Military Women in the Media - 30

Female Marines:

Marines Magazine - Women and Marines: Gone are the days of "Free a Man to Fight". Tidbit from the article: "Mid 1944 - Women made up 85% of enlisted personnel at Headquarters Marine Corps and two thirds of the personnel manning all major bases and stations in the U.S." It has lots of nice photos too.

(Sidenote: This issue also has a photo of a NINE person color guard. Um. Yeah, so much for that comment I made about color guards having to be even numbers!)

Her secret to success - Keep trying: The pilot had plenty of interesting stories about two tours of duty in Iraq, but there was an added twist. Vernice Armour was speaking as America's first black female combat pilot, an accomplishment that came thanks to lots of hard work.

Oldest Female Marine Laid to Rest in New York: The oldest living female Marine died on Veterans Day and was buried, Nov. 17, in the Cypress Hills National Cemetery. Miriam Cohen was one of the oldest females to enlist in 1946, at 35-years-old, said the 101-year-old's niece. Cohen answered her nations calling twice, serving during World War II in 1946 and the Korean War in 1960.



Other Female Servicemembers:

My American-Iraq Life - Was it worth it? I wrote a two-part series for the Albany Student Press (my school newspaper) about my service in the Army and being a veteran. Please check it out! Part 1: Was it worth it? Part 2: Student veteran recounts war.

Army's longest serving female command sergeant major retires: Although she won't formally retire until March 2010, a retirement ceremony was held for Command SgtMaj Cynthia A. Pritchett, the senior enlisted leader for the Army element of the U.S. Central Command...Pritchett, who joined the Women's Army Corps on July 2, 1973, before it was integrated into the regular Army, is the longest serving female command sergeant major in the service.

My American-Iraq Life - How to be feminine in the Army: It seems a lot of people find my blog by looking up things like "can I wear makeup in the Army"...so here you go. This is how you pull it off.

My American-Iraq Life - Capt. Kacey Grannis Invades Iraqi air space: A female Air Force pilot deployed from Andrews Air Force Base, Md., works in a male dominated environment training Iraqi helicopter pilots. Capt. Grannis...is the Iraqi air force's first female Mi-17 instructor pilot at Camp Taji, a job which she describes as one of a kind.

Warner Wants Veterans Affairs to Address Combat Stress in Women: U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner successfully amended S.1407, a military construction and veterans appropriations bill, to include language directing the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to study how it addresses combat stress in women veterans.

USO Targets Military Women With Care Packages: The USO has changed a lot in 68 years, and Nov. 18 marked another milestone in the group's history of supporting the military when it sponsored a care package service specifically for female service members.

White House Celebrates Women Veterans: First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden hosted a group of over 130 women veterans in the White House's East Room to celebrate their service to the nation. - Text of her speech.

Secretary Shinseki Announces Study of Vietnam-Era Women Veterans

Soldier mom refuses deployment to care for baby

An Army cook and single mom may face criminal charges after she skipped her deployment flight to Afghanistan because, she said, no one was available to care for her infant son while she was overseas.

Oakland Army mom refused to go to Afghanistan because of son: Kevin Larson, a spokesman for Hunter Army Airfield, said he didn't know what Hutchinson was told by her commanders, but he said the Army would not deploy a single parent who had nobody to care for his or her child. "I don't know what transpired and the investigation will get to the bottom of it," Larson said. "If she would have come to the deployment terminal with her child, there's no question she would not have been deployed."

"Just days prior to her scheduled deployment, Specialist Hutchinson's commander received information that indicated that Specialist Hutchinson had engaged in misconduct," Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield spokesman Kevin Larson said in a statement. "Due to the fact that Specialist Hutchinson has a small child, her deployment was delayed so that the command could ensure Specialist Hutchinson's child was cared for and so that she could meet with legal counsel."

It's unclear from these articles what exactly happened. Did she skip the deployment flight when she went AWOL? Or did she go AWOL earlier, which triggered the misconduct accusation, which delayed her deployment? Whichever it is, it doesn't really matter.

