BTW In my neck of the woods, they had to lower the standards because none of the boys who were applying were capable, either. Out in the boonies, we get desperate for rescue skills long ahead of the cities, and we’ll take what our puny budgets will give us, even when they’re built like Little Orphan Annie or Jabba the Hut. We even have a couple of partially-disabled volunteer firemen who come when called.

It all boils down to how the community is best served, doesn’t it? If the women in Fairfax are given special treatment, and otherwise can’t stand up on the job, give them the boot — or at least send them to desk duty, and tell them “kwitcherb*tchin”. If they do the exact same job as the men, and the men still treat them poorly, the men need to grow up. Of course, there’s probably a little of both, here, don’t you think?

I am certain that you will find that the physical requirements are the same for men and women, but that they are about 50% of what the requirements were only a few short years ago.

k

Your points in #51 are mostly correct in spirit, BUT…

I must correct you a little bit however. It is not just whether or not women can meet the minimum physical standards. The problem is the group cohesiveness dynamic in addition to them being maxed out if they are able to meet the minimum standard. Women still carry too much of a victim mentality to be effective warriors.

In other words, they are still not qualified and there is STILL the social incompatability with true warriors and warrior spirit.

I think that, even when you’re not supposed to be seeing combat, once you’re in today’s military, you can’t expect to avoid it, regardless of your job — look at Army Spec. Shoshana Johnson… a cook, no less, seeing action up close and personal! The battle front came to her. The only way for lesser mortals like us women (she said batting her eyes coquettishly) to avoid seeing combat is to make every actual non-field (desk jockey) position a civilian contractor’s job, and go back to strict physical requirements for the actual military grunt positions (of course, a majority of those fresh-faced schoolboys will fail the physical, also).

But when you’re talking about firefighters, the theory is, nobody is shooting at you, so the team shouldn’t be quite so fussy about what the teammates’ undies are shaped like. It’s the trust in each others’ capabilities that should count. And those butch guys should get over themselves and accept that some women can be genuinely good at the job. Otherwise, when they reject and ridicule willing, skilled help, it becomes the community’s loss.

Thanks for the welcome.

I don’t know about being cat safe, do you mean toxic or do you mean cat proof? My wife had me plant a begonia and it has taken off. Lots of cats in our neighborhood but the plant is undisturbed (a couple of toms are eating the leaves of my purple fountain grass and using my mulch for litter)

Petunias are easy, forgiving and with a variety of colors; fool proof. I don’t know of any cats (or anything else) being hurt by them.

True, there are many postitions that aren’t combat related. My take was that they were discussing infantry (I think, I’m former Air Force so unfamiliar with the divisions and/or MOS)

And you are spot on about actus, it is a little game he plays. I usually bite when he attacks LaShawn. Otherwise, if this is your first time here, welcome to one of the coolest sites in the blogosphere.

BTW — thanx for the potted plant advice. Are begonias cat-safe?

Loads. There are lots of non-combat jobs in the armed forces. Probably a majority of the jobs in the armed forces don’t involve being in combat.