Military Gender Issues

For John, BLUF:  All men [and women] are created equal, but can they all perform to the same standard?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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"Pentagon mulling separate combat training for men, women".  This is a story from Mr Rowan Scarborough, in The Washington Times Thursday last.  My youngest brother, John, was the first to send me the article.  Here is the lede and following paragraph:

The military is looking at ways to modify its training for women to help them qualify for direct ground combat roles in the infantry, tanks and special operations.

Senior officers revealed the new effort this week at a hearing of the House Armed Services subcommittee on personnel.

This idea didn't come out of nowhere.  It appears our US Representative is following in the footsteps of her predecessor, the late Edith Nourse Rogers.

The idea was presented by Rep. Niki Tsongas.

“To put in place a training regimen that is ill-suited to maximizing the success of women is not really the outcome any of us want to see,” she said.

Army Lt. Gen. Howard Bromberg, deputy chief of staff for personnel, agreed.

“We are looking at that, and we’re not looking at it just for the integration of women,” Gen. Bromberg testified.  “We’re looking at it for the total soldier, because just as you have a 110-pound male who may lack some type of physiological capability or physical capability, he or she may both need to be trained differently.  We’re trying to expand our understanding of how we train.”

My question is, if we have separate training for high school graduates, to maximize the success of women, might we not consider re-writing the rules to allow separate education in subjects like math, for those who have not yet graduated from high school.  We would be looking to not only maximize the success of females, but to also maximize the success of males?

It is not that I doubt the ability of women to learn math.  I have a daughter who is ABD in math from a tough engineering school.  However, we do find there are problems in outcome.  Research suggests there are gender based differences in outcome.

But, back to the issue of military training, at some point the males and females will graduate from formal training schools and join up in units, where they will be doing mission training.  Per the article, the US Marine Corps Deputy Commandant for Manpower, Lt. Gen. Robert Milstead Jr., says

They need to be nurtured different.  They just need different steps as they go.  They end up in the same place, the United States Marines.

But, they "end up in the same place," performing, one presumes, to the same tasks, conditions and standards.♠

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  There is a dictionary of tasks and conditions updated quarterly by the US military, known as the Universal Joint Task List (UJTL).