Views From A Grunt

Born in 1775 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's Tun Tavern, a disciplined group of bad asses would assemble a fearless fraternity and be remembered throughout history for their remarkable battles.

                                   

As well as their selfless attitudes and how they would easily put their lives down for this great country.

The Marine Corps, was built on men who were strong both mentally and physically. Physicality is a big part of the game as you'll hike 20 some odd miles while carrying 40/50-lbs of gear.

You'll patrol in 140' weather everyday in a combat zone. Hell (God forbid) you may have to drag a wounded Marine out of a compound while taking fire from the enemy.

Once that adrenaline rush ordeal is over get ready to endure the same thing the very next day as you're "in the shit" and the enemy is not letting up.

                  

As a Marine, whose experienced a few things overseas as well as grueling training challenges in the states. I get very offended when spoiled kids give their "expert opinion" on things they aren't familiar with.

A good majority of the time they'll get hired at these prestigious companies because of the relationships their parents have with someone at that company.

Ok before I go further I wanna say I'm not butt-hurt about their successes or because someone said something negative about Marines.

I'm a bit perturbed because pieces like Toxic Masculinity in the Marine Corps, gets a great amount of attention. It's just odd to me because the writer of the piece Alex Ward, is not a Marine, and he never was.                
                                         

So how would he know anything pertaining to what Marines deal with on a daily basis in the states and also over-seas when fighting for our country.

He never went to recruit training, nor did he attend the School Of Infantry. He hasn't endured 140' weather with 50/60 pounds of gear on and he damn sure hasn't fired any sort of rifle/ weaponry at enemy fighters.

So how does he seem to know so much about this fraternity/brotherhood.

He also has a problem with females not being openly invited to infantry battalions. As of now there are only 4 female Marines in total in infantry battalions.

Part of the reason why there aren't others is because they can't endure the training. They can't carry the fighting load and they haven't been successful at (IOC) Infantry Officers Course.

                                      
Keeping females out of Marine Corps infantry is not oppressing the rights of females or blockading gender equality, it’s about maintaining the most combat effective military.

U.S. hegemony is slowly dissipating and other nations are assembling conventional forces. Our nation should be more concerned in creating the strongest infantry force to defend our national interests.

The Marine Corps will not lower its standards in order to make a few writers happy. Nor will it lower its standards in order to reach a quota to allow a certain number of females to enter infantry battalions.

There are about 900 Marines to a battalion, this includes 3 rifle companies, a weapons company, headquarters and service. There's also about 24 active infantry battalions in a whole in the Marine Corps.

That's roughly less than 20,700 Marines in ground combat right now out of 182,000 active duty Marines, so that means there are literally less than 8% who are actually infantry.
                          
This really gives hence to the slogan the few the proud. Women who claim that they are not afforded traditional leadership opportunities by not being infantry officers are clearly not aware of the plethora of leadership opportunities in the Marine Corps elsewhere.

Maybe this should remain the only area of the military for males only.

Isaac J. Hall II
#SemperKill

New Year, New Rules, PFT-CFT

Good day all, so the United States Marine Corps has updated the physical and combat fitness tests.

Beginning January 1, Marines will be able to take the Physical Fitness Test and Combat Fitness Test more than once to improve their scores, if not happy with previous scores. 

Marine Commandant Gen. Robert Neller is also allowing older Marines in their upper 40’s to row five kilometers on a rowing machine. Rather than running for the Physical Fitness Test.

The Marine Corps has made great effort to revamp both the PFT and CFT. Starting on Jan. 1, the tests will have updates and implementations. 

One of the biggest and most noticeable changes coming to the PFT in 2017 is the elimination of pull-ups. Male and female Marines as well as poolees and officer candidates can opt to do pushups rather than pull-ups.

Marines will now have to declare if they will do pushups or pull-ups before taking the test. They wont be allowed to switch from one exercise to the other while taking the test.

Here is the catch… Marines can only score a maximum score of 70 out of 100 possible points if they only do pushups for the upper-body portion of PFT. In order to score a full 100 points, Marines will have to do pull-ups.

The Corps is also re-hashing its weight charts for women in order to reflect that women put on muscle as they train. Female Marines will be allowed to be 5 to 7 pounds heavier, while women in other heights will be able to be 9 pounds heavier.

In 2017, Marines will need to get 235 points on both the PFT and CFT in order to get a first-class score on both tests. Prior to the changes the max score was varied by age.

  
Marines who score a 285 on both the PFT and CFT will be exempt from weight limits. If Marines score 250 points or higher on both tests, they will be afforded an additional 1 percent of body fat.

All Marines will have to increase the number crunches  in order to get a perfect score on

their PFT. Male Marines in the ages of 26 and 35 years old will have to do 115 crunches which is an increase of 15. Females Marines between the ages of 26 and 30 years will have to do 110 crunches, which is an increase of 10.

Men and women will also have to lift the 30-pound ammunition can more times as part of the CFT. Men 25 years old and younger will have to do 67 ammo-can lifts to pass and between 106 and 120 lifts for a max score, up from 45 times and 91 times.

Women who currently need to do at least 20 ammo-can lifts to pass will have to do at least 30 lifts next year. Getting a perfect score will require between 66 and 75 lifts depending on age.

Well cheers to revamping, lets see if those scores increase or not around the corps.

Isaac J. Hall II

#SemperKill