Sunday, September 25, 2011

Female Veterans

Tormented by combat and sexual trauma. It makes me angry to read about it.
June Moss struggled with suicidal tendencies and depression after returning home from her tour in Iraq. Nearly one in six members of the US military on active duty is a woman. Coming to terms with what they experience, especially when they come home, can take a terrible toll. Women in the US military have come a long way since a WWII recruiting poster urged them to 'Free a Marine to Fight' by joining up in support roles. Today 14.5% of active duty members of the US military are women. And even though they're not strictly in combat roles, women are experiencing warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan just like the men do. Women, too, are suffering from post traumatic stress disorder as a result of the horrors they've seen. Coping with that, and with being a mother, poses problems of its own. Take June Moss, a mother of two who was a staff sergeant in the US army shortly after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. (Read entire article.)
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9 comments:

Nancy Reyes said...

Strategypage discusses the problem of women in combat HERE. Women respond to stress differently than men, and many more are single mothers...

The feminists pushed this through because they wanted to prove women and men were identical and interchangable...never mind biology. Sigh.

elena maria vidal said...

Thanks, Boinky, that is very helpful. You are so right.

Julygirl said...

I had a friend who is a veteran of Vietnam and early on in this Middle East upheaval he pointed out the problems that would develop from placing women in combat. One was that the male soldiers would become competitive for the female's attention and instead of bonding they would be competitors. The other being the insanity of sending uniformed women into a country whose women live a somewhat cloistered existence and are demonized if they stray from that. we are trying to win over the hearts and minds of these people and lead them into OUR version of what modern civilization is all about, which they abhor.

May said...

I don't approve of sending women into combat. End of story.

Divine Theatre said...

Affirmative Action can get a woman into the military but it cannot make her competent in that regard. Lower standards does not a strong army make. Furthermore, do they understand the concept of war prior to joining the ranks? Self pity is so ugly.
I did a research paper in college on the topic of women in the military. In the Marines, over 70% of female recruits cannot throw a grenade past its burst radius. Further, the number of pregnant recruits who had to take leave due to pregnancy is utterly embarrassing and ridiculous.
Mothers who love their children do not abandon them in pursuit of a military career. That is either utter selfishness or extremely poor planning. Ultimately, it is her children who suffer.

Julygirl said...

Good information DivineTheater regarding the hand grenade toss distance. I had not even considered that in my opposition to women in the military....also the pregancy issue. I totally agree with you regarding leaving children and putting ones life at risk if one is a mother...their are other career paths to chose from if one is so intent on 'working outside the home'!!

Lostlady said...

Divine Theater is right - A man gone from his children for a year or two makes no difference to his children or his family at all.

Please MEN - GO! We won't wait!

Try treating women with the respect they deserve and have earned!

US Military Poster: Neanderthals Need NOT Apply!

Divine Theatre said...

Unfortunately, "LostLady" attempted to interpret my post with prejudice.
The article clearly states that the women were single mothers. In abandoning their children they left them without a mother or a father, Lady. Further, if you wish to be taken seriously in any regard, including the military, don't demand special treatment.
My husband is a law enforcement officer. His female counterparts are not only, for the most part, incompetent, they also expect special treatment. Oftentimes, they have to partner up with the men, although men drive solo. They are not as strong as the men. Period. They cannot do the job. Most have had to get special dispensation during training...over 90% of them get hurt before they even begin their employment! When they get pregnant they are taken off the streets and placed in a comfy office position, gunbelt encircling their pregnant bellies...all the training for naught.
I wonder how Affirmative Action has not only affected our safety but our GDP?

The North Coast said...

I tend to agree that women are not equipped to serve as soldiers and that the military culture is very anti-female by nature and will most likely always remain so. I am an old 70s "women's libber" and I'll be the first to assert that perhaps that most women are not competent to serve in jobs where fighting ability and physical strength are the main job requirements.

Having said that, I'd also like to remind everyone that what our female military people experience is NOTHING compared to what female civilians in invaded countries go through. We who live in a country that has never been invaded by a foreign force have no idea what the defenseless civilian population of an invaded country has to endure, and how helpless these unarmed people are in the face of an invasion.

So, while I am not supportive of women serving in combat roles in the military, I DO believe that women should all receive some weapons and combat training, against the day when we don't have the protection and safety we take for granted. I have personally never handled a weapon or felt comfortable around them, and I often feel that it would be good to know how to defend myself against an invader.