Page 5 - Combat Effectiveness News Today

Its about physical differences. i have respect for women like jesse who served 20 years in the corps, served this nation. they add an immense value to what our nation does. at the end of the day as a platoon leader in iraq i want a guy or a person who is capable of crawling over the wall, dragging that heavy guy off the battle field. i dont care about equality. i want standards. i want excellence. i want combat effectiveness. trying to pursue equality to make everyone feel good, big surprise, it...

Its about physical differences. i have respect for women like jesse who served 20 years in the corps, served this nation. they add an immense value to what our nation does. at the end of the day as a platoon leader in iraq i want a guy or a person who is capable of crawling over the wall, dragging that heavy guy off the battle field. i dont care about equality. i want standards. i want excellence. i want combat effectiveness. trying to pursue equality to make everyone feel good, big surprise, it...

The days of rambo are over. >> reporter: in january, then defense secretary leon panetta signed an order saying women must have the same opportunities as men in the military. opening 200,000 jobs previously not open to women. >> we dont set female marines up for failure. >> i was encouraged by physical performance of some of the girls. >> reporter: they have until 2016 to make changes or request exemption from the defense secretary for special operators like navy s.e.a.l.s and army rangers. >> i...

>> why are they doing it? not to improve combat effectiveness. its only to advance diversity metrics. thats the presidents agenda. >> im not comfortable with the neutral standards. we have standards and they equate to a -- our mission is different so our standards are different. >> the chairman of the joint chiefs says he sees this as a potential way of combating the rising issue of sexual assault in the military. >> when you have one part of the population that is designated as warriors and ano...

Has everything to do with combat effectiveness. thats the core of the argument. a lot of people can inflate the two combat verses combat distinctions. its an important distinction. >> colonel let me ask you this, for a lay person like me without military experience i can understand somebody like you somebody so brave and fit and desirous of going into a military career could handle this, go into this situation and defend our country and do it willingly and professionally. but then when i picture...

President george w. bush made 141 recess appointments under the same circumstances that the court said were unconstitutional in this case, the court recognizing that republican and democrat presidents have used this said it wasnt persuaded by that, but rather by the text of the constitution itself. now that the pentagon has lifted the ban on women in combat, oppons argue we could have problems with cohesion and combat readiness. it was a hot topic on the sunday morning shows. steve centanni has ...

Thousands of frontline military roles could open up as soon as this year but some say this compromises military readiness. steve is live in washington, dc, with more on that. steve, what is the basic argument overwhelm in the military? >> and say women are not strong justify for combat roles and others say women have proven themselves time and time again on the frontlines. in any case, it is official, women will be able to serve alongside men on the front lines opening up doors to further advanc...

Consequences that needs to be thought about more deeply. i would assume that this is more about the obama agenda of absolute equality. i keep hearing tjustification f improve womens chances of career advancement. ive not heard anybody make the argument that this is a way to maximize our combat effectiveness. >> sean: you talk about this on a column and national view online today and you go into some detail. you talk about its people in close quarters. you talk about the differences between men a...

Consequences that needs to be thought about more deeply. i would assume that this is more about the obama agenda of absolute equality. i keep hearing the justification for this is to improve womens chances of career advancement. ive not heard anybody make the argument that this is a way to maximize our combat effectiveness. >> sean: you talk about this on a column and national view online today and you go into some detail. you talk about its people in close quarters. you talk about the differenc...

This year. the service chief have until may 15 to present their concerns to the defense secretary and ask for certain units to be exempt. but they will have to make a strong case. todays decision does not imply women are going to be included in the selective service or draft. shep. >> shepard: what about reaction from lawmakers? >> reaction did not necessarily fall along party lines, which was interesting. congressman duncan hunter served in iraq and expressed concern, quote, what needs to be ex...