Posted on 10/13/2001, 1:49:28 PM by Pokey78
Just eight years after being allowed to fly military jets in front-line squadrons, women are so thoroughly integrated throughout the military that few Americans seem to notice they are at the controls of some of the war planes hitting targets in Afghanistan.
Women are among the most senior Navy pilots on U.S. aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf, and some have patrolled the "No Fly Zone" over southern Iraq and dropped bombs on Bosnia. Several female pilots are stationed aboard the USS Carl Vinson and have participated in air strikes against the Taliban.
Tom Draude, a retired Marine general and member of a 1992 presidential commission that studied allowing women in combat, said they are an essential part of U.S. forces.
"Women are a critical component of our war fighting capabilities -- and the American public recognizes and respects their contributions," said Draude, a Vietnam and Persian Gulf war veteran. "I remember being told before [the Persian Gulf War] that Americans would never tolerate women coming home in body bags -- and they tolerated it. I was told Americans would never tolerate women becoming prisoners of war -- and they tolerated that, too."
About 40,000 American women and 500,000 American men fought in the Persian Gulf War. Thirteen U.S. women were killed and two became prisoners. Today, women comprise about 14 percent of all active-duty personnel, with the highest proportion, about 19 percent, found in the Air Force and the lowest, about 6 percent, in the Marines. The Navy's first female combat pilots went to sea in 1994, a year after the law was changed to allow them to fly in combat, and participated in their first air strikes in 1997 against Iraq.
Draude said female pilots flying over Afghanistan face brutal treatment if captured by the Taliban, a fundamentalist regime that prohibits Afghan women from attending schools or having jobs. Taliban fighters routinely tortured and executed male Soviet prisoners during a 10-year war in Afghanistan.
"A woman POW is going to receive especially horrific treatment," said Draude. "But they know the risks and accept them."
Missy Cummings, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate and former Navy pilot, said female fliers have overcome hostility and resentment from some of their own male shipmates. But animosity has diminished in recent years as women have proven themselves on the job.
"It's better now because women have been there longer and gained more trust," she said. "But women are still a small minority in tactical aviation. They still have a hard time gaining acceptance."
The fact that American women are flying jets and working aboard combat ships is also a source of tension for U.S. allies, such as Saudi Arabia, that prohibit women from driving cars or baring their shoulders. Military experts say American military personnel keep out of view as much as possible in Arab countries. And when U.S. women venture out in public, they abide by local customs.
Matthew Morris, an associate professor at Emory University and Vietnam veteran, says those kinds of restrictions seem strange to Americans accustomed to seeing women perform dangerous jobs at home.
"Women are police officers in our inner cities," he said. "Women were among the initial victims in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The idea that men can somehow keep them safe and protected is long gone."
American women serve in all U.S. military branches, but they are prohibited from ground combat units likely to play prominent roles in the fight against terrorism.
Lucas Carpenter, an Emory University professor and Vietnam veteran, says those exclusions, too, are likely to be challenged in the future.
"The issues surrounding women serving in combat infantry haven't been settled yet," Carpenter said. "That discussion is still open."
Assignments for Women
Many assignment options vital to our national defense are open to women in the Navy and Marine Corps. Women may fly planes as a pilot or naval flight officer or drive ships as a surface warfare officer. The Navy is now assigning women to combat vessels following the repeal of the combat exclusion law (Section 6015, Title 10, U.S. Code). As a result, a woman could be assigned aboard a variety of Navy ships such as cruisers, destroyers, aircraft carriers, doc landing ships, oilers, tenders, frigates or supply ships in the Atlantic or Pacific fleets. Despite the combat exclusioin law repeal, currently women are not assigned to train and serve as SEALs nor in submarines. Women also may choose to enter the Marine Corps. Women Marine Corps officers can be assigned to all career fields available to male officers, except infantry, artillery and armor. Women may also enter restricted line or staff corps specialties such as oceanography, intelligence, supply or civil engineering if not physically qualified for aviation, ships or Marine Corps. Additionally, a very limited number of billets in medicine are available each year to all graduates who are accepted for admission by an accredited medical school.
At least the Marines and Seals are safe, somewhat. V's wife.
TROUBLE IS, HAVING WOMEN IN OR NEAR COMBAT PUTS OTHERS' LIVES AT RISK.
I know which way I'd bet. :)
The only thing more demoralizing to those loosers than being defeated by a woman would be to spray them with pig fat (or shoot them with bullets dipped in it).
We ought to send an army of androphobic lesbians after those clowns.
Any questions?
LOL!!
What we really should do is drop leaflets showing American women taking off from US aircraft carriers and dropping high-tech munitions.
That would definitely cause the Taliban thugs to have to clean their robes.
Once in a public waiting room, I watched a young woman--early 20's--and her baby.
She was beautiful, lovely, and delicate. She seemed fragile.
But as I sat there musing, I began to see in her the strength of the soil as well as the beauty of the flowers (a concept that did not originate with me).
Creatures just like her have prevailed over the cruelest hardships, the most bitter circumstances, since the dawn of the human race. And no doubt she would too.
She had already withstood pregnancy and childhood.
In her protectiveness of the child I could see a fierceness like nothing else on this planet.
Creatures like her crossed the Atlantic in wooden ships, went west in covered wagons, made crops grow, prevailed over slavery!
Never underestimate the power of a woman.
Amen...
Go GIRLS!!!!!!!!
What escaped him was that he and his "elite" troops couldn't even overcome American girls in shorts.
What a bunch a loosers!
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