Women In Combat

[Anonymous]

I have been reading the messages posted with alot of interest, and sometimes amusement. If you want to know more about my military career, I have a story posted on the Home Page "Women Who Served In War". I also wrote a story that I had printed in my college newspaper. "I was in the Army, stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Being on alert meant working 12-hour shifts seven nights a week. It also meant having your bags packed, ready to go at a moments notice. My family celebrated Thanksgiving the first part of October, because we didn't know when I would go to war. Sure enough, I was headed overseas 15 October. When I was sitting on that airplane waiting to take off, the reality of going to war hadn't really hit me. We landed at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, where we set up our camp and stayed about two months. I spent Christmas Eve on guard duty in the desert. In Jan. we convoyed up to the Kuwait border and set up our camp. The engineers made a runway where the C-130 airplanes could land. We off-loaded supplies and soldiers. We wore bullet-proof vests, web gear with four clips of ammo, protective mask and suit, and our M-16. Our latrines were wooden outhouses where you pull the barrels of waste out, pour gas on it and burn it. That was one of the worst details to perform. One has to stand out there, stir the waste, and pour more gas on it until everything is burned. The reality of being in a war had sunk in by then--especially when a MASH unit and a morgue set up camp beside us. The Air Force was bombing Kuwait and we were waiting for the ground war to begin. Our unit was approx. 200 soldiers. We were the main supply line for the 82nd and 101st Airborne soldiers who were on the front line. It was predicted that once the ground war started, our company would have a 75 percent casualty loss--out of 200 soldiers, 150 would die within the first two days of the ground war. Reality had really set in! The reserves had been called up and our "replacements" were arriving. The casualties and wounded from the fighting up front would be brought to us. It would be our job to get them to the hospital or the morgue where they would be put in body bags; then we would ship them out of there. Stress, sadness, feeling overwhelmed, and nightmares were in abundance. Thankfully, it was decided that the Air Force would do some more bombing, so by the time the ground war started, it didn't last as long or have the casualties that had been predicted. We did get wounded soldiers and casualties, but we also dealt with EPW's (Enemy Prisoners of War). Our mission was to free Kuwait. We did that, but we didn't get to finish the job--Saddam Hussein is still in power and causing trouble. We didn't know when we would go home. We had to process equipment and soldiers to get them home first. Finally, it was our turn. I was glad to get home alive and in one piece." My opinion: I didn't "see combat." I went to war because I had signed a contract to defend....etc. Now, eight years later I am cynical and disillusioned about the way I was treated at the VA Hospital for my disability rating and it took the VA eight months after I started college to even acknowledge I was eligible to receive the Mont. G.I. Bill. I didn't appreciate being a guinea pig for the Army. When I told them I didn't want the anthrax shot, I was told to "at ease and get in line". Do I think women should be in combat? No! Do I think women will be in combat? Yes.

twinkel@willmar.com

[Anonymous]

Gee Trina, and to think that you really weren't in a war! My hats off to your trauma, and the ordeal you went through. Isn't it wounderful to be APPRECIATED? And of course you're correct in your opinion that women shouldn't be in combat. I'm sure that you heard how the Iraqi soldiers treated the Kuwaiti women. The women on this page are mostly hung up on "service to their country", but I believe that they're trying to appease a desire to be unquestioned and listened to. It's really entertaining isn't it?

longinus66@yahoo.com

[Anonymous]

:Yes, GlennP, I saw and heard first hand what happened to women over there. There was a female officer and a couple of enlisted men that were captured. When they were released, they came to our unit. She had both arms broke, and been raped and beaten repeatedly. Wouldn't surprise me if the men had also. In that culture over there, the men have sex with other men "for fun"; sex with women was to get them pregnant. In our unit women were outnumbered 10-1. Usually, you can't carry a knife on you. The women were told to. Having a knife wasn't just for the enemy! I bought an 8-inch skinning knife before I went over there and had it on my belt. We were told to go nowhere by ourselves. Even a trip to the latrine was with a "buddy". At night on guard duty (with loaded M-16) was with a buddy also. I told the other females I wasn't going to shout, "Halt, who goes there?" I'd shoot first, then ask questions. Kill, or be killed mentality. I saw what bombs and mines do to bodies (what's left of them). And I didn't appreciate the flashbacks and nightmares I started having 7 years after the war was over. I also didn't like having a hero's welcome home when the Vietnam Veterans were spit on. War is glorified to much. It's nasty, horrible, and literally smells bad. Have you ever smelled burnt flesh? Would I do it over again? Yes. Would I want my daughter to? Hell No!


