Women in combat

[HOTW]

http://news.msn.com/politics/pentagon-o ... =ansnews11

Looks like women are finally getting the right to prove themselves just as capable!

[Soldier of the One]

A true step forward for womankind - now we can also kill human beings!

Ah, this is a twisted scenario for the feminist socialist like me :) Of course, I deplore war and military aggression and the industrial complex that goes with it but already when I was a child it struck me as unfair that men were presumed to go into combat while women are exempt.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

A true step forward for womankind - now we can also kill human beings!

Ah, this is a twisted scenario for the feminist socialist like me :) Of course, I deplore war and military aggression and the industrial complex that goes with it but already when I was a child it struck me as unfair that men were presumed to go into combat while women are exempt.

Yeah, pretty much where I'm at. Not to mention though that the flip side of being exempt means you can't get certain promotions and what not (which was a large part of the original complaint).

[Stickers]

One less thing MRA's can complain about.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

One less thing MRA's can complain about.

Heh. Seriously this too...!

[Soldier of the One]

Heh. Seriously this too...!

:lol:

[Kitchen Princess]

A true step forward for womankind - now we can also kill human beings!

Ah, this is a twisted scenario for the feminist socialist like me :) Of course, I deplore war and military aggression and the industrial complex that goes with it but already when I was a child it struck me as unfair that men were presumed to go into combat while women are exempt.

Ever since women have been allowed in the US Armed Forces side by side with men, they have been required to train to kill other people. The only thing that women were barred from when I was in the Army was the infantry. But as the Army says, all soldiers are infantry. We all carried rifles, learned to lead a squad, set mortars, fire our weapons, and use bayonets in hand-to-hand combat. The only thing different now is that women will not be barred from combat MOS's. Women were always near the front even if they weren't supposed to be. Besides that, because of the demands of modern warfare, there's not really a "front" anymore, like there was before Iraq, etc. That means women should be armed and ready just like their male counterparts.

[Kitchen Princess]

Most MRAs don't think women should be in combat, I would say. They think we're a "weak link".

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Most MRAs don't think women should be in combat, I would say. They think we're a "weak link".

They try to play both sides of the argument, though. They say women are the "weak link" (or that sharks will smell their menstrual blood or whatever, I kid you not) on the one hand, and then turn around and say "see you wimmin have it good, you don't know what suffering is, you're coddled by not going into combat" on the other.

That entire style of argument, the "I'm not going to let you do XXX (or claim you can't do XXX) and then I'm going to berate you for not doing your 'fair share' of XXX" just really turns me off. MRAs use it, skeevy "Nice Guy" supposedly "chivalrous" people use it ("I treat you like a queen, you should never have to work outside the house or open your own doors" on the one hand, then "I earn all the money around here, I should have all the say" on the other, or worse yet the "but I opened the door for you and was nice at lunch! You owe me sex now!!" thing :? ), manipulative parents use it ("Children should just concentrate on studies, you don't need a job, look, I'll buy you everything you want" on the one hand, then "everything you own is mine, worm!" or "you're spoiled and have no character! when I was a kid I had to earn everything I had!" on the other).

I do think the lack of a standard "front" has really changed things, too.

[JesusFightClub]

A true step forward for womankind - now we can also kill human beings!

Ah, this is a twisted scenario for the feminist socialist like me :) Of course, I deplore war and military aggression and the industrial complex that goes with it but already when I was a child it struck me as unfair that men were presumed to go into combat while women are exempt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyudmila_Pavlichenko :lol:

[miffy]

I was in the AIRTC as a teenager & we were always told that women weren't allowed in front line combat because if a women in the platoon was injured in battle all of the men would automatically stop what they were doing to help the woman, instead of a man only helping his 'best mate'.

It seemed sussed.

I don't know if the real defence force is like this. But on camps in the middle of winter the girls would get a few big canvas tents between no more than 10 of us. While 100 boys had to sleep like sardines under a giant leaky tarp next to a generator that would run until 2am. Not exactly equal!

[Evilbad]

There's really no such thing as a "Front Line" anymore, and women have been unofficially serving in combat roles for about a decade or more.

It's dumb and a "Gimme" so they can say they're working towards gender equality. They aren't doing anything except recognizing now that, even with a vagina, weapons shoot straight.

[Sola]

I'm conflicted. I am absolutely 100% for equal rights. If woman want to go out on the frontline, let them. Heck, if I were the taliban I would run a mile when faced with a female soldier, a gun and PMT. But I am absolutely 100% against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. I don't think we should be there, no matter what sex you are.

Creaky Steel, you're ex-forces right? I wonder how woman on the frontline would cope with their menstrual cycle though. Mine was horrendous, horrible pains, flooding, headaches, fainting, vomiting, the whole works. I can't imagine going through that, or even a mild version of that, and being in a situation where you are out on patrol, on the front line and what have you. I would want some shot or other to take the whole thing away before I went out. I'm probably being really naive or a bit dim, but when you are in a combat situation how on earth do you cope with that? Even if you are support such as a medic, you are still in a high pressure situation, made worse by climate and terrain of a country such as Afghanistan. For me it would have been a pretty miserable time.

[Evilbad]

When I was deployed I was given enough BCP that I could skip a period whenever I needed to.

[Scribber]

I'm conflicted. I am absolutely 100% for equal rights. If woman want to go out on the frontline, let them. Heck, if I were the taliban I would run a mile when faced with a female soldier, a gun and PMT. But I am absolutely 100% against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. I don't think we should be there, no matter what sex you are.

Creaky Steel, you're ex-forces right? I wonder how woman on the frontline would cope with their menstrual cycle though. Mine was horrendous, horrible pains, flooding, headaches, fainting, vomiting, the whole works. I can't imagine going through that, or even a mild version of that, and being in a situation where you are out on patrol, on the front line and what have you. I would want some shot or other to take the whole thing away before I went out. I'm probably being really naive or a bit dim, but when you are in a combat situation how on earth do you cope with that? Even if you are support such as a medic, you are still in a high pressure situation, made worse by climate and terrain of a country such as Afghanistan. For me it would have been a pretty miserable time.

Maybe I'm just lucky - but I've never had a problem with cramps/etc. But BC is an easy answer to all of that - just skip your cycle for the duration of your deployment. (I know that my good friend who is on her 5th deployment, does that - just for convenience. She was telling us she just "skips" her monthly friend the entire time she's deployed. Front lines or not, it's a major PITA to have when you're in the middle of the desert!)

[Sola]

I think you'd have to do that. Even if you don't have all the crap I had, you'd still be bleeding for at least 4 or 5 days a month and that would not be comfortable. I would have been up shit creek though, I only went on the pill once and had to be taken off it when my blood pressure rocketed and I started having migraines.

[docmom]

I think you'd have to do that. Even if you don't have all the crap I had, you'd still be bleeding for at least 4 or 5 days a month and that would not be comfortable. I would have been up shit creek though, I only went on the pill once and had to be taken off it when my blood pressure rocketed and I started having migraines.

You would probably not be allowed to serve in the Armed Forces at all with this history so it would be a moot point. I did some millitary physicals a long time ago and they were very very strict about preexisting conditions like these. You have to get a special wavier to go to the service academies even for wearing glasses!