Marine Corps Second Lt. Sage Santangelo, who is 5′ 3″, boasts that she can pass the grueling Infantry Officer Course — even though she has already failed it.

DON VINCENZO writes:

The Marine, arms crossed and dressed in fatigues with sleeves rolled up to display a well-developed arm, stares right into the camera. The eyes are of an attractive greyish-blue tint, and are set in a face that exudes an air of confidence which has been a tradition and trademark of the U.S. Marines from its founding. This is the face of today’s U.S. Marines; it is also the face a female Marine: 2nd Lt. Sage Santangelo. (Her parents were apparently fond of alliteration.)

Why does 2nd Lt. Santangelo’s photo grace the front page of The Washington Post’s Outlook Section (Mar. 30, 2014)? Well, it appears that the she feels slighted that the Corps did not think enough of her to allow her to lead Infantry Combat Units, so she has been unable to achieve her goal…at least for now. It appears that fourteen female candidates applied for the honor of leading Marine infantry units and demonstrate that they are “as good as men,” but none of the fourteen applicants made it across the finish line. One might add that more than 90% of the male candidates didn’t either.

Describing herself as a “typical Marine” in that, “I’ve always sought out challenges,” the challenges she encountered at the Infantry Officer Course were too much for her, but she insists that women have “performed exceptionally well in traditionally male (combat) situations,” and even provided one (emphasis mine) case to make her point:

My failed attempt at Quantico, and the fact that no woman has yet made it through the Infantry Officer Course, shouldn’t be interpreted as evidence that women can’t handle combat environments. To date, 13 female Marines have passed the two-month enlisted infantry training course at Camp Geiger in North Carolina. While that course is significantly less demanding than the one at Quantico, it is still grueling — participants must lug 85-pound packs on 12-mile treks through the woods — and it establishes the standard for enlisted warfighters.

Even more telling, on the front lines, where roles have already blurred, women have performed exceptionally well in traditionally male situations. Consider Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester . A Kentucky National Guard soldier, Hester was leading a team on a mission outside Baghdad in March 2005 when her convoy was attacked by insurgents. She orchestrated a counterattack with grenades and M203 rounds. The unit killed 27 insurgents, including three taken out by Hester with a rifle, and not a single soldier was lost. Hester became the first woman to receive a Silver Star since World War II.

But how, then, to explain her failure? You see the Corps sets women up to fail for they are not trained to the higher standards of men, which means that they compete only against other women. This despite her statement: “I absolutely agree. We shouldn’t reduce qualifications.” She continues:

“For Marine infantry officers, mistakes mean risking the lives of the troops you are charged to protect. But I believe that I could pass, and that other women could pass, if the standards for men and women were equal from the beginning of their time with the Marines, if endurance and strength training started earlier than the current practice for people interested in going into the infantry, and if women were allowed a second try, as men are.”

A graduate of Bowdoin College who played hockey “with the boys,” our aspiring next “Manila John” Basilone does concede that the Marines have, indeed, altered their standards for women, but Nature got in the way: 55 percent of those were unable to meet the minimum of doing three pull ups, where 20 are required for men. All this while she acknowledges that “men have biological advantages in tests of body strength.” But not to worry: Lt. Santangelo will be off to Marine flight school where, no doubt, failure is not an option, at least not while Gen. James Amos, a former aviator and politically correct Marine, retains the title of Commandant.

Recently in these pages, Henry McCulloch described the “Drag Queen” show at a military base, another example of the spiraling downward of the U.S. military since women were introduced in large numbers. It is projected that within ten years or sooner, women will represent about 20 percent of the US armed forces, a figure that to our enemies, both real or imagined, is cause for merriment for it guarantees our military inability to “draw a line in the sand.” I have little doubt that Lt. Santangelo will achieve her dream, but I have grave doubts if that will be for the benefit of the country, or the Marines.

Santangelo was a hockey player at Bowdoin — another example of how masculine sports kill femininity.

— Comments —

Wild Outlander writes:

From the Washington Post: “55 percent of those were unable to meet the minimum of doing three pull ups, where 20 are required for men.”

In the Marine Corps Physical Fitness Test three pull-ups is the bare minimum for men, twenty is the max. For the male PFT a maximum score is achieved by running an 18 min. three mile, completing one hundred crunches in two minutes or less and doing twenty pull ups. The minimum for each of these events are a 28 min. three mile, 55 crunches, and three pull-ups. Of course any man who performed that poorly would be facing a lot of remedial PT time with their team-leader.

Kevin M. writes:

I only add this petty observation because the man I met was an acquaintance of Chesty Puller. THE Chesty Puller. The One. The Only.

While drinking with him at the bar in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Harrisburg, PA, shortly after the 9/11 attacks, I remarked on my admiration of the US Marines being the “finest soldiers in the United States.”

He put down his glass, turned to me and said, “Kevin, you are an okay kind of guy, but I must tell you this. If you ever again call a US Marine a ‘soldier,’ I will beat your face into an unrecognizable mass.”

U.S. Marines are “Marines.” They are never called “soldiers.” Soldiers are from the Army (and I have nothing but respect for them). But Marines, apparently, do.

Semper Fidelis, according to my acquaintance, does not exist in the Army.

The Brotherhood is exclusive to Marines.

Even now, ick, with girls in their midst.

 Laura writes:

Yes, thanks. I knew that, but forgot.

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