The USMC puts on a clinic on how to lower standards to accommodate women while denying that anything is being done to accommodate women. From Infantry Officer Course lowers requirement for hikes. Brig. Gen. Jason Q. Bohm leads the way, explaining that the goal was not to reduce the number of students who failed, but to increase the number who passed:

…it was not about lowering attrition, it was about making students more successful to complete the course.

Inspired by the masterful work of Gen Bohm, Marine Corps Times senior reporter Shawn Snow tries his own hand. Snow explains that the changes followed a full court press by feminists to lower the standards to move women into a previously all male field.

The Corps has come under criticism regarding the notoriously grueling 13-week infantry course that so far has only seen one woman successfully graduate.

But the changes can’t be due to an effort to help women, since the class in question used to be a male dominated field:

But most washouts from the IOC are men — only 35 women have attempted the course, and only five of those have attended the IOC after the job field was opened to women.

Most importantly, when the Corps lowered the standards, it had nothing to do with lowering standards:

The recent changes, the Corps argues, have nothing to do with gender integration in the combat arms job fields or a watering down of any standards.

Key to obscuring the change is to have all of the students continue to go through the motions:

While the Corps has modified graduation requirements to accurately reflect the infantry manual, Marines attending the course will still have to participate in all the events. … “The course is as hard as it’s ever been. We did not do away with any training events,” Bohm said.

And while the standards haven’t been lowered as part of the effort to integrate women, the standard was lowered as a result of the push to integrate women:

One of the evaluated hikes was changed to meet gender-neutral standards referred to as Military Occupational Specialty Specific Performance Standards, or MSPS, Bohm said. The 2015 NDAA called for the service branches to draft gender-neutral standards as the services began gender integration into the combat jobs previously closed to women. That hike that was changed is the 15-km hike, which must be completed within three hours while humping 105 lbs of kit and weapons.

But as good as he is, even Snow can’t keep up with the General’s masterful use of doublethink:

But the Corps has struggled to adequately explain how its changes to the IOC are not an attempt to make the course easier, especially if one of the intended goals is to increase graduation numbers.

Back to that march that was made easier as a result of the push to integrate women (but doesn’t represent a watering down of standards to accommodate women). Here the USMC has outdone itself by creating a structure where the men will have to carry the heavy gear for the women, all with plausible deniability (emphasis mine):

Previously, Marines had to conduct a single file forced march carrying heavy and medium weapon systems that could weigh anywhere from 125 lbs-150 lbs. “There was a lot of angst about our students having to carry 150 lbs,” Bohm said. Now the hike is done as a tactical displacement, where Marines practice bounding during a simulated attack. The Marines are no longer required to single-handedly carry all 125-150 lbs, and can pass the weight off to a buddy as they tire.

Brilliant!

H/T Lost Patrol.

See Also: How to cover up a girly Marine cover.