Well... personally I'm not sure if this is good idea and that no-"man"-word-in-titles policy is silly. Does it really matter?
What will be interesting to see is if men and women will really be treated equally and held to same standards? That M16 weighs exactly as much whether it is used by man or woman so every Marine should be held to same standards set by requirements of the job rather than what is required to accomodate both sexes.
My brother served as sergeant (kersantti) in Finnish Army and he told few stories about people unfit to their job - both men and women. Worst case was with one lady in on foot transfer. She wasn't in good enough shape so other soldiers ended up carrying her equipment but she still coudn't maintain required speed. Platoon arrived 45 minutes after others and naturally lieutenant wasn't pleased: there was quite tense "discussion" on importance of staying in schedule (I'm not sure but between lines I understood that lieutenant had had similar "discussion" with his superiors while waiting that "missing" platoon).
Ofcourse this kind of issues are not restricted to women, but point is that in normal circumstances (no wounds/injuries) others should not end up doing weak link's job in addition to their own.
__________________
You talk to God, you're religious. God talks to you, you're psychotic. - Dr. House
|