physically weaker. And men will always feel the need to protect them, and this will distract them from the mission. They may also fight amongst themselves over the women in the unit. There are plenty more ways to torture a woman POW as well, don't forget that. There are soooo many reasons and I hope that women never get the chance, because it is just wrong.

GunnyC

Because the Congress has set those limitations; I happen to agree with them for various reasons ranging from regardless of the political correctness doctorine females would serve as a distraction and males would endanger themselves and possibly a mission to help a wounded female that they would not do if it was a male. The England case shuld serve as an example of that as a huge effort and manpower was put into locating her but what about the males taken at the same
.time? No where close to the effort or man power. A second reason would be that the average female does not have the body strength or stamina to compete in the field; Army recruit training was lightend on the physical side for exactly that reason when they went co-ed, the females could not complete the physical requirements that had been established for males. To say only women that volunteer for infantry should go there as a solution to the problems would be "discriminating" against the males who go in without a garuntee and are assigned to the infantry but may not want to go their either. The fact is that American society is not prepared to see women killed in combat, it is bad when it happens when they aren't infantry and would be much more common if they were. Look at the press coverage when a female is killed or wounded yet you will not see the same level of coverage for a male, wikki the Vietnam casualities and you will see there were 58,000 males and then the 26 (I think it was 26) females all listed by name with a biography of them.
Soothsayer-The myth of Israel assigning men and women equally to the front lines is just that-a myth. Very few Isreali woman are in the front line infantry units, most of those assigned to the infantry are for defensive units to protect an area and are not the attack troops

this guy

You have walked for hours in 130 degree heat. You are wearing over 100 lbs in equipment and ammunition. One of your buddies who is a fit 190lb man wearing 40lbs in armor and equipment is shot and need medical evacuation. The nearest Landing Zone is 1000km away. It may not be fair that women can't be in the Infantry but is it fair to that young man to have someone with him that can't carry him to save his life? Only our most physically fit soldiers have business being Infantry. There are plenty of other MOSs that are essential to our missions.

Edit*
All combat medics in Infantry Battalions are men. We had a female medic train beside them once in a training event. She had to have someone carry her medical bag halfway through the movement then later had to be evacuated for heat exhaustion. Luckily it was only a training event.

laughter_every_day

The answers thus far reflect the reasons. They are based on the belief that MOST women are not physically up to the challenge, and that therefore NO women may serve. Still, an army medic can be a woman and can accompany the infantry on its missions and endure all that the men do. Those duties may include using a rifle and handgun as defensive weapons. I have known hundreds of military men and women and if the criteria was physical ability, my company would most assuredly not be exclusively men. I have known strong athletic women and I have known weak cowardly men. It seems unfair to the infantry to assign the weak and cowardly men when the strong women are available to do the job. If I were still chewing mud I would much rather have the fit woman than the unfit man.

Jade Rat

Because us men have something built into us, that makes us feel we must do everything in our power to protect girls from harm.

Such as being taken prisoner, the enemy could possibly control the men- by threatening the women.

Another reason is the physical differences- infantry is a very demanding job, men and women are built differently. Men tend to have higher muscle densities, while women are smaller, but are more clear headed (this is generally speaking of course..i know some pretty big girls! that would knock my block off)

I'll be honest, if I'm (when i do join) ever get taken prisoner (witch i wont, id rather die then disgrace my country) along with a girl I've known for years (witch would be the case, being we would be from the same unit)

And they threaten to rape her, unless i start talking- it would be one hell of a choice for me to make- and to be honest, i would learn toward protecting her, i would try and slant the truth a bit (kinda like a politician lol) but they would have me by my *Items* and they would know it.

As for a guy, being a guy myself- i wouldn't talk or feel threatened to, because i know as bad as torcher is, a guy can endure it and won't have to worry about his buddies talking to save him.

Fireball

Why can't I be playmate of the month? Oh yeah. Some jobs are only for girls, too.

Bob D

Right now the laws say you cant be. Welcome to politics.

NSA

For the most part, females are incapable of the duties involved with the infantry.

The military is no place for political correctness.

Edit: If you want to be in combat so bad. Then go Air Force Security Forces. You will train to the same standards as the men. You will then find out that it isn't that easy. You will have the chance to serve in a combat zone. You will then find out that bad things happen very fast.

I â™¥ my Irishman!

I know there are those females that just can't hack it...but I say if the female survives the training and excels, i dont see why she shouldn't be able to do so. my personal opinion.

-it's not that hard to piss in 4-5 seconds.
-if i was on a mission, yea i could go a few months without a shower.

and as far as women being weaker...i've known women in the military and out that can beat down any guy....and have. a lot of it tends to be a pride thing with males. like when i played tackle football, all i got was **** because it's "the male's sport"...all i had to do was earn their respect but showing I was just as good.

I'm sure there's a woman that could do it, if given the chance. Remember, there were the days that no one thought women were strong enough to be in the military period. We proved them wrong

Smarty

I think it's primarily because if they were captured with other men from their unit, the woman would be used to get the men to talk. (tortured in front of them etc)

eldertrouble

To answer the question.
Congress enacted laws that females could serve in any unit except those that will see front line combat.

Since that time and because of the types of wars/battles we a currently involved in it is almost impossible to separate the "front lines" from the "rear Areas". In the current war, several women have been involve in combat. several have been killed and wounded.

It is my belief that there isn't anything a man can do that some women can do as well. Ive been in the military over 20 years and have seen proof with my own two eyes more than once.
You might not be assigned to an active combat company, but all jobs are important...
Good Luck!

Aussie digger

Here in the Australian Infantry it would be almost impossible for females to complete our infantry training so far i have never met a woman that could carry a 30+ kg pack 7kg webbing and weapon for upto and sometimes over 60 km at a minimum pace of 7km/h.
Also in the Vietnam war the Viet cong used to use female soldiers in combat roles which wasn't really a good idea as the men used to try to show off in front of them sometimes even firing shots into the air also the higher pitched voice of the females would tend to carry further in the jungle.

sureshot649

Because being in the infantry is nasty. You ****, piss, and puke on yourself regularly in combat. You have to be able to go for days without sleep while still carrying over 100lb of gear, and if necessary, you have to be able to kill without mercy, compassion, or hesitation. Think of it this way, are you willing right now to crap your own pants, pick up your dad and carry him through your house, then walk up to your mom and shove her eyes in with your own fingers? If not, you don't belong in the infantry.

Perro De Lava

Just STOP!! there is no need for woman to be in the front lines and its that simple..no need for debate..

DOOM

Because females (there are no girls in the military) cannot go six months without taking a shower, which infantrymen sometimes have to do.

soothsayer

the real reason is politics. this country is supposedly not ready for a woman to die on the front lines.

all the other answers, esp dan, is bunk. hips too wide, lol, what a moron. men may be stronger, but women have more stamina. and both men and women are capable of performing the same average tasks the army tells it's infantry to do.

in the USA, it's more of a luxury of not having to put women on the front line, not necessity if they don't want to, and because of it, this country has developed strong stereotypes about women in the military.

however, if you take a look at other armies in the world, like israel, they have women on the front lines because they don't have enough "man"power to fully man the army, esp for a country/state always under attack.

neg me all you want, but you know it's the truth. besides, go believe what you want. only dumb poor people become grunts. smart people dodge it, or join the navy and air force where real battles are fought using brains and technology, as well as training you with job skills applicable to the civilian sector.... I hear banks are hiring people who know how to use computers, they aren't hiring people who know how to dig trenches. lol.

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