Free Republic

At 9 o’clock this morning, Sgt. Sandra Coast will graduate from Basic Combat Training on Fort Leonard Wood, officially beginning her Army career — at 51 years old. According to the U.S. Army Recruiting Command, the average age for an Army Reserve recruit is about 23, making Coast one of the oldest people to go through Basic Combat Training. “Everybody in the world thinks I am a total nutcase,” Coast said. “I just want to support our troops. I love all of them.” From 1982 to 1993, Coast devoted her life to the U.S. Navy. She gave up her lifestyle...

The Pentagon made big news last week when it announced it was opening up more combat positions to women in the U.S. military. These 14,000 positions include tank mechanics and front line intelligence officers. However, about one-fifth of active-duty military positions, including the infantry, combat tank units and special operations commando units, will remain off-limits. ... Last week’s rule change in the United States was largely a reflection of the fact that women are, to a large extent, already participating in combat. Despite the restrictions in place, 144 American women have been killed and 865 wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq...

A retired female fighter pilot running for former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' open seat in Congress said Friday that Rick Santorum's recent remarks on women in combat make her want to "go kick him in the jimmy." Martha McSally, a retired US Air Force colonel and a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, is running in Arizona's congressional special election as a Republican. According to her Facebook page, she was the first American woman to fly in combat since the 1991 lifting of a ban on women in that role. Appearing Friday morning on FOX News Channel's "FOX & Friends," she...

Warship to be commanded by a woman for the first time in Navy's 500-year history By Daily Mail Reporter Lieutenant Commander Sarah West is in charge of HMS Portland A woman is to command a frontline warship for the first time in the history of the Royal Navy, it has emerged. Lieutenant Commander Sarah West, 39, is taking charge of HMS Portland - a 5,000-ton Type 23-Frigate which is prepared for 'total warfare'. Women, who were first allowed to go to sea with the Navy in 1990, have until now only commanded small non-fighting ships. Lt Cdr West is said...

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — For the first time in its 96-year history, a female general is taking charge at the famed Marine Corps training depot at South Carolina's Parris Island. Brig. Gen. Loretta Reynolds, who is also known as the first female Marine to ever hold a command position in a battle zone, takes charge Friday at the installation south of Beaufort.

Heather Pfleuger -- an exuberant, all-American, girl-next-door -- was transformed when she arrived in Afghanistan. She'd shrug into her body armor, strap on her helmet, yank on gloves, goggles and scarf, and slide down behind her turret-mounted Mark-19, a 40mm grenade launcher. From there, she could kill an armored vehicle and everybody in it a mile away. When she whooped with glee and led a convoy outside the wire, local Afghan fighters, hard men who'd faced down the Russians and the Taliban, fell respectfully silent. "Specialist Pfleuger can hit anything," her squad leader. Sgt. Kevin Collins, told me proudly. "I...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A military advisory commission is recommending that the Pentagon do away with a policy that bans women from serving in combat units, breathing new life into a long-simmering debate.

The Army is studying whether to open combat arms units to female Soldiers, the Army's top officer said Jan. 6. "We're looking at revising the policy," Gen. George W. Casey Jr. told a breakfast gathering of the Association of the U.S. Army in Arlington, Va. "We've had some work going on for a while, and that'll double back up to the secretary, I would think, in the next couple of months." Women are currently barred from infantry, armor and Special Forces branches, Casey said. He did not say whether the Army is considering opening up all three areas to women,...

WASHINGTON — The fight to allow gay and bisexual people to serve openly in the military is already drawing political blood in Washington, but tucked into the same 852-page Pentagon policy bill as the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” is a little-noticed amendment that takes on another emotionally charged issue: making abortion easier for military women in war zones. In a vote that advocates of abortion rights sought beforehand to keep quiet, the Senate Armed Services Committee passed a provision on May 27 to allow privately financed abortions at military hospitals and bases. Current law bans abortions in most...