If the spokesman is correct in saying that the Army wouldn't deploy a single parent who didn't have someone to care for their child, then her superiors are the ones who screwed up here. When her care plan fell through they should have immediately forwarded her case up the chain of command instead of scaring the crap out of her by saying her only option was foster care.

It's hard to speculate without more information but it sounds like people who didn't know what they were talking about gave her the wrong information, which led her to take the wrong path to solve her problem.

Military Women in the Media - 29

Female Marines:

The Coat Hanger Project Trailer: The Coat Hanger Project is a documentary film about abortion and the current state of the reproductive justice/pro-choice movement...For women in the U.S. military, the cost of abortion is not covered. Abortions are not permitted in military hospitals. If female soldiers are posted to a country where abortion is illegal, they have few options if they become pregnant.

The trailer features a tiny part of an interview with a female Marine who got pregnant while she was in Iraq and according to the caption, "barely survived a self-induced abortion".


Other Female Servicemembers:

Service members bridge gap between mosque and military: Lt. Col. Shareda Hosein, who lives dual lives in Army fatigues and an Islamic head covering, sometimes encounters what she calls "Islam anxiety" among her fellow soldiers, saying they pepper her with direct questions about jihad and Islamic law.

Local VFW Welcomes First Female Commander: After serving on the front lines in Desert Storm, Jana Howard Ginter says being elected as the first female Commander of VFW Post 1881 is not about breaking the glass ceiling, instead, it's about serving those who have served us.

University of Evansville trustee broke glass ceilings in military career: Throughout her long career in the U.S. Air National Guard, Major Gen. Verna Fairchild was told — perhaps in jest and perhaps not — that she didn’t “look like” a military general. “I had not yet figured out what a general was supposed to look like.”

First African-American female naval aviator visits Raleigh: Vernice Armour, who served two tours of duty in Iraq, spoke at the North Raleigh Hilton. “I’m standing on some amazingly strong shoulders."

Waterloo honors women vets: When Linda Robinson attends events that honor U.S. veterans, people who don't know her assume she's in attendance for her husband...At a clinic, she checked "yes" that she was a veteran on her admission form. A well-intentioned nurse attempted to correct her. "She said, ‘you checked that you're a veteran,'" Robinson said. "I said, ‘that's because I am.'"

Texas Women's University celebrates women in military: Rainy Sor won’t join fellow Texas Woman’s University students on campus until early next year, but the U.S. Army staff sergeant serving in Afghanistan joined in the university’s Veterans Day celebrations via an Internet phone call. Sor, on her third tour in Afghanistan, was born in a refugee camp in Thailand...and she joined the military to give back to the country that took her in years ago.

Women Military Pilots A WWII Secret: The WASP mission was primarily to fly brand new fighters, bombers and cargo planes from the factories to military bases throughout the United States. "You actually had to fly in those days," said former WASP pilot Goot. "We didn't have any autopilot...You actually had to fly the plane." Goot's service in World War II, and the service of other WASP pilots, freed up hundreds of male pilots for combat duty overseas.

Military Sexual Trauma - Seeking Justice: On the second day she was embedded with Marines during the invasion of Iraq, journalist Mercedes Gallego was approached by several service women. They cautioned her that it was not safe to be alone and warned her that they always went to the bathroom in pairs, taking their rifles. The reason, they explained, was fear of being raped.

Officer Overcomes Family’s Skepticism to Serve: When Coast Guard Lt. Hannah Bealon was growing up, she was intrigued by the stories of her uncles’ courage and sacrifice in the Vietnam War...But when Bealon told of her family of her dream to join the military ranks, she was rebuffed. “...one of my uncles said, ‘Being a woman in the military is quite difficult, and men won’t respect you.” Adding insult to injury, he told her that if she married a military person, she would have great health-care benefits.

Retired Air Force colonel chronicles sacrifice women have made fighting alongside men: Linda Sindt has only the utmost respect for the men who have served in the U.S. military since the nation was founded. After all, her husband, Duane, is a retired Air Force major. But Sindt...wanted to gently remind those in the packed audience that women also served. "Most of us women veterans fought pretty hard to be fully integrated and not singled out in any way as a separate entity," said the retired Air Force colonel.

