Some females can outperform other males, that is a fact. The problem is that when a female does outperform their male counterpart, they do so for short duration or some specific event. The Marines probably needs performance for long duration and under all conditions. When our Nation commits to war there can't be any glitches, performance will be needed for long durations and under all conditions. There are a lot of support jobs that female can perform for the military, and surely they have done those jobs with proficiency. All females should be trained for all sorts of combat, but those jobs shouldn't be their full time job, their male counterpart should do them. Here is the thing, if females where meant to beat male in combat, then a lot history would have already been written shown them to be leaders like George Washington, Napoleon, Cesar, etc.... The government shouldn't waste money on trying to redo what is obviously known.

if a wm(woman marine) passes the infantry officer school training then most if not all marines would follow her lead in combat. if I was in combat and was shoulder to shoulder with a woman marine I believe I could trust her to do her part marines do not discriminate in the ranks we are all one color green.semper fi

I never met a woman in the military. That in my age group out perform me physically. I have trained with hundreds. Sure there are few out there. They will have to lower physical standards. If they want thousands.

TSHANNY-(Show me females in the Basic Infantry Course..women are put at the front of the formation so they can set the pace.)

Wow, you must think women really are a total burden in every way, even marching huh?Back several decades ago, when I joined the Marines, the DOD had decided to try an experiment to see if females could actually handle combat training, same as the males.So they chose two platoons.I just happened to have been in one of those selected upon my arrival when assigned to Parris Island, S.C. Our length of time was changed from the other females, to adjust to the males, and the same standards were required of us.We even did the fully clothed mock metal gun in the swimming pool, swim three lengths in your boots too, routine. Followed up at the end with jumping off the higher of two diving boards and how long can you remain floating fully clothed as in hours before giving into exhaustion. One is ranked as S3- to S1 for top honors.The instructors set aside a whole afternoon for this part. You can use whatever you are wearing to help make a life jacket. Pants come in handy believe it or Knot!(tie legs together at bottom, swing overhead to trap air, insert head between legs while keeping waist closed, just keep wet). Really fun actually. One male along with myself, were finally the last remaining after five hours,with no end in sight, when the instructors finally called us out of the water. Too bad, I wanted to see how long I could go.

While we did lose some ( six out of sixty) from our platoon, and the other platoon lost eight, we were surprised at discovering what our capabilities were.The question of introducing females to combat roles was talked among the recruits, since this seemed where the DOD was heading towards. Given the success we were having in training, it seemed a varied bag of emotions among the women. We were not allowed contact among the males, including in formations, but kept separate on the base. The only time we were integrated was during swimming testing and mock tactical operations, based on capturing a specific target, evading capture while taking prisoners. We did very well!

Oh by the way, Marines are taught to march in exact measured steps, depending on the orders given. Most often 30" used, instead of 15 or 12, when headed to places. Not every man for him or herself using different lengths and how fast can they move. Why that would cause chaos and Marines can't abide such a thing!!!So it doesn't matter how tall or short one is, they would have had plenty of time to practice doing that, and it becomes second nature. I know the Army does it differently, because I was stationed on one of their bases for training purposes for my MOS and had to both watch and endure the way they put folks in formation, like tall guys up front, short folks in back, lol!

In fact, we finally convinced those in charge to let the Marines march in front instead of mixed all through the ranks, resulting in formations becoming clumped up(Army folks backed up), or scattered over a block long, with shorter Army members running to keep up, in back. And showed them how to place their taller members in back. After that, things went marvelous and the leaders were delighted! We even had Army people looking forward to re-enlisting into the Marines when their time was up.I guess all those long hours of drilling some physical response into ones head does lead to automatic responses,(including combat responses I learned later in life) for marching. I still catch myself taking those same steps when in a hurry and must remind myself, its okay to use smaller steps

Some men too.

In the Marine Corps, every Marine is a rifleman...from the cooks and pencil pushers to the Generals. The Private is trained and expected to be efficient in executing combat leadership normally assigned to squad and platoon leaders. If someone doesn't want to fight, they should seriously consider "enrolling" in some other branch of service.

If you say women should be combat troops. Then you put them where you need them. The military tells where you go. If women are equal to men. Then they have no choice but go.

Larry ..... read the article again ..... slooooowly. It reads "Parris Island", not Pendelton.

Would upvote more if I could

With a bit of practice, hitting a target at 50 meters with a .357 revolver is not difficult, and it is easy with a higher gauge and a longer barrel, and this is without a scope or LASER sight . . .

Once you master the horizontal centering, all you need to do is discover how much higher to aim vertically, really . . .

Really! :-o

As a bit of follow-up, these are examples of hitting a metal target with a pistol and revolver at a distance of just over 1/10th of a mile (0.13 miles), which is the distance of 2.3 football fields or the distance a car travels in 7.8 seconds at 60 miles per hour, really . . .

Glock 23 at 230 yards (210 meters) -- YouTube video

Model 29 Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum at 230 yards.

Really! :-o

Sounds like you were in back during Nam. Remember those days too brother. Heavy rifle - open sight.