Allen West: Women In Combat Will Destroy 'American Warrior Culture,' Allow More Sexual Assault

Allen West Unleashes Sexist Rant, Wants To Keep Women Out Of Combat

Former Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) believes women have no place in elite military units, he said Tuesday in a Facebook post accusing President Barack Obama and the Defense Department of enacting a policy change that does not take combat roles seriously enough.

"Being in close quarters special operations combat units is not a social gathering," he said, reacting to news that women will be able to start training as Army Rangers and Navy SEALs starting in the next few years. "There is no equality in close combat. The goal is simple: you physically overpower the enemy and kill them. Don’t tell me about technology, war is about fighting and fighting is about killing, mano y mano."

Despite West's apparent concern about women being unprepared to kill, the standards for females to enter combat units of any sort will not be lowered, meaning that everyone training for the roles must pass the same rigorous physical and mental tests.

The Associated Press reported that military officials believed expanding the role of women could help address the scourge of sexual assault in the military:

Earlier this year, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey said the sexual assaults might be linked to the longstanding ban on women serving in combat because the disparity between the roles of men and women creates separate classes of personnel – male "warriors" versus the rest of the force.

While the sexual assault problem is more complicated than that, he said, the disparity has created a psychology that lends itself to disrespect for women.

West had a different take, seemingly suggesting that putting women in combat roles would only encourage such aggressive behavior, perhaps because males would feel that their "warrior" status was being compromised by their female counterparts.

"I find it completely hypocritical for everyone to be up in arms about military sexual assault, but then want to cast women into high stress small unit combat elements," he said. "The objective is obvious: destroy the last bastions of American warrior culture all for the advancement of a misguided vision of fairness and equality."

West has been a reliable opponent of increasing combat roles for women, and has claimed in the past that the military's sexual assault problem would only be made worse by the new policy change.

Read West's entire Facebook post below:

Just read another instance of Obama's fundamental transformation of America: women will enter US Army Ranger and US Navy SEAL training in 2015 and 2016 respectively. Being in close quarters special operations combat units is not a social gathering. It is obvious Sec Def Chuck Hagel is nothing more than a social egalitarian lackey and Obama's yes boy. I find it completely hypocritical for everyone to be up in arms about military sexual assault, but then want to cast women into high stress small unit combat elements. The objective is obvious: destroy the last bastions of American warrior culture all for the advancement of a misguided vision of fairness and equality. There is no equality in close combat. The goal is simple: you physically overpower the enemy and kill them. Don’t tell me about technology, war is about fighting and fighting is about killing, mano y mano. Imagine how the Islamic jihadists are going to use this as propaganda. Is there one senior uniformed leader in our military who will stand up and say, "NO?"

Before You Go

The Republic Will Collapse

The World According To Allen West

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