WASHINGTON, April 29 (UPI) -- U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus formally announced a policy change Thursday clearing the decks for women to serve on submarines. Women had never been allowed to serve on submarines in the 110-year history of the underwater force. The new coed era will begin once selected female officers complete 15 months of training. The plan calls for three women to be assigned to eight crews attached to four guided-missile attack and ballistic missile submarines, the Navy said on its Web site. The change had been anticipated since Defense Secretary Robert Gates formally presented a letter to...

On the surface, the Navy's leadership has sounded exuberant in speaking publicly about its recent decision to begin deploying female sailors in the cramped confines of combat submarines by next year. But behind the scenes, the prospect of coed submarines is presenting medical and ship-construction challenges. A specialist on undersea medicine is warning Congress that the air inside a submarine can be hazardous to fetal development. "Atmosphere controls are different between ships and a submarine's sealed environment," retired Rear Adm. Hugh Scott, a former undersea medical officer, told The Washington Times. "There are all types of organic traces that off-gas...

WASHINGTON, March 15, 2010 – As we celebrate Women’s History Month, we reflect on the past generations that have served. One of those women, Dorothy Canty Forsberg, fondly referred to as “Dottie,” celebrates her 91st birthday today, and she recently recalled her experiences in uniform. World War II veteran Dorothy Canty Forsberg, known as “Dottie,” is part of the legacy of service by the nation’s women that’s honored each March during Women’s History Month. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Dottie served in World War II as a member of the U.S. Navy’s Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency...

Push for integrating women into the submarine service and expect the language to get a little ... salty.

The long-standing ban on stationing female sailors in submarines is about to become a thing of the past. This week the Pentagon sent a letter to lawmakers telling them of this change in Navy policy, adding that the first female officers will probably start appearing on nuclear submarines by next year. This is one more step forward for women in the military, although the ban on females serving in certain combat positions still remains intact. Women now make up some 15 percent of the all-volunteer services, and have become crucial to keeping the nation’s military operational.

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon seeks to lift a decades-old policy that prohibits women from serving aboard Navy submarines, part of a gradual reconsideration of women’s roles in a military fighting two wars whose front lines can be anywhere. At issue is the end of a policy that kept women from serving aboard the last type of ship off-limits to them. The thinking behind the previous policy was that the close quarters aboard subs would make coed service difficult to manage. Defense Secretary Robert Gates notified Congress in a letter signed Friday that the Navy intends to repeal the ban on...

The military isn't asking, it's telling. In a letter to Congress last week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates notified lawmakers that women will be allowed to serve on submarines for the first time in the Navy's 110-year history, ABC News reported. Congress has 30 days to pass a law to stop or delay the policy, but if it remains silent, women could be aboard Navy submarines in 18 months. The lifting of the ban removes one of the last glass ceilings for women in the military. Unless Congress steps in, women could be serving on Navy submarines for the first time...

The Pentagon will lift a decades-old policy that prohibits women from serving aboard Navy submarines. WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon has moved to lift a decades-old policy that prohibits women from serving aboard Navy submarines, part of a gradual reconsideration of women's roles in a military fighting two wars whose front lines can be anywhere. At issue is the end of a policy that kept women from serving aboard the last type of ship off-limits to them. The thinking was that the close quarters aboard subs would make coed service difficult to manage. Defense Secretary Robert Gates notified Congress in a...

The US navy has decided to allow women to serve on submarines, Pentagon officials said on Tuesday, ending one of the last all-male bastions in the American military. Defense Secretary Robert Gates approved the recommendation and sent letters to Congress on Monday informing lawmakers of the plan, officials said. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Admiral Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, had briefed Gates on the change and "he's endorsed it and sent it on to Congress," press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters. Lawmakers have 30 days to comment on the move before it goes into effect, officials said. American...

Women are a big step closer to serving on U.S. Navy submarines. ABC News has learned that the Navy has decided to lift the ban on female submarine crew members. Subs are one of the last places in the military from which women are excluded.

February & March 2010Table of ContentsFeatures:Mothers in Combat Boots By Mary EberstadtReassessing a military policy font-size: 300%; float: left; color: #000000; font-family: sabon,garamond,serif; In november 2009, one of the uglier fruits of the current practice of seeding mothers into the American military burst briefly onto the national stage. Ordered to Afghanistan from Hunter Army Airfield in Georgia, an Army cook named Alexis Hutchinson refused to go. A 21-year-old single mother, she explained that there was no one to care for her infant son because initial plans to leave him with her own mother had fallen through. What happened next should...

