MALE PERSPECTIVE: BENJAMIN FAUSEY
I want to note that this is my opinion and I am not seeking to offend anyone’s beliefs. If you think differently, feel free to ask me about anything in this article.
Personally, I am not opposed to women being in ground-combat military occupation specialty (MOS). However, I do feel that how women are being integrated into this field has been conducted in the wrong way. From my understanding, Congress is requiring the different services to have women in this field by a certain date. While this method may be good at satisfying party lines and pleasing interest groups, Congress is micromanaging the military. I think that it would be best to let the military determine how women are integrated in combat, but in the meantime, not to force them to make rash decisions that might impact our ability to fight and win wars. The top priority for the military is to win our nation’s wars, while satisfying the needs of interest groups is much lower.
The most the military should do, which they have started to do, is let women try to complete different schools that are ground-combat oriented. There should be no adjustment of standards to complete these schools, because lowering the standards will tarnish the effectiveness of those schools. If a school had a requirement of being able to do 30 pull-ups for men and you change it so that women only have to do 5 pull-ups (these are made up numbers, but the same principle applies to any decrease in the requirement), you are now allowing someone who is not as physically strong to be out in the field with people who can outperform them by a lot. In turn, this will then limit the capabilities of that group because of this weak link.
From a more practical perspective, if women had an easier test at these schools, they would face much more disrespect from the combat specialties because they didn’t have to go through the harder version like their male counterparts. I will point out an instance with three female Marines a while back. These Marines went to infantry school and passed; however due to previous circumstances, they were not put into the infantry military occupational specialty (MOS). I do believe that these women should have been able to be in the Infantry MOS because they were able to pass the test and prove they had what it required.
Again, I want to stress the importance of the military’s focus on winning wars. This is the most important priority, and the generals and admirals should be determining how to do this and not senators and representatives. If those generals and admirals determine that women in ground combat would impede that ability, then Congress should not require them to integrate women into ground combat. While the feminist agenda is important at times, it should not supersede the military’s mission of winning wars and protecting the nation.
Benjamin Fausey is a junior psychology major who is also in the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps to become a United States Marine Corps Officer. He enjoys being a leader in discipleship ministries over in Nease Hall and can most commonly be seen running along Sunset Cliffs, in the weight room or stealing candy from the front desk at Culbertson Hall.
Grace Gaines