This is a "third rail" topic.
No segment of society is perfect and achieving equity, respect, and fairness must be a continuous goal. The military in general, and the Army in particular, has led the way for US government and society in this regard, and should not be shy in reminding people when necessary of that fact.
Few things in life, however, are us unfair as "equal," in fact the very concept that equal be equated to fail is un-American. Certainly the battlefield is unfair, and treats those who are weak, or out of shape, or ill-prepared with a punishment that exceeds that delivered to those who are best equipped and prepared for that challenge.
IMO we should really have "soldier-standards," tailored by activity that are blind to color, gender, religion, or even sexual preference. I still remember thinking "WTF" as a cadet back in 1982 at airborne school when all male students were required to perform a certain number of pull ups to demonstrate our ability to be able to safely operate a T-10 parachute; while the female students merely had to do an inverted row with their feet on the ground (which is even different muscles, come to think of it). I thought "so what, we don't care if he females are not strong enough to operate their parachutes"?
There should be one hard standard. In physical tasks, this will naturally exclude many women. Personally I don't care if a woman goes to ranger school or even SF; I know some could make it. That does not make me less of a man; but it does weaken the service when accommodations are made solely to achieve some "equality" of representation, and that in turn weakens the nation. If women were allowed where they are currently barred, the Army would undoubted F it up, and lower the standards under pressure to balance the % of graduate.
At West Point, when women were first admitted, I was told by good authority, that when many were unable to perform "inspection arms" with their M-14 rifles, that springs were weakened on female rifles to allow them to stay in the program. For men, we demand that they get stronger or washout. For women we rendered their weapons inoperable so that they could stay weak and stay in.
In SOF we get heat because of the swim test. One truly must be able to swim to be in SOF, but it does preclude weak swimmers who are otherwise extremely capable, and many argue that that precludes many African Americans from being SOF. I had to get stronger, get in better shape, build my endurance, etc to go to selection being able to swim is just one more thing to add to that list. Can't do it? Learn. Weak? Train.
As I said this is third rail topic, but this is a hard business. The military needs to be fair, but that will never be equal, and as we look to improve the pursuit of "equal" would be in the wrong direction if it is equal representation. The pursuit of equal standards? That would be smarter, but is surely would not be fair in terms of representation. Our current approach is a compromise to both.
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