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Women in combat units: Could it reduce sexual assault in the military?
csmonitor.com ^ | January 25, 2013 | Anna Mulrine

Posted on 02/16/2013 5:31:35 AM PST by Tailgunner Joe

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says that he is hopeful that making the combat roles of women official will create a greater environment of respect for women, which in turn may have an impact on instances of sexual harassment and assault.

“I believe it's because we've had separate classes of military personnel, at some level,” he said at a press conference Thursday.

General Dempsey was quick to add that sexual assault is “far more complicated than that – but when you have one part of the population that is designated as warriors and another part that's designated as something else, I think that disparity begins to establish a psychology that in some cases led to that environment."

“I have to believe, the more we can treat people equally, the more likely they are to treat each other equally.”

It is a sentiment that is echoed among advocates for victims of sexual assault.

“When you have legalized discrimination against women, there’s no doubt in my mind that there’s a link there,” says Anu Baghwati, a former company commander in the Marine Corps.

“I experienced it firsthand as a woman officer in the Marines. There’s a constant reminder by your peers that you’re not as strong, you’re not as competent, which is not based on your actual, but your perceived performance,” she says. “And I think women would doubt themselves a lot less.”

Critics of women in combat express concerns, however, that the move could actually make women more vulnerable to sexual assault by putting them in closer contact with men in situations where they will have little privacy.

(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: usmilitary; womenincombat
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1 posted on 02/16/2013 5:31:44 AM PST by Tailgunner Joe
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To: Tailgunner Joe

I thought this was a John Semmens satire, alas it is not.


2 posted on 02/16/2013 5:36:49 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

At what cost? PC idiocy.


3 posted on 02/16/2013 5:36:56 AM PST by The_Media_never_lie (Actually, they lie when it suits them! The crooked MS media must be defeated any way it can be done!)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Is the Army going to add a new military occupational specialty (MOS), i.e., company or platoon pump?


4 posted on 02/16/2013 5:42:28 AM PST by miele man
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Actually, if anything it will increase sexual assaults. When you have two people of opposite sex sleeping in a foxhole together, you will inevitably have increases in both consensual and non-consensual sex. I’m not even saying it will be rape in the classic sense. It will create many more opportunities for close quarters “misunderstandings” which can lead to non-consensual sex. For example, if a female soldier is pressing against a male soldier while she’s sleeping. Remember, in many cases these people are still teenagers little/no experienced with interpreting the opposite sex.

And, lets face it, if you have 20 guys and 4 women in a close-knit group, there will be tension and competition among the guys for those women. Especially true if you are dealing with single people under 25.


5 posted on 02/16/2013 5:46:59 AM PST by rbg81
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Seems to me that there were a couple of females at the center of that whole Abu Grave mess in Iraq and they weren’t victims. Hell the commanding officer was a female.


6 posted on 02/16/2013 5:52:16 AM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: rbg81

A Navy Commander told me all about respect for women aboard ship as so many of them come back from a deployment pregnant. Women in combat will just complicate things. And does anyone believe for a minute women will have even a portalet for their use? The kind of woman who will drop her drawers at nature’s call, in front of male troops, will probably be able to drop them for other reasons without much thought.


7 posted on 02/16/2013 5:54:26 AM PST by ruesrose (The Anchor Holds)
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To: rbg81

They are simply looking for ways to rationalize an unpopular decision that has no merit. If medics are already going to be exposed to perverts’ blood under fire, then why even pretend anymore that these questions matter? Those same freaks wouldn’t be allowed to donate blodd, with good reason.

Anyone who wants to die for what this government represents at this point has my blessing; I do feel for the people who too late ralize that when Caesar pays the piper he picks the tunes.


8 posted on 02/16/2013 5:54:39 AM PST by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic war against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

One again, we shake our fists at God and tell Him that we will re-define all reality in our image.


9 posted on 02/16/2013 5:54:44 AM PST by SkyPilot
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To: rbg81

Undoubtedly. There is no greater aphrodesiac than extremely high levels of both testosterone and fear incurred by soldiers under fire. Sexual conduct will be at 100% instantly.


10 posted on 02/16/2013 5:57:21 AM PST by Louis Foxwell (Better the devil we can destroy than the Judas we must tolerate.)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

A polite society is a fully armed society. Just keep the firearms out of the paws of the squirrels, rabbits, and deer. I’ll trust my dog though.


11 posted on 02/16/2013 5:57:32 AM PST by no-to-illegals (Please God, Protect and Bless Our Men and Women in Uniform with Victory. Amen.)
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To: Tailgunner Joe
It further reduces women and men to interchangeable cogs.
12 posted on 02/16/2013 5:57:32 AM PST by arthurus (Read Hazlitt's Economics In One Lesson ONLINE www.fee.org/library/books/economics-in-one-lesson)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

I’ve never had less respect for a female soldier than when a) she is clearly in over her head and insists that she’s up to the task,
b) I’m carrying her ruck and rifle because it’s just “too heavy”,
c) a man is performing her job without the benefit of her rank or pay because she is once again undeployable because of pregnancy or “female problems”.

One week of this shit in combat units and these women will earn the wrath of ever soldier in their unit.


13 posted on 02/16/2013 5:59:10 AM PST by SJSAMPLE
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To: Tailgunner Joe
"Women in combat units: Could it reduce sexual assault in the military?"

Thus lays to rest the notion that, "There's no such thing as a stupid question."

14 posted on 02/16/2013 6:03:20 AM PST by Joe 6-pack (Qui me amat, amat et canem meum.)
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To: ruesrose
All a woman in the military has to do, to destroy a male’s career and basically his life is to accuse. I know for a fact it happens all the time.
15 posted on 02/16/2013 6:04:13 AM PST by Coldwater Creek (He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadows of the Almighty Psalm 91:)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

A sharp stick in the eye. Could it reduce blindness?


16 posted on 02/16/2013 6:04:24 AM PST by Paine in the Neck (Socialism consumes everything)
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To: SkyPilot

Exactly. America has looked EVIL in the face and embraced it.


17 posted on 02/16/2013 6:06:11 AM PST by Coldwater Creek (He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadows of the Almighty Psalm 91:)
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To: SkyPilot

Exactly. America has looked EVIL in the face and embraced it.


18 posted on 02/16/2013 6:06:11 AM PST by Coldwater Creek (He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadows of the Almighty Psalm 91:)
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To: rbg81

Spot on, friend, spot on.

Of course it will make things worse.

Liberals know nothing about human nature. They only know their morally superior (translate: self-righteous) views and goals make them better than us.

The Pharisees of our day.


19 posted on 02/16/2013 6:17:55 AM PST by Arlis (.)
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To: Tailgunner Joe
Women in combat units: Could it reduce sexual assault in the military?

Women in combat units: Could it reduce reports of sexual assault in the military?

There, fixed it.

In a tightly nit platoon/unit women who are sexually assaulted might also be less inclined to report such an assault due to the close proximity to the rest of the unit for fear of "in the field" reprisals.
Accidents happen, as it were.

And if there are problems with hazing now (it still happens despite efforts to end it) what will it be like when women are involved.
It's a situation rife for such allegations as well as actual abuse.

Idiots are in charge...IMHO.

20 posted on 02/16/2013 6:18:10 AM PST by philman_36 (Pride breakfasted with plenty, dined with poverty, and supped with infamy. Benjamin Franklin)
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