Recently the US Army 2-month Ranger school granted tabs to two females. I believe their effort should be applauded. Â But this new trend of allowing women into the special operations community, not as support personnel, but as operators, is going to turn out as a flop. Why? Because women are not men.
The way I see it, these women, who are already being hailed as heroines, are not being treated as equals and the women’s lib-type feminists should be deeply offended. Paradoxically, instead of being welcomed into the community of those “quiet professionals,” every major news network has branded these women with shaved heads as Ranger-women, leading the way, to borrow phrasing from the Ranger motto.  I don’t know of another operator who has received that kind of treatment before retiring.
While I applaud the fact that these two females accomplished a grueling and difficult task, I do not believe these women are leading the way, despite the media narrative, and, whatever they do accomplish in their careers, it won’t lead the way to women’s rights in the United States, whatever that means. At any rate, it’s a step away from the kind of femininity that attracts men to women and as traditional marriage and households continue to come under attack, I don’t think this message does us any favors as a society.
But my key criticism is how differently these two are being treated than any other snake-eater.  PR is a big part of the modern military and it makes me wonder, in light of all the abnormal press they are receiving, if someone, somewhere wasn’t told to let these women graduate. I’m not suggesting that happened, but the Marines and all other branches of service have been under the gun in the past few terms to be more inclusive when it comes to women. Who’s to say the standards weren’t changed, even if just a little bit, to allow women to participate… or graduate?
Now before readers brand me as a misogynist, woman-hating, chauvinist who thinks women aren’t needed or aren’t equal to men, let me get a few things straight.
I work in law enforcement. I also was an MP in the Army years ago. When I deployed to Iraq, I was with a Route Clearance battalion clearing IEDs from roadways, but I’ve also worked as a contractor with various government agencies. In nearly every instance I’ve worked side-by-side with competent, professional women, just like I do today as a cop. In fact, I rely on women every day at work, and I have confidence in their skill to help me.  Frankly, I trust a number of women with guns more than many men. Their presence, equality and ability to do the job are not the issues I have.
Do I think women should be in law enforcement? Absolutely. Undoubtedly.  Do I think women should serve in the military? Without question, yes. Do I think women should be shooters on SWAT teams or even in secretive government agencies? Heck, yeah. But I don’t think women should be on ODAs, SMUs, serve as frogs or be in the 75th.
It’s not that we’d have to change frogman to the gender-neutral frogperson, though I don’t think the SEALs would appreciate that much. It’s not that we’d have to change marksmen to marksperson. While such a change in semantics to be politically correct annoys me, that’s not what bothers me.
What bothers me is the hype and chatter and push for women’s rights that specifically presses women to become more like men—in combat and, not just combat, but conducting direct action combat missions and engaged in the most physically demanding fighting imaginable, requiring insane amounts of strength. It’s not about equality for me, it’s about biology and sexual dimorphism. In that respect, I find this movement to be actually anti-woman and anti-feminism because it devalues or ignores the beauty of feminine strength and sanctity of womanhood.
Look, women need to be allowed to serve and have a voice in our military. Currently, women can and do serve as officers and NCOs in most every part of the military. One of the coolest women I know and have a deep respect for wrote a chapter of my book in Warrior SOS: Military Veterans’ Stories of Faith, Emotional Survival and Living with PTSD. She, just like so many other military personnel and veterans, is incredible and skilled at her jobs.
I confess, maybe it’s the protective instinct in me, a chivalrous-type of love and care that wants to help and protect others because that’s how I was raised and how I raise my children. Nowadays, many women don’t need or want that. I get that. But is our society so distorted that we encourage women to behave like men who live in the darkest throes of modern combat?
If so, and it certainly appears that way by the headlines, then I think we’re in a sad stage of our society. Sure, they can fly with the 160th and work as support personnel with SF battalions and hush-hush AWG networks, but I have a hard time subjecting anybody, especially women, to more than what they’ve already been subjected to—the brutality and awfulness of hell on earth.
Like I said, these two women aren’t being treated as equals in this community. If they were equal, the 94 men that graduated from Ranger school with these two girls would also be equally praised. Articles would be written about them too. But that’s not going to happen, nor should it really. Rather, we see how this “equality” backfires like a squib round getting hit by a new round in a weak barrel. At least that’s the way I see it.
The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the position of Guns.com.
