The Voices of Women Outside of DC that No One in DC Wants to Hear

Last month, I put out my $.02 on the latest chapter of the services trying to achieve a more perfect integration of women - that chapter being the USMC vs. LtCol Kate Germano, USMC.

Also at USNIBlog, Midrats alumni LtCol Jeannette G. Haynie, USMCR has added a powerful perspective to the discussion.

So to make this perfectly clear, women by and large do not appreciate, deserve, or desire different physical standards to be a Marine, nor do they benefit from them. Female Marines do not clamor for lower standards, don’t seek simply to achieve the minimum of said lower standards, and rarely speak approvingly of such standards. Those of us serving today did not create the existing standards, and do not benefit from their existence.
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Lower, different physical standards for women are restrictive, because they teach women and men alike that women simply aren’t capable of tougher physical achievements. Higher standards may be tough to reach at first but they are reachable, and by holding expectations low we are just teaching that that’s all we can expect from women.
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Why are separate standards for women there? Read First Class, by Sharon Disher, or Breaking Out, by Laura Brodie, to get an idea of how those standards were set and who really was asking for them (hint: it wasn’t the women trying to join the academies or VMI. It was the middle-aged men making the decisions and regulations.).

So to sum up: separate and unequal physical standards help no one and endanger everyone; most of us do not want or need separate standards; and the Marine Corps would be better with one standard for Marines based on the needs of the job. Stop blaming female Marines for being subject to lower physical standards, and start listening to them when they say they don’t want them. For crying out loud, we have been saying it long enough. That is all.

Read it all and know this; not all women in the service think like the victim pimps that advise our senior leadership. We have great and many female leaders - sadly - they are not the ones that are getting the exposure they should.

BZ to Kate and Jeannette for taking the guide-on.