Veterans of Iraq, Afghanistan share their experiences: SSgt John Robinson, 31, said that when a female driver was assigned to his vehicle on his first convoy in Afghanistan, his first response was a sarcastic one. "I thought: 'Oh, great,' " he said...SSgt Katie Maglia, who has served two tours in Iraq, said she was the only female firefighter working with 40 men. "They always took very good care of me." Marine 2nd Lt. Shannon Potts, 26, who repaired aviation equipment in Iraq, had no complaints about how she was treated, either...

But Cpl. Samuel Jung, 29, who completed deployments with the Marines in Afghanistan and Iraq, said he witnessed "a lot of discrimination" and sexual harassment of women. "I came into contact with female Navy personnel, female Army National Guard," said Jung, adding that the female panelists could have been in the company of gentler men than he was. "The opinion I have formed is that it is hard to be an armed forces member as a female."

First female CSM of sub-unified combatant command shares experience: When Command Sgt. Maj. Cynthia Pritchett entered the service on July 2, 1973, it was into the Women's Army Corps and she recently shared her memories of what it was like to transition from an all-female force into an integrated Army.

Military mom without childcare goes AWOL: 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.

Women veterans talk about changing roles in the military: “Men don’t understand the barriers military women face, the things that make service unique for us,” Lisa Jendry said. “I functioned with sleep deprivation much of the time and did field exercises with a breast pump.”

MarSOC looks to women for new mission

Just as I finished the previous post about women in combat, I found this article!

Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command is making women an integral part of spec ops teams in Afghanistan, where they’ll be used to develop a rapport with Afghan women and, it is hoped, build broader support for the frail Afghan government.

MarSOC’s first female engagement team — comprising a captain, two corporals and a Navy corpsman — will spend about nine months with 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion, which is scheduled to take command of a task force later this year that will oversee U.S. spec ops forces in northern and western Afghanistan.

By attaching female troops to spec ops teams, officials hope to better navigate local Afghan customs that often prohibit interaction between women and men who are not members of their families. Just as soon as MarSOC was notified that 1st MSOB would deploy as a task force, officials made preparations for an engagement team.

...Officials said only that “a lot” of women expressed interest in joining the team after a word-of-mouth campaign alerted them to the opportunity. Those selected had to meet specific criteria, which included having a first-class physical-fitness test score of 225 or higher and prior combat deployments.

They train to the same standards as MarSOC “enablers” — everyone from radio operators to engineers — who deploy with spec ops companies or adviser groups. That training requires them to master two weapons, the M4 carbine and 9mm pistol. Once they join their units, they’ll do unit-specific training, learning how to approach an Afghan village, for example, and how to respond to an ambush.

Hosptial Corpsman 2nd Class Jessica Ramon, a member of MarSOC’s support group, was selected for the first engagement team. She said she and the other women have learned some Urdu and Pashto, common languages in Afghanistan, but will rely on interpreters to communicate.

“I’m kind of a little nervous just because I haven’t been there before,” Ramon said. “But I want to go, and I’m ready to go.”

Kimberly Munley and the Women in Combat Issue

Regardless of whether Kimberly Munley was the "hero cop" who took down Hasan, using her supposed exploits as justification for changing the rules about women serving in combat is wrong.

(First of all, technically women aren't banned from combat. They are banned from serving in certain units and job specialities. In the past, that essentially banned them from combat but since the way wars are fought has changed, anyone from any job or unit can find themselves in combat. That's why, despite the "ban", women have found themselves shooting up bad guys.)

I've been neither a cop nor an infantry grunt but it seems to me that the two occupations are very different.

Cops spend their time on familiar turf where they work fairly regular, reasonable hours and have a normal civilian life when they aren't roaming their city. They carry weapons and once in a while, a cop will get in a gunfight but usually not very often. Most of the time cops, bad guys, and civilians all speak the same language. Police officers carry the gear they need to perform their everyday work tasks and that's it, and most of it fits on a belt.

