Battle of the Sexes: Should Woman Fight in Combat?
“If the Standards Stay the Same, it’s Equal Opportunity,” Says O’Neill. “Lock and Load, Ladies.”
It’s one contentious debate: Should women be allowed to fight alongside men in combat? Even now that Pentagon has made its decision — giving women the right to an equal fight — the heated argument continues. FOX Business host Stuart Varney sure seemed fired up on the issue. He sat down with former Navy SEAL Robert J. O’Neill for a “flat-out judgment” on women’s ability to fight on the front lines.
O’Neill: “I’ve operated with women. They’ve actually come with us on special operations. We used them a lot for some of the searching of women and children. Cultural sensitivity type stuff. These Islamic fighters…they don’t fear death but they do fear hell. If they’re killed by women they go to hell. So I say lock and load, ladies. If they don’t lower the standards, and they can pass them, yeah, I think they should give them a shot.”
Varney: “You’re telling me that you’re perfectly OK with going into a life-and-death situation with a woman by your side? I’m told that it changes the dynamics of the group you’re operating with.”
O’Neill: “It could potentially change the dynamic. The last thing I’m suggesting is that we make the military, especially special operations, a social experiment, but if the standards stay the same, it’s equal opportunity. Most of the men who try out for the Navy SEALs don’t make it. I think an even greater number of women wouldn’t make it. There’s definitely a place for women. Certain intelligence operations…reconnaissance type stuff.”
Varney: “I just wonder. I think men have a sort of hunter-gatherer mentality. They go out and break things and kill people. I wonder if…I’m on dangerous ground here and I know it. You get where I’m coming from?”
O’Neill: “I do see your point and I’ve heard it from my friends both at the Pentagon and those still working as Navy SEALs. The tendency will be to lower the standards to get the politically correct standard going. I do have people in agreement with me that if they do not lower the standards…if a woman can make it through that training… The hardest military training in the world is the Navy SEALs. If she can make it, she deserves a shot.”