The United States Veterans Administration (VA), despite over half a century of experience in taking care of veterans, suddenly finds itself in unknown territory. That's because the last decade has produced, for the first time, a large number of female combat veterans. There are nearly a quarter million of them, including over 5,000 receiving disability benefits (for injuries received in combat, or non-combat, operations). The female veterans do not respond to the stresses of military service, or the physical injuries, the same way as men do. This has forced the VA to adapt, or at least try to. For example,...

A single mother from Oakland has been discharged from the Army for refusing to leave her infant son behind to go to Afghanistan, but she will not be court-martialed, her attorney said Thursday. Alexis Hutchinson, 21, had faced criminal charges at a court-martial for refusing to accompany her unit when it deployed in November. Although that is no longer a prospect, Hutchinson has been demoted from specialist to private and will lose all military and veteran benefits, said her attorney, Rae Sue Sussman of San Francisco. She said Hutchinson had been given an other-than-honorable discharge. In a statement, Hutchinson said...

Before After

(AP) Shoshana Johnson survived gunshot wounds to both legs and 22 days as a prisoner of war in Iraq. Life wasn't so easy when she came home, either. In a new book out this week, the 37-year-old single mother describes mental health problems related to her captivity and tells how it felt to play second fiddle in the media to fellow POW Jessica Lynch, who was captured in the same ambush. "It was kind of hurtful," the former Army cook said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "If I'd been a petite, cutesy thing, it would've been different."

For the first time ever, the Pentagon is requiring military bases worldwide to offer the so-called morning-after pill. WASHINGTON - The Pentagon for the first time will require military bases worldwide to offer emergency contraception or the so-called morning-after pill, a military spokesman told Fox News Friday. The decision follows a recommendation by an independent panel of doctors and pharmacists in November, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. The panel determined that emergency contraception should be added to the military's list of medications that must be stocked at each military facility. The decision represents a policy shift from the Bush administration...

Obama Admin Forces Military Hospitals to Stock Morning After Pill Washington, DC -- Late Thursday, the Obama administration issued a new order for the U.S. military requiring all military hospitals and health centers to stock the morning after pill. The Department of Defense will soon begin having military medical facilities stock the Plan B drug, which can sometimes cause an abortion. http://www.lifenews.com/nat5967.html

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon for the first time will require military bases worldwide to offer emergency contraception or the so-called morning-after pill, a military spokeswoman said Thursday. The decision follows a recommendation by an independent panel of doctors and pharmacists in November, said Defense Department spokeswoman Cynthia Smith. The panel determined that emergency contraception should be added to the military's list of medications that must be stocked at each military facility.

At 90, Anna Monkiewicz has a lifetime of stories and memories. The ones about flying start here. "My father had driven us over to see the planes take off and land" in Framingham, which, by the mid-1930s had two airfields: one at the Musterfield, used primarily for military planes, one for charter planes and flying lessons on Western Avenue near the Sherborn line. When she was a girl, there was also a small airfield in Natick, off Rte. 9, near the Wellesley line, the former Anna Flynn recalled.

SEATTLE — They were mavericks of their day, taking to the skies when the nation was at war and most women were at home caring for families. At a ceremony this spring, 11 Washington state women will join the 200-some surviving Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) in receiving Congressional Gold Medals for service during World War II. Sixteen more medals will be given to local WASPs posthumously. Congressional Gold Medals have been awarded nearly 150 times since the nation was born in 1776. The women join polio-vaccine inventor Dr. Jonas Salk and poet Robert Frost, as well as two other...

Women could soon be allowed to serve on Royal Navy submarines for the first time. Senior naval figures have opposed allowing women on subs due to the cramped conditions on board and the dangers posed by fumes inside the vessels to a foetus if a woman is pregnant. But a review of the ban was ordered last year following pressure from Labour figures keen to introduce full equal opportunities for women in the Armed Forces. The Royal Navy's new Astute attack submarines could easily be adapted to accommodate women and the Ministry of Defence has said that in the design...

