Photo by US Air Force Tech. Sgt. Matt Summers (Wikipedia)
US Army to drop hand grenade proficiency from basic training
The United States Army will no longer require hand grenade competency for graduation from basic training because it is taking “too much time” and some recruits are not strong enough, Major General Malcolm Frost told reporters on Friday.
Published: February 20, 2018, 9:15 am
Washington
Changes to the Army’s Basic Combat Training (BTC) are in the pipeline to scrap current hand grenade proficiency standards as a requirement for graduation starting next summer.
Military.com reported that the new BCT has not only eliminated the hand grenade requirement but also the land navigation course as a graduation requirement.
Maj. Gen. Frost said that training recruits were taking too much time: “What we have found is it is taking far, far too much time. It’s taking three to four times as much time … just to qualify folks on the hand grenade course than we had designated so what is happening is it is taking away from other aspects of training.”
Women are not strong enough to throw the grenade far enough “if they haven’t thrown growing up” Frost explained. More than 200 000 women are serving in active duty today, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“We are finding that there are a large number of trainees that come in that quite frankly just physically don’t have the capacity to throw a hand grenade 20 to 25 to 30 meters. In 10 weeks, we are on a 48-hour period; you are just not going to be able to teach someone how to throw if they haven’t thrown growing up.”
According to Army Times, hand grenade training will be blended into other exercises in future. “Rather than spend time getting soldiers through the hand grenade and land navigation qualification courses in order to graduate basic, those skills will be incorporated into three new field training exercises, dubbed Hammer, Anvil and Forge.”
On Facebook, John Clayton wrote: “Army to lower hand grenade requirements because women do not have the strength to throw it far enough to meet existing requirements to graduate SMH.”
“One of my female soldiers couldn’t throw a grenade so she couldn’t deploy,” wrote Anthony Anderson.
The army denied that the change had anything to do with gender-based considerations.
Two years after the ban on women in the US infantry and armor jobs was lifted, women can now join the 101st Airborne Division, the 4th Infantry Division and 1st Armored Division.
The US Army has pushed the Army Gender Integration plan made effective by the Defense Department in January 2016 to bring women into military occupational positions.
“This historic achievement is a reminder of the great things we can achieve when women are seen and treated as equals and given the same chance to contribute to their country,” Senatror Tammy Duckworth, told Army Times.
All rights reserved. You have permission to quote freely from the articles provided that the source (www.freewestmedia.com) is given. Photos may not be used without our consent.
Consider donating to support our work
Help us to produce more articles like this. FreeWestMedia is depending on donations from our readers to keep going. With your help, we expose the mainstream fake news agenda.
Keep your language polite. Readers from many different countries visit and contribute to Free West Media and we must therefore obey the rules in, for example, Germany. Illegal content will be deleted.
If you have been approved to post comments without preview from FWM, you are responsible for violations of any law. This means that FWM may be forced to cooperate with authorities in a possible crime investigation.
If your comments are subject to preview by FWM, please be patient. We continually review comments but depending on the time of day it can take up to several hours before your comment is reviewed.
We reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, contain slander or foul language, or are irrelevant to the discussion.
Americas
Ohio disaster: When hedge funds manage rail traffic
East PalestineAfter the derailment of a freight train loaded with highly toxic chemicals in the US state of Ohio, a devastating environmental catastrophe may now be imminent. The wagons burned for days, and a "controlled" explosion by the authorities released dangerous gases into the environment.
US President Biden orders ‘spy’ balloon to be shot down
WashingtonThe US President gave the order to shoot down China's "spy balloon". The balloon had caused US Secretary of State Blinken to cancel a trip to Beijing. In the meantime, a second balloon was sighted.
US is heading for a financial ‘catastrophe’ US Treasury Secretary warns
WashingtonOn January 19, 2023, the United States hit its debt ceiling of $31.4 trillion. The country faces a recession if it defaults on its debt, the US Treasury Secretary warned in an interview. Her warning underscored the danger of printing money.
Gun violence: More risk in Chicago and Philadelphia than Iraq, Afghanistan
Providence, Rhode IslandA striking statistic: young Americans are several times more likely to be injured by a gun in cities like Chicago and Philadelphia than they are while serving as a soldier in a foreign country.
Elon Musk, the first person in history to destroy $200 billion in a year
Never before in human history has a person lost as much money in one year as Elon Musk did in 2022. The Tesla and Twitter boss lost $200 billion last year. However, with his remaining $137 billion, he is still the second richest person in the world.
Extreme cold and winter storms sweep across US
More than a million households without electricity, thousands of canceled flights, temperatures in the double-digit minus range and already 41 fatalities: The US is being overwhelmed by an enormous cold wave.
Soros sponsors violent leftists and anti-police lobby as US crime surges
WashingtonThe mega-speculator and "philanthropist" George Soros remains true to himself – he has been sponsoring anti-police left-wing groups with billions of dollars.
FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried arrested after crypto billions go missing
NassauHe is no longer sitting in his fancy penthouse, but in a cell in the Bahamas: Sam Bankman-Fried (30), founder of the crypto company FTX, is said to be responsible for the theft of 37 billion euros. An interesting fact is that media in the EU have so far kept this crime thriller almost completely secret.
How Twitter helped Biden win the US presidency
WashingtonThe short message service Twitter massively influenced the US presidential election campaign two years ago in favor of the then candidate Joe Biden. The then incumbent Donald Trump ultimately lost the election. Internal e-mails that the new owner, Elon Musk, has now published on the short message service show how censorship worked on Twitter. The 51-year-old called it the “Twitter files”.
Alberta PM suspends cooperation with WEF
EdmontonThe newly elected Premier Danielle Smith of the province of Alberta in Canada has recently made several powerful statements against the globalist foundation World Economic Forum and its leader Klaus Schwab. She has also decided to cancel a strange consulting agreement that WEF had with the state.
No comments.
By submitting a comment you grant Free West Media a perpetual license to reproduce your words and name/web site in attribution. Inappropriate and irrelevant comments will be removed at an admin’s discretion. Your email is used for verification purposes only, it will never be shared.