CBS News Killed a man today

Jonah Goldberg: Media ethics, consistency questionable in release of photos

Women can't live with 'em

One simply cannot understand the profound effect women have in the military without living in an infantry battalion. The deep loneliness and desperation men live with when separated from their wives, mothers, and girlfriends is enough to drive sane men to distraction. Consider that a large percentage of the younger soldiers have never lived more than five minutes from their mothers and consider the psychological burden of the average soldier.
Do you want to know the number one reason why soldiers extend to stay in Korea? Women - from personal observation the overwhelming majority of male soldiers extend because they have met a woman somewhere in Korea that they do not want to be separated from. Informal research among my peers puts the ratio of women to men in Korea right at thirteen to one. Thirteen to one is terrible odds on a Friday night in a club. Meeting a worthwhile woman in Korea is nothing short of a miracle.
Introduce into this volatile mixture of simmering masculinity and sexual frustration the average female soldier and you have a recipe for disaster. The average soldier is isolated from easily available female companionship for months at a time. The presence of a small number of females produces chaos in military discipline. I am veering dangerously close to saying something that Army brass might disapprove of and shut down my weblog (thereby guaranteeing me millions of hits in the blog's demise) but the truth is the role of women needs to be reduced. When push comes to shove, soldiers simply ignore any and all rules the Army makes regarding sex and gender that get in the way of satisfying their needs for companionship. The men forget wives, children, morals, the threat of heavy punishment, etc for that one supreme moment of satisfaction. The women by turns submit to, exploit, and are exploited by the male soldiers. I'd like to think everyone involved was capable of adult behavior but the answer is obviously no.
Men can cope when women are not present. They buy pornography, write letters, make phone calls, go on leave, etc. Introduce a single woman to the mix with her own desires, longings, and profound loneliness, and there will not be a single man among thousands who will be satisfied till he has known that woman carnally. The rules regarding sexual behavior in the military are futile and laughable. You cannot force men and women to live together and not expect them to have sex. Not in this day and age. Just let it happen. Don't try to manage sex like another variable in a vast and incomprehensible battlefield simulation. Let it go.
In the end, the problem with women in the military is that women are necessary. It would be simply impossible to have enough soldiers without women. Yet, integrating women has caused problems the Army and the military at large refuses to acknowledge that are destroying the Army as an American institution. It's the classic sexual paradox, "Women, you can't live with 'em; can't live without 'em."

Combatives

I have just finished giving and taking various beatings for morning PT - in the Armyu we call it "combatives". The medical and scout platoons in battalion received instruction in jujitsu and boxing and I learned that I do not have a second career as a boxer. My strategy is to let the other guy get tired (of beating me silly) then try to knock him out. It works, but it doesn't win style points. It's also painful. My only boxing match was against my roommate. I had some reservations about fighting him; but he obviously didn't. He immediately proceeded to beat me like a rented mule. I backed away covering my face and chest till he tired. He did. Before I could finish the job, he quit. I was robbed of my moment of glory.

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