Squeals for the SEALS

Candidate Set To Be First Female Navy SEAL Quits After A Week Of Training.

No way you say.

Way I say.

Here is the deal.  Not everyone is physically, mentally or psychologically fit enough to join the military.  It's true there are different levels of "toughness" required for different jobs.  There are also different levels of intelligence required for different jobs.  The military as an organization has lots of different jobs that it needs done, which means they need a wide range of skill sets.

Despite what you see on TV or the movies or what you were brain washed in public school to believe, not everyone can do everything they want.  Nope.  Not even if they try real hard.  Not even if they just keep at it or get lucky.  There are some things that some people just aren't ever going to be able to do.

What that article didn't quite spell out for you is this.  The gal in question didn't quit after one week of BUDS.  She quit after one week of the pre-BUDS prep training.  That's right she didn't even make it to BUDS.  You know why she quit?

Because it freaking hard.  Being a SEAL isn't just about cool kung fu moves to impress your friends in a bar fight.  Before you can even get to go to BUDS you have to be in top physical shape.  How top, you ask.  Good question.  Before you even get to try out for training you have to be the equivalent of an Olympic athlete.  Not just ran track in high school.  Not just able to lift some weights at the gym.  Not just in the top 10 in your class at boot camp.  You have to be at the top physically.

Then and only then, does wanting it and trying real hard come into the equation.

The stone cold hard truth is most people aren't in the top 10% of all athletes.  More truth?  Most MEN in the military, men who are stronger, tougher, and would love to be elite warriors, aren't either.  That's the facts Jack.  Most guys in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines aren't ever, no matter how bad they want it, going to qualify for the elite combat units.  Sorry.  It ain't happening. 

The sad thing is that someone thought they should be "supportive" of a women doing something that she physically wasn't going to be able to do, because, feel good.  I'm sure that the Navy has some job someplace that this sailor has the skills and natural talents to be successful at.  I wish her well in that role.

Women don't belong in combat.  Yes I know about Lyudmila Pavlichenko.  She is an exception that proves the rule.  I doubt she could have made it in the SEALs either.  Historically in times of crisis, women have defended their homes.  No objection here that it has happened or that some women have proven good at it.  Also not the point.  When the military is a social science experiment it ceases doing it's job of being a combat force and becomes a farce.