twinkel@willmar.com

[Anonymous]

:Yes, GlennP, I saw and heard first hand what happened to women over there. There was a female officer and a couple of enlisted men that were captured. When they were released, they came to our unit. She had both arms broke, and been raped and beaten repeatedly. Wouldn't surprise me if the men had also. In that culture over there, the men have sex with other men "for fun"; sex with women was to get them pregnant. In our unit women were outnumbered 10-1. Usually, you can't carry a knife on you. The women were told to. Having a knife wasn't just for the enemy! I bought an 8-inch skinning knife before I went over there and had it on my belt. We were told to go nowhere by ourselves. Even a trip to the latrine was with a "buddy". At night on guard duty (with loaded M-16) was with a buddy also. I told the other females I wasn't going to shout, "Halt, who goes there?" I'd shoot first, then ask questions. Kill, or be killed mentality. I saw what bombs and mines do to bodies (what's left of them). And I didn't appreciate the flashbacks and nightmares I started having 7 years after the war was over. I also didn't like having a hero's welcome home when the Vietnam Veterans were spit on. War is glorified to much. It's nasty, horrible, and literally smells bad. Have you ever smelled burnt flesh? Would I do it over again? Yes. Would I want my daughter to? Hell No!


twinkel@willmar.com

[Anonymous]

Read and heed ladies! This is from one of your peers! The problem here Trina is that if you openly allow females in combat, then you would have to open the draft to women as well. I can tell you that the percentage of women who believe the way that the one's on this page do are VERY small! I said this before, I'll say it again, if you poll 1000 females, and ask them if women should be in the military, and explained the ramifications they would say NO WAY! And there's no learning like experiencial learning! Ask that Lt. if she would do it again, especially since experiencing the V.A.

longinus66@yahoo.com

[Anonymous]

:But...there is another side/angle to all of this. Overall, I think the women held up better than the men. At first, the men and women had separate tents. When the first scud missile attack came, the men acted like a bunch of babies. Us women sat on our bunks trying to figure out how to smoke a cigarette with our protective masks on. It is possible! Some of the men "found Jesus" over there. When we got back, it was amazing how fast they "lost Jesus." To be fair, there were some women that tried to get out of work, or tried to get a guy to do it. That didn't last long. It was very inconvenient being separated from my squad. It was finally decided to put the females with their squads. I was the only female w/approx. 15 men. I hung my poncho liner up when I wanted privacy. We were soldiers first, then male and female. I did see some "action" in our own camp. Two guys got mad at each other and decided to take potshots at each other with their M-16's. No one was hit, but the senior NCO's came to everyone's tent confiscating the ammo. I had to give up 4 clips, but I had one hidden away. No one was going to take all of my ammo. Another problem we had was when the reserves arrived. They'd been yanked from their civilian jobs, they had an attitude problem, no discipline, and were bad for moral. Their motto was: "We came, we saw, we burnt sh--!" Most (not all) men act macho and have to protect the "little woman". That knife I wore--I had to pull it one time to protect myself against a male American soldier.


twinkel@willmar.com

[Anonymous]

Trina: Thanks for a fine job anyway. I'm sure the men didn't like it anymore than you did (the shots I mean or the treatment afterwards). That had nothing to do with being a female. Which GlennP would like to push. Women aren't looking at combat as heaven, but just part of the responsibility. From reading your other posts sounds like the women did fine, and the same would hold true in a fire fight.

