Can females be gunners?

[tripletgirl101]

Okay so, I know that from reading the book Band of Sisters that a female Marine was a gunner, but very few are. How did she get to become a gunner? Is this very rare? Thank you!

[smoking gunz]

She put in an application and asked nicely

[tripletgirl101]

She put in an application and asked nicely

Haha, :bunny: The things that make me laugh.... :banana:

[PaidinBlood]

Probably have a better chance in the Army...
http://www.soldiersperspective.us/images/May2005/female_gunners.jpg

Nah I'm just kidding. Obviously we didn't have any females but I did on occasion see supply convoys with hard charging ladies on the gun. The more backwards bigots amongst our ranks were pretty amused when they tried screaming vic/pax counts over the sound of the convoys but I was of course above such immature behavior....:D

All joking aside, I guess the best Marine for the job gets it, and if you are in a unit that needs Marines in the turret and you are up to it then you'll get your chance. Spent plenty of time in every position of the truck and honestly turret is overrated. This war is being fought in a fishbowl and the huge battle of conscience between taking lives unnecessarily and protecting your Marines weighs heavily. ROE/EOF SOPs will become second nature or you will find yourself in the brig. Besides that it is dusty and dangerous. Good luck to you-keep on truckin..:thumbup:

[PaidinBlood]

Take every chance in training, however. Plenty of air up there and no IEDs stateside. Besides there is a Zen-like quality to going to town on an "up-gun". Happiness is a belt-fed weapon!

[richerich]

On a side not, I remember my Rifle instructor told us that female Marines were far more accurate, statistically on the the range. I don't know if it's true, but I don't doubt it.

[PaidinBlood]

I've heard the same, and there do seem to be plenty on competition teams. Not knocking anyone, but regardless of gender being a turret gunner (especially lead gunner) has about as much to do with shooting as being a sniper-which is to say not so much as you might think. It is essential to be accurate with your weapon system, but there are so many factors besides trigger pulling...

[commdog7]

The Marine Corps' official stance is females will not be gunners, but in certain units it is allowed. I've known female Marines who acted as gunners for convoy missions, most of them volunteered for the position. I never got to be a gunner, but I sure wanted too- it looked pretty cool.

Females are generally better shooters than the males. There are two main reasons for this. One, most males have fired some type of rifle sometime in their childhood, and therefore have developed bad habits. And two, females are better with obeying instructions. Most males tend to think they know how to shoot and do not listen to the instructor. This isn't true with all males/females, but it is true in most cases.

[PaidinBlood]

Possibly but I don't think this is true with MGs. Like I said, never been within 50m of a lady training so don't go calling me a critic... :D

[commdog7]

I was referring to the standard M16A2 (or M4), not the crew served weapons. But from what I have seen, female Marines are just as good as the male Marines when firing the MGs.

[PaidinBlood]

Like I said, not here to put anyone down-I'll trust you. While I think VERY few people get enough trigger time to develop bad machine gunning habits prior to service, I will admit that men cannot follow directions. :D

[Achped]

Females are generally better shooters than the males. There are two main reasons for this. One, most males have fired some type of rifle sometime in their childhood, and therefore have developed bad habits. And two, females are better with obeying instructions. Most males tend to think they know how to shoot and do not listen to the instructor. This isn't true with all males/females, but it is true in most cases.


You know, I really have to disagree with this. I hear it all the freaking time but I know alot of female Marines, and I know not a single one with an expert badge from the rifle range. Boot PFCs, SSgts, Gunnys, Lts, it doesnt matter. I've never met one with an expert badge. In fact, the only one I've ever seen was a female SgtMaj on a poster for women's history month at Camp Johnson. For the record, the other 2 female Marines in the poster were marksman. Everyone says they shoot better but I've never seen it...

[Quinbo]

I was witness to General Krulak promoting a female Lcpl to Cpl on the spot after she shot a possible from the 600 during the interservice rifle matches. She was already a distinguished marksman.

