On Thursday, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced the Obama administration is opening all combat roles to women, but a readiness expert says this is a disaster in the making as women will be forced into combat and all forces will be weaker as training standards are lowered so women can meet the administration’s quotas.
Secretary Carter’s announcement that women can serve in any unit also defies a strong protest from the United State Marine Corps, which argued that combat roles subject women to far higher odds of injury.
“There will be no exceptions,” Carter said. “This means that, as long as they qualify and meet the standards, women will now be able to contribute to our mission in ways they could not before.”
But while the move is being hailed as a milestone for equal rights for women, a leading female critic of the policy says a disaster is in the offing because of President Obama’s social agenda.
“The administration said it doesn’t matter what the Marines have said. It doesn’t matter what the research says. This is President Obama’s order. That’s why it’s being done, because this president knows he can order the military to do whatever he wants,” said Center for Military Readiness President Elaine Donnelly, who authored a scathing review of the policy change.
Donnelly says this is all part of a social engineering effort designed to meet gender quotas.
“The paramount goal of the administration is something called Gender Diversity Metrics, that’s another name for quotas. The Navy has officially said they want 25 percent women, across the board on every Navy ship,” said Donnelly.
She says a key element to remember is that this policy does not simply permit women in the military to serve in combat roles if they wish, but that women will serve in those positions regardless of their wishes.
“It’s not allow, it’s order. The secretary of defense made clear what we’ve been saying all along. If you want to join the military, you have to serve under the same rules men do. This is not a voluntary thing,” she said.
And there’s more.
“Selective Service very likely now will include women by court order because men and women are now similarly situated. That means they’re going to be subject to the same orders involuntarily. If they join the military and they’re used in direct ground combat, this takes away the rationale for exempting civilian women from Selective Service registration,” said Donnelly.
As Secretary Carter mentioned, women serving in combat will have to meet certain training standards, but Donnelly says former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey already said standards would be reviewed if women cannot meet them.
Donnelly says we’re already seeing the shifting standards, and that means lower levels of readiness.
“Standards will not be the high standards for men. It will be minimum standards. At boot camp, the maximum for a man is to 20 pull-ups. The minimum is three. Henceforth, three will be the standard because that’s the minimum standard,” explained Donnelly.
“They tried this experiment two years ago at Marine boot camp. Fifty-five percent of those women could not do the three pull-ups. Now what are they going to do?” she asked.
Donnelly says the Marine Corps also raised major concerns over women being injured in training or combat.
“Women are known to have risks of injury at least double those of men, higher in the combat arms,” said Donnelly.
In the few years since the Obama administration and Congress repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Donnelly says virtually every concern of opponents, from an erosion of religious liberty to skyrocketing male-on-male sexual assaults have come true. She says the impact of this will be even greater.
“The onset of LGBT law for the military has had negative effects, but it’s effected a relatively small number of people compared to men and women in the military. That effects everybody,” said Donnelly.
She says more social engineering in the military is on the way from the administration, including demands on doctors to participate in therapies or even surgeries to accommodate transgender personnel. Donnelly says that could lead to an exodus of doctors. She also expects more restrictions on chaplains over LGBT issues.
Donnelly says 2016 must bring the election of a president who will reverse course on military policy.
“There needs to be a president who understands and respects the military enough to take these issues seriously. It’s not an equal opportunity employer. Combat is not like any other job. Physical strength matters. Endurance matters,” said Donnelly.