GlennP: hear that, thats a violin, excuse me a broken record.(do you always have to repeat yourself?) Any women who puts on a uniform without the understanding of what will happen is a fool. Just like any man. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your time in, I haven't had the greatest of assignments either, but I have enjoyed my self and don't believe that I will have a bad taste against the military, PLEASE NOTE: I said the military, not the politics that wield it. AND the VA. RB

eph6_10@hotmail.com

[Anonymous]

Glenn, why don't we ask the men as well. Bet they were just as violated as that female LT but they just won't talk about it.

YOU: And there's no learning like experiencial learning! Ask


: that Lt. if she would do it again, especially since experiencing the V.A.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry


: you didn't enjoy your time in, I haven't had the greatest of assignments
: either, but I have enjoyed my self and don't believe that I will have a
: bad taste against the military.


I wouldn't have had a bad taste either if MY career was pretty much GAURANTEED from E-1 to E9, or from O-1 to O-9! Maybe NOW it might be evening out as far as fairness in going for rank, maybe! For the most part I refuse to believe that it has evened out. Damn I hate E.E.O.! It's just a Govt. institutionalized discrimination program!

YES I KNOW! BROKEN RECORD!

longinus66@yahoo.com

[Anonymous]

Glenn, if you know the webmaster's just going to erase this thread, why do you pursue it here?

Trina, thanks for sharing your experience. It's not something we'd all relish but that's why it's duty and not our hobby. Thanks also for your service.

katya_denisovna@hotmail.com

[Anonymous]

Because Glenn and some other women aren't even intelligent to realize that some of us law enforcement women didn't have to ship out to another country to experience what was seen over there. You people need to be the ones to wake up and smell something... It's happening right in your own back yard, only it is people like me that have to be the ones to clean up the mess you people fail to recognize right here. Don't believe me??? hahahaha Used to have a babysitter when I was a kid. She wanted to be DC Homicide. Well she eventually got there. She used to bring home books that showed the pictures of nine million and one ways that people were killed right here in our nations capital. A woman doesn't need to go to Vietnam, Kuwait or any other country to face any part of cruelty when she can save the airfare and get it here. The cold hard reality is that women generally mentally overcome the ordeal. The man who is raped is condemned for life. I took a report for a man that had been raped and my department yanked the report so fast, I was almost confused. They said they had to protect the man, but it was ok for the woman's rape to go public. So, my statement is that most women are raped no matter where they go. So there really is no reason there to keep one from combat. Please don't take my word for the statistics on male and female rape. Go check statistics with the FBI, you know; the ones who specialize in the matter. Just because one woman who is too scared to go to combat does not mean they speak for the rest of us. Least of all, Glenn.

Lisa

Semper Fi


:
: Glenn, if you know the webmaster's just going to erase this thread, why do
: you pursue it here?
:
: Trina, thanks for sharing your experience. It's not something we'd all relish
: but that's why it's duty and not our hobby. Thanks also for your service.


lilmerc@yahoo.com

[Anonymous]

Thank goodness that because one or two women or Glenn can't handle women in combat, it doesn't ruin it for the rest of us. Lisa Semper Fi


:
: Trina: Thanks for a fine job anyway. I'm sure the men didn't like it anymore
: than you did (the shots I mean or the treatment afterwards). That had
: nothing to do with being a female. Which GlennP would like to push. Women
: aren't looking at combat as heaven, but just part of the responsibility.
: From reading your other posts sounds like the women did fine, and the same
: would hold true in a fire fight.
:
: GlennP: hear that, thats a violin, excuse me a broken record.(do you always
: have to repeat yourself?) Any women who puts on a uniform without the
: understanding of what will happen is a fool. Just like any man. I'm sorry
: you didn't enjoy your time in, I haven't had the greatest of assignments
: either, but I have enjoyed my self and don't believe that I will have a
: bad taste against the military, PLEASE NOTE: I said the military, not the
: politics that wield it. AND the VA. RB


lilmerc@yahoo.com