When I read the title of this thread I thought it was gonna be about the gunners with a bursting bomb on one collar. I'm not sure but I don't think there has ever been one.

[tripletgirl101]

Thank you very much. So the female Marine in my book was just probably a volunteer and not a full time gunner?

Also, has there ever been a female Marine that has the MOS of a gunner (sorry but I do not know what that would be)

[commdog7]

You know, I really have to disagree with this. I hear it all the freaking time but I know alot of female Marines, and I know not a single one with an expert badge from the rifle range. Boot PFCs, SSgts, Gunnys, Lts, it doesnt matter. I've never met one with an expert badge. In fact, the only one I've ever seen was a female SgtMaj on a poster for women's history month at Camp Johnson. For the record, the other 2 female Marines in the poster were marksman. Everyone says they shoot better but I've never seen it...

You haven't met the female Marines I know. I shot a 236 in boot camp, but I wasn't even the highest shooter in the platoon. We had quite a few experts.

[commdog7]

Thank you very much. So the female Marine in my book was just probably a volunteer and not a full time gunner?

Also, has there ever been a female Marine that has the MOS of a gunner (sorry but I do not know what that would be)

They were volunteers, females do not get that mos.

[PaidinBlood]

Thank you very much. So the female Marine in my book was just probably a volunteer and not a full time gunner?

Also, has there ever been a female Marine that has the MOS of a gunner (sorry but I do not know what that would be)


No such MOS-sorry. Just an incidental duty involving a scientific selection process. "Hey you-get your as$ up there, we're rolling in five..."

[tripletgirl101]

No such MOS-sorry. Just an incidental duty involving a scientific selection process. "Hey you-get your as$ up there, we're rolling in five..."

Haha okay. Thank you.

[PaidinBlood]

Here you go. Maybe this will explain a little more. The picture will probably be different by the time you hit the fleet, but the action in Iraq has slowed down enough (in Marine AOs) that people are coming out of the woodwork trying to get their cherry popped and say they did grunt-work. I say good on them because the pros are needed in Afghan and elsewhere.

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/september072008/iraq_090708.php

[PaidinBlood]

http://www.salem-news.com/gphotos/1220816737.jpg

[0231Marine]

http://www.salem-news.com/gphotos/1220816737.jpg

Is that even a female?

[PaidinBlood]

Is that even a female?


Seriously? That's my little sister. :cry:

[SGT7477]

Probably have a better chance in the Army...
http://www.soldiersperspective.us/images/May2005/female_gunners.jpg

Nah I'm just kidding. Obviously we didn't have any females but I did on occasion see supply convoys with hard charging ladies on the gun. The more backwards bigots amongst our ranks were pretty amused when they tried screaming vic/pax counts over the sound of the convoys but I was of course above such immature behavior....:D

All joking aside, I guess the best Marine for the job gets it, and if you are in a unit that needs Marines in the turret and you are up to it then you'll get your chance. Spent plenty of time in every position of the truck and honestly turret is overrated. This war is being fought in a fishbowl and the huge battle of conscience between taking lives unnecessarily and protecting your Marines weighs heavily. ROE/EOF SOPs will become second nature or you will find yourself in the brig. Besides that it is dusty and dangerous. Good luck to you-keep on truckin..:thumbup:
Marines must be close by,lol.

[AmyG]

I was a gunner in Iraq. I'm a field MP and we did convoy security. I didn't have to volunteer. They just put me up there and I was more than happy to do it.

[PaidinBlood]

Semper Fi. That's what we're talking about. What gun/vic did you man?