1st Lt. Marjana Mair is confirmed as a Catholic at Tigris River Chapel in a ceremony presided over by Chaplain Maj. Tyson Wood. You could call it something of a religious trifecta for Marjana Mair. The soldier from Albany was among seven service members with the 1st Air Cavalry Brigade who just six days before Christmas were confirmed as Catholics while serving in Iraq. 1st Lt. Mair was also baptized and received her first communion.She was a Muslim for many years but wanted to become Catholic after studying the faith."I grew up (Muslim) for 18 years, but when I...

Early last month, Army Maj. Gen. Tony Cucolo (left) issued General Order #1 as a means of informing those assigned to his Multi-National Division North (a.k.a., "Task Force Marne") that becoming pregnant -- or assisting in the effort -- is one of several types of conduct deemed "prejudicial to the maintenance of good order and discipline" among members of the 22,000-strong task force headquartered in Tikrit, Iraq. In fact, it ranks alongside alcohol, drugs, guns and similar vices on the general's list of prohibited activities.

An Army general in Iraq backed away from his threat today to court martial female soldiers who get pregnant. "I see absolutely no circumstance where I would punish a female soldier by court martial for a violation ... none," Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo III wrote to ABC News in an exclusive statement. " I fully intend to handle these cases through lesser disciplinary action." Cucolo triggered debate, some of it angry, when his Nov. 4 policy forbidding pregnancy among his soldiers became public recently. His policy statement said violation of the rule could be punishable by court martial, and that...

Nobody wants to buy them a beer. Even near military bases, female veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan aren't often offered a drink on the house as a welcome home. More than 230,000 American women have fought in those recent wars and at least 120 have died doing so, yet the public still doesn't completely understand their contributions on the modern battlefield. For some, it's a lonely transition as they struggle to find their place.

On a crisp fall day in a cemetery in Queens, a Marine Corps honor guard blew taps over the country's oldest female Marine. Sgt. Miriam Cohen did not die jumping on a hand grenade, or storming the beaches of Normandy or battling the Japanese on Iwo Jima. Most appropriately, she died on Veteran's Day, one day after the 234th birthday of the United States Marines Corps. Cohen lived nearly half as long: She would have been 102 on Dec. 13. When World War II threatened civilization, this beautiful, gutsy Brooklyn gal answered the call of a bugle, just like the...

The Indian Air Force does not plan to train women to be fighter pilots. Neighboring Pakistan is not much better, even though it has seven female fighter pilots. They fly F-7s, a Chinese version of the Russian MiG-21. None have been in combat yet, despite the heavy use of jet fighter-bombers in nearly a year of fighting in the tribal territories. There, the more modern F-16s are doing most of the bombing of Taliban targets. The Indian air force leaders believe that it costs so much (over $2 million) to train a fighter pilot, that they air force needs 10-15...

The U.S. Army is dealing with an emotional and complicated case involving an Oakland woman. She's a single mother, scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan, even though she has no one to care for her 11-month-old baby. The woman is a 21-years-old single mom, who was almost on her way to Afghanistan. However, she is not the only one. A report released last month says 30,000 single mothers have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11. For now 11-month-old Kamani Hutchinson is being cared for by his grandmother, Angelique Hughes of Oakland. A few days ago she flew to...

I've been asked by many to repost this for Veteran's Day. This is what I have so far. Happy Veterans day to vets and active duty military. We love you and are praying for you every day! God Bless You! Photos of my soldier in Iraq, enjoy...... 6-10-05 As many of you know, my daughter is in Iraq. Here's a photo essay detailing some of her activities there. I hope you all enjoy...... My daughter, left, and her Iraqi roommate before they left for Iraq. They are in the same platoon. A convoy... A baby goat... Nora, her 10 year...

