Rant #1,957: A Woman's Got the Power

The Marines are always at the front line of any conflict.

They are the first ones to lead the charge.

The are fierce, they are brutal, and they are fully engaged.

They are also changing their tune a bit.

According to reports, the Marine Corps is looking into a plan to allow women to attend what had previously been a male-only combat training exercise in California.

If the plan gets approved by senior Marine Corps leaders, women can train next to their male counterparts as early as the spring of 2018. Right now, combat training for women is held in South Carolina, while men can have their combat training there or at Camp Pendleton, California.

They are also considering expanding their boot camps to include women. Right now, all women Marines go to boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina, but the Marines are looking into expanding that to include San Diego. Men attend boot camps at both installations.

Like society in general, the Marine Corps and all of the military services are changing. You now have high-ranking women in the military services, and pretty much any and every hindrance to their promotion to top spots have been removed.

The "good ole boy" philosophy will probably always pervade the military, but things are changing, even at the most basic levels.

Several years ago, military stores removed adult magazines from their stock assortments, and the military has hardened the line on such things as smoking and drinking.

The military pushes good health, and while you can still get your smokes on any installation, you can also get a fruit cup at the local convenience store, too.

The military pushes a pro-family credo, and they have established numerous programs during recent times that address such areas as family leave and displacement due to deployment.

It is a different military than it used to be, very, very different than when my father and father-in-law served in the Marines in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Women have proven that they can be roughnecks, too, and they can do just about anything a man can do.

In Israel, due to the immediate threat from their neighbors and the small population, women have served in the military for generations. Military service for both males and females is compulsory there, and with a few exceptions, every Israeli citizen serves.

The whole ball of wax is that if women want equality at all levels of society, it must extend to the military as well, and I think that all of this is good.

Why can't women serve alongside their male counterparts on the battlefield? Sure, accommodations in certain areas have to be made, but other than that, I see no reason why a lady can't carry a bayonet or throw a hand grenade.

There have been some problems with women and men having such close quarters--including on submarines, a problem that still has not been fully rectified--but overall, women and men behave in a professional manner when in combat, and those that don't find themselves out on the street pretty quickly.

So kudos to the Marine Corps and the other services for recognizing that we are only tapping half of our citizens if we exclude women from the same military exercises as men.