[smoking gunz]

My advice is stay away from the turret. Its stressful and way overrated. You wait to get blown up, sand always gets in your eyes some how, you stand the whole time, and a lot of responsibility with roes and such. One burst could get you 15 to life. I never saw action in the turret other than popping flares at cars or waving a red flag to warn cars they were getting to close. All of my firefights were during foot patrols. Its rare to fire your weapon while in the turret now, especially with pressure plate ieds and new enemy tactics. But if thats what you want to then good on you. Always ask about the crew serves, assemble and disaseble every chance you get, know all the mg knowledge, always ask for range time. So when a convoy does pop up youll know the gun like the back of your hand and no one could ever say your not qualified to stand in the turret

[commdog7]

My advice is stay away from the turret. Its stressful and way overrated. You wait to get blown up, sand always gets in your eyes some how, you stand the whole time, and a lot of responsibility with roes and such. One burst could get you 15 to life. I never saw action in the turret other than popping flares at cars or waving a red flag to warn cars they were getting to close. All of my firefights were during foot patrols. Its rare to fire your weapon while in the turret now, especially with pressure plate ieds and new enemy tactics. But if thats what you want to then good on you. Always ask about the crew serves, assemble and disaseble every chance you get, know all the mg knowledge, always ask for range time. So when a convoy does pop up youll know the gun like the back of your hand and no one could ever say your not qualified to stand in the turret

Rah!

[KawiGunny]

The Marine Corps' official stance is females will not be gunners, but in certain units it is allowed. I've known female Marines who acted as gunners for convoy missions, most of them volunteered for the position. I never got to be a gunner, but I sure wanted too- it looked pretty cool.

Females are generally better shooters than the males. There are two main reasons for this. One, most males have fired some type of rifle sometime in their childhood, and therefore have developed bad habits. And two, females are better with obeying instructions. Most males tend to think they know how to shoot and do not listen to the instructor. This isn't true with all males/females, but it is true in most cases.


I agree with the part of females being better (in general) for shooting on the range. I saw it a lot when I was stationed at PISC. They do tend ti listen better.

However, when it comes to crewserved weapons on top of a vehicle, I will have to disagree. I was born an 0331 many back in 1986. The lack of training/experiance in my main issue. 0331's spend a lot of time on the range learning all they can about employing their weapons effectively. Especially the Wpns Company machinegunners. I was in 4 seperate Wpns Company's through the years and we trained hard prior to deployments to be able to employ our weapons in the most adverse climate. I used to tale my guys out when I knew it was going to rain and we would train. Would do the same when I knew the heat was going to be the hottest. Or when I knew the winter would be at its coldest. All this helps to build confidence. Even without training in the extremes of the weather, I would never allow anyone to just volunteer to jump up in the turret. I had plenty of people wanting to do that in Iraq. I always told them no. Even told my BC once I didn't want him up there because he lacked experiance. He looked at me and laughed and said "your an a$$ Gunny". I told him yes i was but the safety of me and my Marines comes before anyone else desires to say they manned a gun in combat. We went way back to when I was a LCpl and he was a fresh butter bar.

I have no problem with a woman being in the turret in combat provided she has proved to be effective during training. That turret can be a real biotch sometimes. Besides, it would make for some good eyeball liberty with a female in the turret and you were sitting in the back seat. :D Chill out people.....just joking.

[MotherGoose]

You know, I really have to disagree with this. I hear it all the freaking time but I know alot of female Marines, and I know not a single one with an expert badge from the rifle range. Boot PFCs, SSgts, Gunnys, Lts, it doesnt matter. I've never met one with an expert badge. In fact, the only one I've ever seen was a female SgtMaj on a poster for women's history month at Camp Johnson. For the record, the other 2 female Marines in the poster were marksman. Everyone says they shoot better but I've never seen it...

Consider having met one then, I was rifle expert and pistol expert. How many female marines do you know? 20?

[Quinbo]

Having coached a few lady Marines across the range I can say the gonads, heuvos or what ever has to do with marksmanship. Some women are outstanding at marksmanship and some suck at it. Just like the guys. There is no way you can say that because they have a split tail they are naturally better or worse marksman. I just want to see a female hump the reciever for a .50 to the top of fuji. Saw a woman once throw a super single into the back of a 5 ton. Wouldn't want to run into her in a dark alley.

[Isrowei]

This is going to make me popular...

While I'm sure there are a number of both male and female marksmanship experts, female qual rates have not been equal to the male rates at PISC in quite some time.