STFU, Coren

I try to keep the language clean around here. While we're a milblog, and soldiers tend to be...ahem...colourful in their choice of words, I refrain from a good deal of that language because our readership isn't entirely military and I don't want to drive the civilians away with what is most charitably described as "soldierly language."

But in the case of Michael Coren's latest brain fart, I have but one thing to say to him: fuck off.

Last week a young girl dressed up as a soldier died in the increasingly futile and pointless war in Afghanistan. She was 21 years old, had been in the country for two weeks on her first tour of duty and probably weighed a little over 100 pounds.

Please know that I mean no disrespect to Karine Blais or to her family and I grieve for her and them. But what on earth was she doing in such a place and in such a job?

"Dressed up as a soldier?" And then you say you mean no disrespect? Are you f'ing kidding me?

You want to know what she was "doing in such a place and in such a job?" She was doing what she chose to do, what she was qualified to do, and what she has the right to do: serving her nation.

Everyone - and I mean EVERYONE - who signs on the dotted line to join the CF is taught about the concept of "unlimited liability." As an eighteen year old recruit, I had to come to terms with the idea that I could be ordered to walk into certain death. I filled out a will, as did all my fellow recruits. There was no sugar-coating of the idea. Perhaps I was simply young and foolish, but as an officer cadet, I was honestly more concerned about having to order my subordinates to their certain deaths. But that didn't mean I didn't think carefully about it and come to terms with the potential consequences of my choice.

Trooper Blais wouldn't have been able to get to where she was without understanding that. To say she shouldn't have been allowed to serve, or that she was simply "dressed up as a soldier" is profoundly insulting to her. And my reaction to that insult is visceral, as I'm one of those who believe that Canadians who have made the conscious and considered decision to serve should be spared such insults.

I'm not the only one who feels this way: many at Army.ca have been weighing in:

ArmyVern (a female WO):

The world has moved on and we 'girls dressed up as soldiers' have come a long way. We earned it and here we are.

Your opinions are lovely (if very outdated and chauvenistic), but I'll not give up a career that I love and am good at - to satisfy the likes of you.

PMedMoe:

Do we test males and females differently in the CF? Yes, the ExPres test, perhaps, but last time I checked, the BFT is the same for both genders and that is the fitness requirement for a tour.

And best of all, kilekaldar:

Sir,

I have just finished a 7 month tour with an Infantry Coy in Zhari, where I patrolled on foot on a regular basis alongside female medics and on a few occasion a female MP. They did the same job, carried the same kit and weapons, marched the same distances, took the same enemy fire and in all ran the same risks as the men. I never saw them flinch, display fear or weakness, and did their work with the same dedication and level of competence as the men present.

I witnessed, on the occasion of a recent deadly IED blast that took the lives of two Canadians, a female medic who was also caught in the explosion be the first to jump up from the ground and administer aid, organise triage and performe her duties in a superb manner despite her injuries from her close proximity to the blast, and knowing well the two deceased soldiers.

After having been in combat alongside Canadian female soldiers, I have determined for direct experience that the women of today make as good soldiers as men.

You, sir, obviously have no direct combat experience with women, and should keep your condescending, ignorant, archaic opinions that have no basis on facts or reality to yourself and resist the temptation to insult the efforts of Canadian women in uniform.

Neanderthals like Coren infuriate me, because their form of sexism is the nannying, condescending, glass-ceiling sort of sexism under the guise of protecting and caring for women that is so debilitating to our society. It completely dismisses the one criterion that should matter most: performance.

If a woman wants to be in the combat arms, she needs to be able to hit the same performance requirements as her male counterparts, including the physical ones. Period. Sacrificing performance for political correctness is anathema to the military ethos.

But if she can do the job, she should be able to serve. Period. Discriminating against individuals on the basis of anything other than performance is also anathema to the military ethos.

Asswipes like Coren have a right to their backwards, benighted, ignorant opinions. There's no way around that. But personally, I'd like to thank the men and women like Trooper Karine Blais of the 12e Régiment Blindé du Canada, and across the entire Canadian Forces for protecting that right with their very lives.

Update: I have been extremely busy with work, family, and endeavours supporting the CF that go beyond blogging. This moronic column just came to my attention a few hours ago. So bite me, Dawg.

Upperdate: More from an old bud on Facebook...

As someone in the ramp-up to go over I did the BFT and watched women carry the same kit and shovel the same gravel as I did, not to mention the fact that it was probably 40%+ of their body weight. Maybe little Mikey should give it a whirl himself? I'll loan him some gear if he wants!!

The soldiers aren't the ones with the problem, here.

Up-yours-date: Pecunium tears Coren a new rectum or six - *applause!* - but it's really the comments thread that will make you stand and cheer. "Sell tickets" was a ROTFLMAO moment. And Sgt Atkinson's slap-down was priceless. BZ, folks. Well smote.