View Full Version : Female Engagement Teams (FET) ?
So, the first woman to attempt SEAL selection has quit (1), which will come as a surprise to no one, but I digress. What caught my attention was the mention of Female Engagement Teams (FET), something I have never heard of, supposedly working as support units in combat zones. Anyone have intel on that? Note in vid at approx sec 53, one gal is obese and hardly fits into her gear. She's also not carrying a gun, interpreter perhaps? I'd expect obesity not common in that part of the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3JfGOhiWAk
(1) http://sealgrinderpt.com/news/first-female-seal-candidate-quits.html/
I think they've been around a while, had a co-worker that did something like that around 2012. Google it and there's an article from army.mil discussing them.
Supposesly they interact with the women in the village, essentially gather gossip, as other forms of intel gathering.
I think they've been around a while, had a co-worker that did something like that around 2012. Google it and there's an article from army.mil discussing them.
Supposesly they interact with the women in the village, essentially gather gossip, as other forms of intel gathering.
Now that was funny, and I can see how it would be potentially useful too. Women do talk and prefer to talk with other women, so good on them and valuable I'd imagine. The vid suggests they are direct fire support for their male counterparts however, which seems unlikely to me, but not my lane.
I think in certain countries it makes sense. A male soldier may not be able to talk to a female civilian without her minder present. Following her own customs she may be hesitant to talk without a male relative present or even with him present.
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PattonWasRight
08-08-17, 09:33
Probably a necessity if want to gather intel from Muslim gals. If I understand Muslim culture correctly, it is improper for a Muslim woman to even walk in public with a man that is not a family relative.
LowSpeed_HighDrag
08-08-17, 09:58
FET has been around for a very long time, nothing secretive about it. For what they do, some would argue that they have been successful, especially in an intel only role. I would also assume that the overweight lady was a terp.
FET has been around for a very long time, nothing secretive about it. For what they do, some would argue that they have been successful, especially in an intel only role. I would also assume that the overweight lady was a terp.
No claims of secret squirrel status was made. This seems like a smart, targeted, intelligent use of women in the mil, via the Corp. Women do have unique abilities they bring to the mil and when identified and utilized as such, a win win for all.
Failure2Stop
08-08-17, 11:05
Their effectiveness and utility is exaggerated.
My dealings with them in combat zones is one of the contributing factors to my staunch disagreement with female integration with ground combat elements.
This is the biggest failure that America has had in GWOT. I am not talking about the FET (USMC) or the CST (Army) specifically, those are also EPIC train wrecks. I am talking about the ignorance about Islam and the individual cultural understanding of the countries that we have been working in. Americans think that men can't speak to Muslim woman and American woman can. Both are completely incorrect. I am not getting into the different nuances of the countries and how US men CAN talk to and even medically treat the woman there without offending them or the men. I will tell you that it is just as offensive to the men when US woman talk to their woman. I have actually seen an Afghani man walk over and slap and drag away his wife when she was approached by a US female soldier. He did this right after she tried to talk to one of his men.
I really like analogies as they are great to show examples. Here is one for this situation. For all of you that have children have you ever had a friend or relative that had children that were no good or criminals? It would be OK for you to talk to your cousin but you don;t want his criminal child to talk to your child. Why? Because you don't want them to be a bad influence on them. This is how the Afghani men feel about US woman. They will tolerate the US men because it can be advantageous but they see no upside having US woman talking to their woman.
The problem is that the US leadership doesn't understand that. And the cultural information that they are getting are from uninformed people that look it up on Wikipedia or other less repairable souses.
This is the biggest failure that America has had in GWOT. .
Their effectiveness and utility is exaggerated.
My dealings with them in combat zones is one of the contributing factors to my staunch disagreement with female integration with ground combat elements.
Good to hear feedback from those who have actually had experience with those units vs feel good marketing vid.
What Jack and Doc said.
Back in 06-08 Iraq they were called "Lionesses", they were used to search female Iraqis at checkpoints. A buddy of mine started calling them the draggin-asses. Yeah he got in trouble. And they brought a lot of drama with them. Drove wedges between guys in the platoon due to everyone wanting to get laid on deployment.
Coal Dragger
08-08-17, 12:18
Their effectiveness and utility is exaggerated.
My dealings with them in combat zones is one of the contributing factors to my staunch disagreement with female integration with ground combat elements.
This.
Had more or less the equivalent in 2004 in Al Anbar work with us a few times (I'm a former Marine 0351). Didn't really do much in the way of "female engagement" with local females, and even though most of them were good Marines working alongside an infantry unit doing infantry shit just seemed a bit much for them.
.......And they brought a lot of drama with them. Drove wedges between guys in the platoon due to everyone wanting to get laid on deployment.
See, what we need to do it send them to combat MOS/NEC training and put them with us in the field....
Seriously, a nice example of the issues of integration into the combat arms.
I never had any direct dealing with them, but always looked at them with a suspicious eye.
We never had any when I was in but a few infantry guys that I talked to that had them all had bad things to say. Not necessarily that their role wasn't worthwhile but that when firefights started they couldn't hack it. Even carrying a basic load (M4 with 7 mags) they had a hard time making the movements and keeping up. And no one carries just a basic load in the infantry.
Ive said it before, Ive served with a couple female Soldiers that I would have no problem sharing a pill box with if the Mongol horde was cresting the hill. But infantry isn't about just hanging around one spot and shooting things.
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