Women in the special forces?

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Subject: Women in the special forces?
SgtQuiosegagne 8/10/2005 12:38:11 AM

Currently few armies allow women in special forces units. Some do allow them for intel for example, but what about jobs like assaults, sabotage, etc...? What's your opinion about it?

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bob the brit 3/18/2008 7:09:24 PM

Don't feel old! My parents are in their 50's, my dads almost 60.

My best friend, her dad is an ex-marine so we harass him to tell us stuff that could help us in the military. He shows us some of the weirdest push-ups and other stuff. I've talked to him about the whole SpecOps thing and he told me about an Air Force medical group, whose name escapes me, that has some crazy training. I really want to do something medical since Im not gonna be a sniper and I really like what he was saying about the group. It really bugs me I can't remember what they are called! Point being; for now I'm really locked on that.

well you just made me feel older still

, nah only joking [though i do feel rather younger using these little smiley face thingys, anything to make you feel younger i suppose].

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neutralizer 3/23/2008 11:43:21 PM

It seems to me that there's a very old fashioned view about what SF are exhibited in many of these posts. It seems to centre around extreme physical capabilities. Very traditional and total nonsense, the reality is there's an increasing array of SF roles and women are quite capable of some of them. SRR has been quoted, it and its predecessors have been operating for 35 years, on active operations for most (all?) of that time, and with women (there's a good official photo of the SRR formation parade in 2006, all below the chest (ie no faces, skirts of three different colours on parade, plus the RSM's tartan one).

However, there's a real silver lining here, it demonstrates that rather a lot of blokes are congenitally incapable of envisioning wormen is SF (widely defined) roles, such blinkered vision is an opportunity waiting to be exploited!

Finally a word on Soviet women snipers in the GPW (AKA WW2). The Soviet sniping experts considered them better than men for two reasons. First, they could lie still without fidgiting for longer, second women have better control of their breathing which makes them generally better shots. I realise this heretical news is unlikely to be well received in some quarters ;-)

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hitwoman09 3/30/2008 10:57:18 PM

FINALLY! Sorry, but I've tried to point that out to guys and they just don't care. But it's still great to hear! =D

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G-Money As I Know There Are 2 12/21/2008 11:56:05 AM

As far as I know there are two armies that have women in the special forces: England has the SRR (Special Reconnaissance Regiment) and South Korea has the 707th Special Mission Battalion. Search those up. You won't get much on the SRR because it was formed in 2004 and a lot of their stuff is classified.

There you go.

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theBird One advantage Women in the Military have over men! 12/23/2008 10:25:23 PM

On an unrelated note, in the grooming standards for the US Army, they only have a prohibition against Beards listed under MALE grooming standards, indicating that a FEMALE Soldier could be allowed to grow a beard! It is too bad that most female Soldiers do not take advantage this preferential treatment, what a wasted oppertunity!

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Objectiveman Best man for the job? 12/24/2008 12:59:53 PM

Just tune out the politically correct gene and see who would be the best suited to protect your family, friends and country. In purely physical terms no average women can come close to an average man and even if some exceptional ones do then there are way too many complications and I am not even talking about the mental toughness part yet. Combat has been and will always be a man's domain and armies who ignore this reality will pay for it dearly at the cost of weakening their armies. Women can be used in other roles which don't require direct physical confrontation like they did during WW-II where without their contributions in manufacturing (making planes and bombs etc.), spotting targets using aerial pics etc. it would have been near impossible to win the war. People back then understood how to use the resources and allocating them where they were best suited. They were smart people who rescued the world from Nazis- lets not weaken our war with the new Nazis and lets for their and future generations sake and most importantly for our present generation's sake- go give them hell without loosing focus.

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ChrisWI 12/29/2008 8:08:46 AM

Hitwoman, have you ever considered the USAF Security Forces?

They perform both law enforcement and force protection/base defense as well protecting USAF nuclear weapons and they can choose to undergo alot of specialized training (including sniper training) especially in their base emergency services teams (think SWAT) and the Phoenix Raven Program (which secures high risk USAF bases and assets). Although I don't think the Phoenix Raven Program is open to females.

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cwDeici 12/30/2008 2:32:43 AM

I would imagine, that a woman attempting to teach men about combat in some of these nations would be counter productive to say the least..

their tough luck... but it might serve to show them things in a new light when they get their backsides kicked by a girl.... :-)

I don't know if you're not thinking and just speaking out of a feminist point of view. Probably both... thing is, it's possible of course, but female instructors would have to be better than their male instructurs to achieve the same rate of superiority over their charges. Which will happen, but not often, and these are likely to be rare exceptions - not only due to physique but also a lack of interest in combat among females.

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cwDeici 12/30/2008 2:33:37 AM

Also, it is an established fact that the strongest men will be stronger than the strongest women. Training can make you stronger than the average man, but your limit is still lower.

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cwDeici 12/30/2008 2:36:32 AM

Of course this doesn't mean that women on average can't make equal operators or in some cases superior operators, but in the exception of such fields as mentioned earlier in this thread, they will continue to be a rarity if the same standards are applied... at least until culture and/or nature changes (genetic engineering?).

That said, I support women and their dreams and ambitions and abilities and wish them all success in their jobs.

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