My thanks again to Eugene and the thoughtful commentators for an interesting discussion. In November of this year, General George Casey, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee. In his remarks, he described what was at stake in a war against a global extremist threat as “the power […]
Author Archive | Rosemary Mariner
The Americanization of the Armed Forces-How Many Women Does it Take to Make it Worthwhile?:
As with men, who wants to serve in ground combat and qualifies, depends on the individual. Right now, men volunteer for ground combat positions. One way to estimate how many women would be interested, is to survey serving female Soldiers and Marines, including officers. Of those, you could establish who is qualified. The only way […]
The Americanization of the Armed Forces-Recap of Prof. Browne’s Arguments:
In his book, Prof. Browne recommends 1) reinstating a “risk rule” excluding women from combat positions and from positions presenting a substantial risk of combat or capture, 2)reinstating the exclusion of women from combat aviation, 3)barring women from warships, and 4) considering closing additional support positions. He does not specify whether these exclusions should be […]
The Americanization of the Armed Forces-Response to Comments:
[Duplicate post deleted. If you commented on this post, please repost the comments on the post immediately above this one, since it makes sense for the comments to all be one thread. -EV]
The Americanization of the Armed Forces-Entry Standards, Strength, Fitness, and Cohesion:
The American military does not recruit, enlist, commission, promote, court martial, or entrust command to groups. Although the demonstrated ability to work well within a group is important to unit readiness, especially on the tactical level, selection and performance are ultimately individual functions. The emphasis on individual qualification starts with the recruiting process. The definition […]
The Americanization of the Armed Forces-Historical Perspective Women in Combat:
The common approach to the women in combat debate is to follow the “can” women fight versus “should” they fight format. On the first point, the reality is that women have proved they can fight throughout time. The claim that women have never fought a major ground war is counterfactual. Of all the possible historical […]
The Americanization of the Armed Forces-Overview:
My thanks to Eugene for the invitation to guest blog and to Prof. Browne for a copy of his book. Also, my thanks to all for considering a different perspective on gender integration in the military and the much larger issue of how to best provide for the common defense of the republic. My central […]