Posted By: queensmonkey @ 07/13/2008 11:46:29 AM
Comment: The M-19 was constantly being used in drills that would require the "dismount" of the weapon from the vehicle and mounting it on a separate tripod. The majority of the men could lift it off of the truck and setup the weapon in the tripod in 20 seconds or less. For the other men that couldn't do it in that amount of time the driver would help get the weapon "up" and operational. For each of the women in our Platoon... the women were not able to do any part of the drill except provide cover fire with their 6 pound M-16 rifle. There isnt the thought of them getting it into the mount faster than a guy, there really wasnt a thought of a woman helping get a 115-120 pound automatic gernade launcher off the roof of a 6 foot hummer while in "full battle rattle" (wearing armor and LBV and guns). Instead, it took the Team Leader to help the Assistant gunner get the gun off of the roof while the female "gunner" or "assistant-gunner" lay in the prone with an M-16... All-the-while the Team Leader should be laying on the ground making radio calls to other units or teams while the weapon is being setup.
I want to say that I am not against women in the military, i am only against women that are assigned to a combat position. At times women will be forced to shoot back if shot-upon, that is the basics learned in military training... To have women at "forward outposts" really makes life of the soldier hard and in some cases will actually degrade living conditions.
Thank you,