I have learned to not respond directly to comments normally and I was not going to respond to this one, though there was a thought provoking question. After some thought on the matter I decided a response is in order in the form of a general revisit of the original post.

Of course, you may want to read or re-read the post as well as the comment on 1\19\25.

Fortunately, I never made a real combat decision. I left Vietnam as a corporal. However, I don’t think a combat decision would bother me, at least during my enlistment.

Most of my problems were squabbles breaking out. You would not believe the number of times it was pointed out to me how unfair I was for this or that. And, of course, everyone waa right and everyone was wrong.

I have seen men handle such things expertly. Naturally, the first trick is to disregard fairness and just run things right. I know that. I did that, but I didn’t like it. I much prefer following the orders rather than giving them. I don’t like being unfair.

The hitch is, since then, things have changed. Today, in the same position, I’d be giving orders to women as well as men. I pity the staff NCOs in today’s Marines. It looks like a real nightmare to me. As men get that first rocker, they just might decide it’s not worth it and they will likely want to return them.

For those currently in the Marines and are E-6 or above, I certainly welcome your thoughts on the matter. I guess that also goes for those as me, before women in combat.

Certainly, others are welcome to comment too. I even seek the comments of women.

However, the one thing I don’t want to hear is about being fair. The purpose of the Marines is to win wars; this while having the least number of casualties. Fair is for football or baseball. It is not for the battlefield.

I know. I don’t like it either. But of all the things a leader needs to consider while making decisions, fairness is right there near the bottom.