Infantry grunts, on the other hand, are shipped to unfamiliar territory and can spend days or weeks getting very little sleep and be without the comforts of civilian life when they aren't on combat missions. They carry large and often extremely heavy weapons in addition to the weighty ammo those require, and they can expect to be in deadly firefights on a regular, even daily basis. If they are lucky, they will have a competent translator to help them communicate with enemies and civilians. On extended missions, grunts must carry dozens of extra pounds of gear on their backs, not only items required for their job but all the gear they need to survive until they return to base.

This is of course not meant to trivialize the work police officers do or the danger they can find themselves in, it's just to show the difference between cops and grunts.

With all those significant differences, why are people suggesting that being a female cop who is not afraid to shoot another person means that women should be grunts? As I just showed above, there's more to consider than just whether we can fire a weapon.

The main obstacle brought up is usually our physical strength. (can a woman drag a fallen buddy to safety!?) In the Marine Corps, the physical requirements for men and women are slightly different. For the timed events in physical and combat fitness tests, the minimum passing scores are different but they overlap. Even though we have more time, many women easily pass the minimum male times. Where women have problems is the upper body tests: for the combat fitness test, a woman would have to nearly double her number of ammo can lifts; for the physical fitness test, she would have to do three pull-ups instead of the flexed arm hang.

But from what I saw, most women can't do three pull-ups or enough ammo can lifts. Even in my best shape I could never do even one pull-up and based on this study I wrote about before, the basic three is out of reach for most women. (Some would laugh at three, I knew a female Marine who could do 12 pull-ups, which is far more than some males)

Whether men want to let women in is a another problem. For hundreds of years they didn't want us to vote, own property, work outside our homes, or participate in politics either, saying it wasn't appropriate for women or that women couldn't handle it, but we changed all that and people got used to it. If a woman is capable of dealing with everything that comes with being a grunt, then men who don't want her there just because she's a woman will be the problem, not her.

Another major issue is always the "close quarters" issue. Many disagree, but I think the problem of males and females living and working in close quarters is a little overblown. Men and women live and work together every day all over the world and most of us handle it just fine. And women have already fought in combat alongside males and from all reports, everyone appears to have handled it well. If the enemy is firing at you, I don't think the sex of the person next to you will matter if you know they are capable. Some male Marines I've known, including grunts, changed their tune once they actually worked with female Marines and realized we weren't like the rumors they had heard. (In some cases, it turned out they were basing their anti-woman opinions on the actions of ONE woman and then expanding their frustration or anger to include ALL women)

Furthermore, if the physical tests are not changed (and they shouldn't be) the number of women who can pass the male versions AND who want to join a combat arms job field will be extremely small. It's not as if the infantry will be overrun with females and tanks will be painted pink within a month. There will only be a few and if a woman decides that's what she wants to do, it will be apparent very quickly in training whether she can handle the physical aspect or not.

So if physical strength is a major barrier to changing the combat arms job field rules, what if a woman CAN pass all those physical requirements?

I think she should be allowed in.

Veteran's Day Photos

Some photos from the Boston Globe's Big Picture feature today about Armistice Day Remembrances:


Tammy Duckworth, Assistant Secretary of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs watches as U.S. President Barack Obama departs on his first official trip to Asia on Marine One at the White House on November 12, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)



World War II veterans Margie Zwick, Women's Army Corps, and Arnold Strauch, U.S. Army, look on before the annual Veterans Day parade November 11, 2009 in New York City. The nation's largest Veterans Day parade featuring 20,000 participants in New York is celebrating its 90th anniversary. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)



An American soldier salutes taking part in a Veterans Day ceremony at Camp Eggers November 11, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Paula Bronstein /Getty Images)

ID Card

I got my Department of Veteran's Affairs ID card in the mail today.

Despite all the complaints out there about the VA, enrolling with them for health care coverage was probably the easiest military-related task I have ever done.