KARL D. writes:

A tiny woman who is a Captain and veterinarian in the Army took it upon herself to earn a badge which required that she hike 12 miles in full kit in under three hours. In the video you can see a male soldier walking calmly across the finish line while she collapses twice behind him and has a virtual cheerleading team pushing her to finish as she uses her weapon to push herself up. Ostensibly, after passing the finish line one is supposed to be ready to perform the job, something she was unable to do.

While everyone in the media and comments section is cheering her with the obligatory “You go girl” comments, all I feel is sad for her — and sad for the army.

— Comments —

Bruce B. writes:

My great-grandfather was a Captain and veterinarian in the Army during the Mexican Border campaign and WWI (he was also a devout Catholic!). What did they do without women vets back then?

Kristor writes:

When I clicked on the link to the video of the vet’s ordeal at the finish line, I enjoyed an exquisite irony: it was preceded by an ad for the movie 50 Shades of Grey.

Karl D. writes:

Bruce B. wrote:

My great-grandfather was a Captain and veterinarian in the Army during the Mexican Border campaign and WWI (he was also a devout Catholic!). What did they do without women vets back then?

My great-grandfather was in the First World War as well. A tough Irish Catholic from New York Cities Chelsea neighborhood. He served in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. As a boy I was given his service medal which I later lost. Something that I kick myself for to this very day! He wasn’t a vet but there is a great photo of him sitting atop a cavalry horse with a big smile on his face. Probably the first and last time he had ever been on a horse.

A few years ago I went to search out the building where my great-grandparents lived and raised my grandmother on Gansevoort St. in the now uber trendy, wealthy and homosexual neighborhood in the former “Meat packing district.” A place which was a very poor and working class neighborhood. After all? Who would voluntarily live in the middle of a slaughter house with all the sights, sounds and smells that that entails? The building is now long gone, but I still remember hearing about what life was like when a whole building had to share an outhouse in the backyard as well as one cold water sink in the hallway! I often wonder what my great-grandparents would think if they could instantly be snapped back amongst the living and witness what the old neighborhood as well as the world is like today? My guess is they would marvel with equal amounts of disgust.

Buck writes:

That’s a fair hump, but it’s only routine and certainly not what men are failing at. As Karl D. said, at the end of that hike, she didn’t look like she could be up for anything, much less the range of tasks that she could have been called on to perform when she got there. A better test would be to hike them first, then test their skills and knowledge. I mean, what is the point of the hike?

The Expert Field Medical Badge (EFMB) Test is much more than a simple hike. It’s a substantial testing regime and quite an accomplishment, as it should be.

They’re tested on a host of common battle field skills; soldiering, weapons assembly and malfunction corrections, casualty protection, biological/chemical contamination/decontamination, camouflage skills, tactical firing and movements under fire, emergency medical treatments…

They have to assemble and operate a radio to prepare and transmit MEDEVAC requests.

And they have to score 75 on a 100 question written test that covers all kinds of medical care skills.

These should be our very best. Captain Cudd may be smart and skilled, but obviously, there’s more to soldiering than that.

Dan R. writes:

I watched the video of Captain Cupp and would add: Captain Cupp is doing something for which she is obviously out of her element, and watching her male supervisors egging her on as if she was just another one of the guys had a quality to it that I found implicitly dishonest and somewhat infuriating. As much as these men will tow the PC line on women in the military, judging from what I observed in their bearing, gestures, and commands it is all about men play-acting–knowing full well she is not their physical equal, and fully secure in that regard. No matter how far she goes in the military, that physical side of things will not change.

In one sense I have the feeling these men welcome women in this role. One day they may have to salute her, but everyone knows who the real soldiers are. And sadly, one last thought: this charade, of pretending women are the physical equals of men, is at bottom an attack on women. Captain Cupp is a veterinarian, a highly-trained individual, who needs no more respect than that, yet she is placed in this almost impossible situation of proving herself in an area where she doesn’t stand a chance. They are encouraging her to join a club where they will always be on top. And worse, she wants it even more than they do.

Laura writes:

As much as these men will tow the PC line on women in the military, judging from what I observed in their bearing, gestures, and commands it is all about men play-acting–knowing full well she is not their physical equal, and fully secure in that regard.

It’s patronizing. How can this possibly be considered women’s emancipation?

A reader writes:

I don’t understand what you are asking.  Please advise. Thank you.

Laura writes:

I was just affirming Dan R.’s point. It is patronizing of the men to cheer her on when they know she can never keep up. It is not ‘liberating” for women to deny their real strengths (and superiority to men in certain areas) in order to compete with men in areas in which men excel.

Bert Perry writes:

It’s worth noting that the traditional march with full equipment is not 12 miles.  Since Roman times, soldiers have been called up on to march 20 miles at a time with full pack, which has been, since Roman times, at least 60 lbs.  Stonewall Jackson is revered (and studied) for a 48 day campaign when his 17000 men marched 646 miles in 48 days, almost 14 miles per day, earning the nickname “foot cavalry” for his efforts.

Now imagine the state of that army if he’d had a lot of stragglers to handle.  Granted, we’ve got a lot of tools that the marching armies of the past did not, but sometimes you don’t get that chance.  How cruel to that poor woman our Army is!

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