As I said….I never knew my grandfather….he passed away in 1968….some eight and a half years before I was born. But I always seem to think of him around Armistice Day/Veterans Day (November 11th)….and I suppose Memorial Day is another good time to keep him in mind…..as he was an American. I suppose the reason why he is more in my thoughts in November is that I have always lived in England (my father is English)….and we do not observe Memorial Day at this time of year in this country….but we do have Remembrance Sunday, on the nearest Sunday to November 11th.

Great question!

Some people whose jobs though carry world wide duty on a short notice basis have and keep their deployment bags ready and stored on base and check it out when they are being tasked to go somewhere on short notice. Those bags are routinely inventoried and checked and maintained by them and others whose job it is to do that. My job required me to have four such bags of gear and equipment stored and the back of my little car was pretty cramped when I would have to pick them up and transport them over to where the crew bus was picking us up at some times.

Servicemembers in combat areas wear protective vests which have a kevlar weave in them around their torso. It does not, however, stop bullets. It’s main function is to stop shrapnel and dissipate impact to lessen potential internal injuries. If you are deployed outside the lines overseas you are also issued SAPI plates (Small Arms Protective Inserts) which are a very thick, very heavy plate that slide into slots on the front and back of the vest. These plates protect against a FEW types of aummunition, but are generally useless after they have been struck once, so they’re better than nothing.

Servicemembers also wear kevlar helmets, which CAN stop a bullet, depending on the type of round that hits it and the angle it hits it at, but it’s not a guarantee.

Bulletproof vests aren’t like what you see in movies and video games, in actuality, there is NO material that will stop all types of small arms fire repeatedly that is anywhere near reasonable for a combat troop to wear. There is a vest called a ‘dragonskin’ that is very effective, but I couldn’t tell you much more about it.

All together, just that gear weighs between 40 and 60 lbs.

Fought in WW2. Died of cancer in 1993.

I am sure the military wives will fill you in on the rest.

I mean is your spouse the only thing you live for? Get a job, get a vibrator, join a community group, read a book, exercise.

I have an even better idea. Get pregnant like the majority of them do, then you can focus on that while he’s gone, and have the child alone in the hospital while he’s dodging bullets overseas.

And there is nothing wrong with an affair either, mind you.

Women do go into combat already.

They are just not allowed to be infantry or armor. But they are MPs, Civil Affairs, Truck Drivers, Medics, Translators, even in Field Artillery and Combat Engineers.

Women may not be the ones tasked to break in doors, (except for MPs maybe) but they do fight alongside the infantry.

There are several reasons why they are not allowed in Infantry right now, and it basically comes down to two things:

1) Physical capability. Infantry is almost all upper body in one way or another. The vast majority of women are not built for that. In particular, the female hip is a big problem. The most common injury for female basic trainees in regular basic training it stress fractures in the hip or femoral head. This is caused by road marching with heavy weight. In basic training that weight is limited to 30lbs or 1/3 of thier body weight (whichever is lower.) Even with this light load over 10-15km, females develop hip fractures. 10-15km is considered only a medium distance in the military.

A femoral hip fracture or a hip fracture can seriouly impact a womans ability to have children in the future and can seriously affect other activities in general… walking and running for example…. for the rest of their lives.

For infantry, you carry more then 30lbs on your person, not even counting what is in your back pack.

For two years I was Basic Training Company commander.
In the future, as things get lighter, it may be possible as things get lighter. As things are now, its not possible.

2) The second reason is money. Things usually come down to budgets. Canada experimented with women in combat arms in the 1980s. Out of 80 trainees, only 2 passed. You pay for 80, you get 2. The reason why, sure a female athelete can do this job, but how much of the military aged female population is a female athelete?

It could be possible to slowly train females up to a standard of a female athelete, but again, that takes time and money. Expecially if there was a draft situation, you dont have time to do that.

I was a basic training company commander for two years. Out of my female trainees, 25% could not meet or were injured doing regular basic training standards. Only about 10% could score higher then the low end males on the PT test using an even scale. (Females and Males used different score charts normally, my comparision is using the male chart).

Over all, women do serve in combat. They may not be the ones breaking down the door, but they are often the one on the .50cal machine gun covering the team that is breaking down the door. They do a fine job in the field and have a great impact on the war effort.