Suicide Car bomb: Our men were burning alive -- only brute strength and courage could get them out. Every second counted.
Secretary of Defense and former Infantryman James Mattis is under attack for experience-based common sense.
This is far beyond normal idiocy. This is the Twilight Zone of stupid.
I served in the Army during peacetime, and then later spent more combat time with infantry troops than just about any war correspondent you ever have heard of. That top 1% of 1%, I was there. Just like Joe Galloway and very few others.
Been in more firefights bombings and just general mayhem than even I can remember. Looking back on my own photos and videos, made by my own hands, I have been in so many fights that even I do not remember until seeing my own work.
Yes. That much. It is a miracle to be alive.
There often were women in combat on the ground with infantry Soldiers. Not just in trucks or in the skies, but really on the ground. They were medics, intelligence, civil affairs, female engagement teams and sorts. They got into a lot of firefights. So many. And so many bombings.
How many photos from Iraq and Afghanistan have you seen of women in ground combat firing their weapons or carrying dead or wounded Soldiers IN COMBAT. (Not off the helicopter back on base, but in combat when bullets were flying.) I never saw women really fighting other than excellent pilots who are just as good as the men.
Courage is no problem. You've got to be extraordinarily courageous to keep seeing people blown to pieces or shot in the face to keep going into combat.
You know what men often scream for when they are dying after being burned or getting their legs blown off? They cry for their mothers. Not always, but enough.
Our women in Iraq and Afghanistan saw loads of combat up close. But they are not fit for infantry work. Not even close. They are no more fit for infantry work than for playing as linemen in the NFL.
This is amazingly stupid. And not due to fraternization. That is trivial when bullets or are flying, people are dying, and brute strength is paramount.
Another thing that even the most physically courageous and fit women typically lack is sheer homicidal will to impose death upon enemies even if they must stab them in the throat or strangle them to death.
Infantry is brutal. Evil. The worst job in the world. Effective infantry troops are killers. Total killers. They need killer instinct that is nurtured. They need to wake up in the morning and pray for a mission to go kill enemies.
Tragedy will follow. Women can match men in courage. They will die bravely.
Secretary Mattis under zombie attack:
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/09/26/mattis-defends-remarks-on-women-in-infantry/