...The top commander at Fort Hood is crediting a civilian police officer for stopping the shooting rampage that killed 13 people at the Texas post. Lt. Gen. Bob Cone also hailed a young Army nutritionist who helped wounded victims. Both women heroically intervened despite being shot. Cone said Friday that Fort Hood police Sgt. Kimberly Munley and her partner responded within three minutes of reported gunfire Thursday afternoon. Cone said Munley shot the gunman four times despite being shot herself. Officials said Munley was in stable condition. Cone said, "It was an amazing and an aggressive performance by this police...

A 21-year-old pregnant soldier who was due to come home within weeks is the second Chicago-area victim from the shooting at Fort Hood. Francesca Velez had just returned from a tour of duty in Iraq and was due to be temporarily released from the military on maternity leave, according to her family and friends.

A fresh tragedy added to the horror of the Fort Hood massacre Friday when it was revealed that one of the victims was a pregnant soldier. Francheska Velez, who returned to the U.S. just three days earlier from a foreign posting, was filling out paperwork when a gunman hollered "Allahu Akbar!" and embarked on a bloody rampage that left her and a dozen others dead. A 21-year-old Chicagoan, Velez was six-weeks pregnant when she was cut down on Thursday, FOX Chicago News reported. Velez was a sitting duck when the accused gunman, Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, yelled "God is...

The image of young women in a hot , dusty combat zone toting automatic weapons is still startling to some. But right now there are 10,000 women serving in Iraq, more than 4,000 in Aghanistan. They have been fighting and dying next to their male comrades since the wars began. "I can't help but think most Americans think women aren't in combat," says Specialist Ashley Pullen who was awarded a Bronze Star for valor in 2005 for her heroic action in Iraq where she served with a military police unit. "We're here and we're right up with the guys." Technically...

<p>This photograph from Afghanistan recently made rounds on the Facebook and e-mail accounts of folks whose work centers on military women's issues.</p> <p>The image itself didn't surprise them. It showed four Marines resting at a makeshift patrol base, their guns and helmets propped up against the familiar dusty backdrop of an Asian battlefield. Two of the Marines seemed to be snacking. One picked at her foot.</p>

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said on Thursday that women would soon serve on submarines reversing a long time ban by the Navy. The Department of Defense : Appearing on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” Mabus signaled that the Navy is moving closer to allowing coed personnel on submarines.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7, 2009 – Navy Secretary Ray Mabus yesterday said women soon will serve on submarines, suggesting a reversal of the long-standing ban by the Navy. Appearing on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” Mabus signaled that the Navy is moving closer to allowing coed personnel on submarines. “It will take a little while because you’ve got to interview people and you’ve got to be nuclear trained,” he said, referring to prerequisite steps before a sailor is assigned to a submarine. Officials previously have cited a lack of privacy and the cost of reconfiguring subs as obstacles...

To day this day it stands true that there are no women in the Navy SEALs. This has been debated by many “equal rights” groups who claim that this is a sexist law. However, there has never been a woman who could pass the strenuous physical aspects of Navy SEAL training. In fact, there has never been a woman who has qualified to even be considered to enter BUD/S Training. Though this is true of the United States Navy, it’s not true where film is concerned. Specifically for the 1997 Ridley Scott film G.I. Jane, wherein, Demi Moore plays a...

Link Only. PC rules!

Ninty-five North Dakota Veterans spend a weekend remembering their service to their country. The RoughRider Honor Flight took the veterans to Washington DC to tour many monuments...including the World War Two Memorial. On the trip, most of the stories had to do with attacks on the ground by sea or the air. Brad Feldman shows you one veteran with a little different perspective. (Dorothy Pence) "We'll I have changed quite a bit since then...especially now.." Dorothy Pence served her country (Dorothy Pence) "Of course when I went in it was new for women." She didn't wear body armor...carry a gun...

Female sailors can broaden their role in the Navy by serving on submarines, an activity currently prohibited by the Armed Service, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has advised the Senate Armed Services Committee. According to Defensetech.org, a site run by Military.com, a group boasting a membership of 10 million veterans and active duty forces, Adm. Michael Mullen told senators in a recent survey that he's long been an advocate for improving diversity in the Armed Forces. "I believe we should continue to broaden opportunities for women. One policy I would like to see changed is the one...