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Letters

COMBAT NOT FOR WOMEN

I totally agree with the Jan. 4 forum entry “Women in combat”. I have been in the Marine Corps for nine years. After deploying to Iraq and going outside the wire with an infantry battalion, I realized women do not belong on the battlefield. The male Marines were outstanding and very supportive, but the locals were the problem. Locals thought female Marines were a joke when they saw us on patrol.

I am not saying that women can’t handle the job of a Marine. I am just saying that having them on the battlefield causes way too many problems.

Females get pregnant. They are a distraction to males who are away from their wives and girlfriends. People have to watch their words for fear of a misstep that could cause a sexual harassment case.

The way I have felt for the past nine years is nothing I would ever want my daughter to experience.

Now, as a mother, I can see why my mother never wanted me to join the Marine Corps. I love the Corps but I feel, as women, we should go back to the way things used to be. Every day in the Marine Corps is a struggle to compete and be a leader. At least I will retire in 2011 knowing I gave 110 percent.

Sgt. Charity Perrine

Jacksonville, N.C.

PROBLEMS WITH THE IAR

I have never understood the reasoning behind the Infantry Automatic Rifle. Now that I’ve read the Dec. 28 article discussing Commandant Gen. James Conway’s own concerns regarding the IAR [“Conway says SAW’s firepower would be hard to give up”], I am even more confused. If the commandant is not convinced that the IAR is a good replacement for the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, then why is Marine Corps Systems Command still testing it and staying on track to purchase it in 2010?

I have a couple of concerns regarding what the IAR brings to the tactical fight. First, where is the suppressive firepower? A 30-round magazine does not provide enough, no matter how fast the magazines are changed.

Second, automatic riflemen may have trouble carrying ammunition. A SAW gunner is typically carrying three 200-round belts versus the 12-18 30-round magazines a gunner would need to carry with the IAR. It is relatively easy to carry 600 rounds of belt ammunition compared to 360 to 540 rounds in many bulky magazines.

I’m not convinced a magazine-fed rifle will provide the firepower that we need in the current fight. Are we going to change our tactics to field a weapon?

Staff Sgt. Ian Vissers

Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif.

SEND SUICIDE CONDOLENCES

In regards to providing full honors for those who commit suicide, let us not kid ourselves. There is no honor in suicide. It is a tragic loss that curses those who survive and inflicts untold pain on the immediate family.

Suicide is a personal choice. The more that we wrap it in the flag and call it a legitimate response to personal pain, or blame it on others, the more people will become vulnerable to it. A stigma actually helps to maintain a cultural taboo that prevents most people from resorting to the act when they are vulnerable. If you remove the cultural inhibition, you put others at risk. The suicide rate will continue to climb if our society removes its disapprobation. We need to have the moral courage to say that suicide is wrong.

On the other hand, families of those who kill themselves need and deserve help and understanding. The family should not be stigmatized. As such, it is appropriate for the president to send a letter of sympathy to a family of a military person who kills himself. The letter should not glamorize the person or blame the country for the act. Rather, it should say, “I care, and I am sorry for your loss.”

Navy Cmdr. William Payne

Camp Lejeune, N.C.

‘AVATAR’ A DIGITAL DISSERVICE

Lost amid the staggering commercial success of “Avatar” and obscured by the punditry of the left and right as they debate James Cameron’s social and historical commentary are the real warriors whose heroism, valor and selfless service has allowed the U.S. to leave a war in Iraq that many in 2006 thought was unwinnable and indeed salvage success from the jaws of calamity.

“Avatar” takes sophomoric shots at our military culture and uses the lore of the Marine Corps and over-the-top stereotyping of Marine warriors to set the context for the screenplay. This does a disservice to our Corps of Marines and the publics’ understanding of their Corps.

The Marine Corps embraces a warrior-scholar mentality and prides itself on understanding host country narratives and sensitivities in complex climes and places. Gen. James Mattis, whose catch-phrase is “no better friend, no worse enemy,” better captures the essence of Marines who helped usher in the Sunni Awakening in Anbar province than the cinemagraphically convenient colonel-turned-mercenary antagonist in “Avatar.”

Let’s view “Avatar” for what it is, a leap in the wizardry of cinema, a digital fantasy and a vehicle for a film-maker to make a statement, but not emblematic of the Marines who honorably fight and fall to win our nation’s real battles today.

Col. Bryan Salas director of public affairs

Headquarters Marine Corps