“She began with complaints up the chain of command during the Clinton administration...”
“...to force servicewomen, but not servicemen, to adopt Islamic dress and adhere to Islamic customs...”
That is what happened.
I know what happened. I was there at the time.
So, why did we force women to adapt to Saudi dress and not men?
Because the Saudis resented the women more than the men, and were more likely to kill them! Because the Saudis were more likely to commit attacks on US personnel out of resentment for our presence if they saw western military women than men.
It was done to lower resentment and reduce the probability of attack, which was always higher when someone traveled off post. That is why many of us MEN were not allowed off post AT ALL.
Try spending a few months in the same tent city, eating the same crap food, sharing latrines with 5000 of your closest friends, and a trip off post to a compound where folks ate good food & could drink sounded pretty nice - but very few men got the chance. Why? “To lower resentment and reduce the probability of attack”.
Force protection. That was #1. Keeping our basing in Saudi Arabia, always a touchy matter, was #2. The convenience and comfort of our military wasn’t even in the top 10. It never is. The needs of the military trumps the desires of the soldier.
“Now, how to you feel about the soldiers who recently fought the Army’s new regulations in the court of public opinion? (They also won and now ALL tattooed soldiers are grandfathered in, for all purposes.)”
I think it is a sign our military is going downhill and heading for the toilet. However, asking to change the policy as part of the normal review is one thing, and it would have been acceptable for McSally to have made a similar attempt - within the command structure.
But she did not. She was all about advancing “women’s rights” as trumping military needs. She was a politician in uniform, and she was all about advancing her agenda. Self over service.