Quick anecdote from last night that highlights my eventual point.
So, I'm on a consulting business trip to Germany and last night I'm sitting in a hotel bar with a few classmates. I am an enlisted infantry Marine veteran, and there are three other classmates with me - one is an Army infantry officer and one is a full time mba who we know and like very much. The third person is a part time MBA who I feel. and the other two feel, is a real turd burglar. Just to fuck with him, I introduce myself as my army friend and give his background as my own, and he does the same with me. We keep throwing digs at eachother, basically using this guy as a medium to give eachother shit as friends. He gets up to take a piss, and this guy says
"Man, those Marines are real animals."
Of course I goad him on, making him talk all the shit he feels about Marines to me, the actual Marine ( My other friend was just dying laughing at all of this). He proceeds to basically say the Marine Corps is terrifying, that we are no better than caged animals, that we should be psych evaled upon return to civilian life, that the Army should just absorb the Marine Corps anyway, and that he thinks Marines are basically just dumb killing machines that serve the corporate greed of America.
He pointed out these things about my friend, whom he thought was the Marine, to me who he thought was a West Point educated, sophisticated and cultured, Army Officer. He then asked both of us which one of us got to see more people die, and I asked him if has ever got the opportunity to be choked on a German hotel bar floor. That's besides the point, but I thought it was funny - he did not.
The point here is, people think Marines are animals as it stands. That's not a bad thing. Having the global public afraid of what the Marines can be is psychological, and not based on the people themselves within that branch. I would rather have the enemy shit themselves if they heard we were coming, and I don't care if that is based on the mangled bodies we have left in our wake, or the rumor of them.
I spoke to this guy in the most crude, disgusting way possible and my friend spoke to him in his normal, neutral tone. Yet, that didn't matter. He still told me that my friend should be monitored and kept tabs on, because he was a Marine. Nothing of what he saw changed his mind.
What i'm getting at is: The public has its opinion on the Corps, and ultimately that is an opinion long standing based on the image of ferocious, inhuman warriors who would just as soon spike a baby on a bayonet as they would help an old lady across the street. The Corps is good at warfighting, but it's better at Branding and boy, has it done a good job of Branding the Corps in this image.
"We don't promise you a rose garden" was a value proposition for enlistment once upon a time. Few services could end up with that as an effective recruitment tool.
This scandal shocks exactly no one. But what it does do is make us apologize to the public, and that is where I don't appreciate the outcome. I think the sharing of these pictures is fucking disgusting, yet I'd be a hypocrite to satay I haven't shown half my platoon the treasure troves of tit/vag pics I've received over my years in. I think it's fucking dumb to have ano essentially open group to do this, and I think the harassment of women is a form of predatory bullshit and in many ways weakness when being challenged about it. Posting people's information online for harassment is a form of passive aggressiveness that I hate, and has no place in the military in general. I think sharing nudes is normal, but the actions and forum in which it was done is dumber than normal. Marines are best served by flying under the radar. Forcing us to apologize to the world makes us look weak, and that ruins the mystique of the Corps.
The people responsible should be held accountable. That's just how it is. I think many of the people, especially in the Corps currently, who are lighting torches and holding pitchforks are hypocrites. I'm not saying that of this forum, and especially of the people in this thread. I read a lot and I think this community is consistent and honest. I'm talking about the media outlash and those outspoken Marines and Marine Vets. This scandal is a chance for people to harness attention and / or say "No not me I'm so much better than that". That makes me sick.
Now onto your point about gender....
Who cares? I am conflicted about women in combat Arms because on one hand, I don't think when life if on the line regularly, that fair and equal is ever a consideration. On the other hand, I feel that anyone who wants to hump a 240 and spray the enemy with outbound fire should be available to do so. I like the idea of separate battalions, where a 100 pound woman can realistically carry another 100 pound woman off the battlefield, and that logistical considerations would be consistent. that's a hard sell, and no one likes that option publicly because for some reason it's more PC to either hate women in the infantry than it is to advocate for segregation.
Whatever. You're talking about boot camp and honestly, that's like...the least of anyone's concern. Perhaps it's a reserve thing, but everyone I know who is a reservist cares about the boot camp thing, whereas most active duty feel nothing one way or a other about boot camp. As one of my reservist friends stated to me once (in my words) "Boot camp and SOI are usually all we have, so it's all we know"
I don't give a shit about coed boot camp, what I care about is a fighting force that's known for being brutal and can back that up with brutality. This scandal hurts both. Women in the rack next to men at boot camp does not. Women in the fighting hole next to a man might, but no one here knows - we only staple our perspectives onto the idea and call it a fact. Hell, It worked for the mobile infantry and they conquered some of the ugliest bug planets in the universe.
