For many months, the Center for Military Readiness has been analyzing the Marine Corps's plan to research the possibility of assigning women to infantry battalions. General James Amos, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, announced the multi-phased research project with a Memo to All Marines on April 23, 2012.   Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution has written an article about that project, still in progress, and its implications for the future of the Marine Corps:

• Wall Street Journal: A Challenge for Female Marines 

With admirable clarity, O'Hanlon describes the physical demands of the Marines' Infantry Officer Course (IOC) at Quantico, VA:  . . . Read More

"Diversity Metrics" Would Degrade Elite Training

Note:  More information on this topic is available in Part II of this article, and in the Essential Resources section of this Website.

Army Chief of Staff General Raymond Odierno surprised and dismayed infantry and Special Operations Forces veterans when he announced in May that he might send female officers to Ranger school.  Gen. Odierno did not claim that combat readiness in the Army would benefit from such a policy change.  Nor did the general try to claim that physical test requirements for women in Ranger training would remain the same as today's tough training for men.  . . . Read More

Empirical  Evidence Discredits Amazon Myths

Note:  More information on this topic is available in Part I of this article, and in the Essential Resources section of this Website.

Whenever the question of women in the infantry comes up, well-meaning observers often comment that such assignments should be allowed (actually, ordered) if women can meet the same  physical standards as men.  . . . Read More

On February 9 the Department of Defense announced incremental steps to implement a report advocating doctrinaire "diversity" in the military.  Central to this campaign, which briefers described as "just the beginning, not the end," are plans to order female soldiers into direct ground combat units such as Army and Marine infantry and Special Operations Forces.  These fighting battalions, which attack the enemy with deliberate offensive action, face conditions and physical demands that go far beyond the experience of being "in harm's way."  . . . Read More

Undersea Medicine Expert Warns of Health, Operational Problems

The push to assign women to submarines began in September, 2009, when Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead started promoting the idea as if women’s career opportunities were the only consideration. The Center for Military Readiness issued an immediate news release, drawing attention to irresolvable problems with the program—none of which had nothing to do with the abilities of female officers or sailors.

In addition to habitability concerns in confined submarine spaces, health risks unique to women  . . . Read More