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Marine Corps Commercial On Women In Combat Turns Into Fight Over Political Correctness

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Jonah Bennett Contributor
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The Marine Corps’ first-ever recruitment video showing a woman in combat quickly devolved into a spat about political correctness after it was posted to Facebook Friday.

The recruitment commercial, called “Battle Up,” shows a young girl confronting bullies, playing rugby and then evolving into a Marine later in life, at which point she leads other Marines and engages in a firefight through an ambush. The final scene shows her helping the homeless. Marine Capt. Erin Demochko, who served in Afghanistan, played the woman.

The video has already racked up almost half a million views after being posted to the Marine Corps’ official Facebook page Friday.

Almost as soon as the commercial appeared on Facebook, conversation devolved into a spat about political correctness. The first comment by Facebook user Chris Clark reads: “had to be a chick…tired of all this political correct bullshit…. now let all the man haters come out of the woodwork…”

Immediately, the Marine Corps page responded and said: “That’s not a “chick”, Chris. You’re watching a Marine.”

“USMC feminization underway. Old Mud Marine is bothered by this. Semper Fi!” another Facebook user wrote.

Still others, instead of outright opposing female Marines, said they wouldn’t mind females around, so long as they meet the same standards.

“I look at it this way, if they are thick skinned, can meet the same standards as us and perform just as well,” one user wrote. “Then by all means you can fight a long side us. But all the PC bullshit goes out the window, you will be treated the same, held accountable just as much as the male counterparts.”

Others opted to shame those who disagreed with the idea of women in combat.

That the Obama administration opened up all combat roles to women has functioned as a major source of conflict among servicemembers, veterans and also the public, as evidenced by the heated debate in response to the Marine Corps’ latest commercial. However, Trump’s man in the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense James Mattis, has signaled he will not reverse the Obama administration’s decision to open up combat roles to women.

While publicly, many military officials have insisted that the change gives the armed services access to a whole new pool of talent, a DOD report issued earlier this year found that a focus group of 12 junior female officers believed that gender integration is really about forwarding a “social agenda.”

“These women did not view gender integration as a requirement to ensure the broadest possible pool of talent is available for national security,” the report stated.

The point of the latest commercial was to show that the service is not “only looking for a few good men,” Maj. Gen. Paul, head of Marine Corps Recruiting Command, told the Associated Press.

“We’re actually using all of our recurring efforts to find good women as well,” he added.

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