Free Republic

On Sunday night, the Philadelphia Eagles will honor one of their own, a former cheerleader who has served two tours in Afghanistan as an Army intelligence officer. Rachel Washburn, age 25, hasn't had a typical career path, to put it mildly. She joined the Eagles' cheerleading squad from 2007 to 2009 while a student at Drexel University. After graduation, she joined the Army and participated in paratrooper training while ultimately following a path into military intelligence.

The U.S. Army general in charge of training recently wrote about the service's examination of gender neutral standards to open the infantry and other combat-arms jobs to female soldiers. The piece by Gen. Robert Cone, commander of Training and Doctrine Command, appears in the November issue of Army Magazine, the same month three female Marines made history by graduating from Marine infantry training. Last January, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ordered all services to open combat-arms roles to women that so far have been reserved for men.

The Marine Corps may have to change its physical standards in order to put females in positions to one day lead infantry platoons in combat. Both the Marine Corps and the Army continue to wrestle with the mandate that former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta issued in January, directing the U.S. military to open hundreds of combat-arms jobs that have been closed to female servicemembers. So far, the Marines have been out ahead.

It was back in March 23, 2003, just three days after the start of the Iraq War, when Private First Class Jessica Lynch's unit was ambushed in Nasiriyah, Iraq. Lynch was only 19 when she was captured, badly injured and raped by Iraqi forces and held hostage for nine days before her dramatic rescue by US Rangers on April 1, 2003. Controversy surrounds the "mythic" rescue story line. Lynch has blamed the Bush administration for exaggerating the bravery and success of the war with her story. "I knew that, even ten years later, I would not have been able to...

“She's a redneck boy's dream come true. Theresa Vail is a bowhunter, an M-16 sharpshooter, skydiver, national guard soldier, grease monkey, and also Miss Kansas. She's been a motorcycle racing queen and can skin out a deer with the best of them. And if that wasn't enough to melt your heart, she is also devastatingly beautiful. She is not, to say the least, your typical beauty queen contestant. She will also differ from past and present contestants in another way. She intends to let the whole world see her tattoos, which include the Serenity Prayer and the army's medical insignia....

As the U.S. military prepares to send women into the toughest combat billets for the first time, Pentagon medical officers have just released data showing that while “battle injuries” were the leading reason male troops were flown outside Afghanistan for medical care, “mental disorders” topped the list for female troops. That shouldn’t come as a complete surprise. After all, women remain technically barred from the infantry and other units where close-in combat is the norm. But the data also show that despite the ban, women were medically evacuated from Afghanistan at a rate 22% higher than their male comrades.

(CNSNews.com) - Why shouldn't women in the military have the same opportunities as men do? Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel asked on Thursday. It's not a matter of lowering standards, he said. In remarks at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, Hagel was asked how he feels about putting females on the front lines of combat -- "based on our social background of men being the protectors of women," as the questioner put it. Hagel's reponse: First, I think everyone understands, and this is the right thing, we can't lower standards. We have high standards. We should have high standards. Our...

When the Pentagon said earlier this year that it would open ground combat jobs to women, it was cast in terms of giving women equal opportunities in the workplace — the military workplace. But the move has practical considerations, too. The military needs qualified people to fill its ranks, and it's increasingly harder to find them among men. "It's fairly common knowledge that our population of military-age young men, who qualify for the military, is declining," Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey said in an interview with NPR just after the Pentagon announced that women no longer be excluded from...

In a report by NPR’s Tom Bowman aired during Monday’s broadcast of “All Things Considered,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey explained why the military is having difficulty recruiting qualified young men. “I think it’s fairly common knowledge that our population of military-age young men who qualify for the military is declining,” Dempsey told NPR. “And so, as a very practical matter, we decided if in 2020 we’re going to need these young ladies and we’re going to need to attract as much diversity and as much talent as we can possibly attract, if that’s going...

For 15 years she has proudly served her country as a Royal Navy engineer, risking her life in Afghanistan when she fought against the Taliban. But far from showing Nicky Howse the respect she deserved as she flew back to her latest posting, Virgin Atlantic staff chose to humiliate her – by demanding that she remove her uniform because it was ‘offensive’. They warned the 32-year-old helicopter technician she would not be allowed to fly unless she took off her combat fatigues and wore a sleep suit instead. -snip She was confronted by a G4S security guard and Virgin Atlantic...

For 15 years she has proudly served her country as a Royal Navy engineer, risking her life in Afghanistan when she fought against the Taliban. But far from showing Nicky Howse the respect she deserved as she flew back to her latest posting, Virgin Atlantic staff chose to humiliate her—by demanding that she remove her uniform because it was “offensive”. They warned the 32-year-old helicopter technician she would not be allowed to fly unless she took off her combat fatigues and wore a sleep suit instead. … They told her—wrongly—that it was the company’s policy not to allow military personnel...

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AFNS) -- The president of the United States nominated Maj. Gen. Michelle Johnson for the appointment to the rank of lieutenant general and for assignment to serve as Air Force Academy's 19th superintendent. If confirmed by the Senate, Johnson would become the first woman to hold the position. Currently serving as NATO's deputy chief of staff for operations and intelligence, Johnson is a 1981 distinguished graduate from the Academy where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in operations research. She was the first female cadet wing commander and the first female Rhodes Scholar from...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Another one of the many military jobs on the front lines of combat may be opening to women: Flying the high-tech helicopters that move special forces under cover of darkness for missions like the one that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. The Army's most elite aviation unit has proposed a test program to let women serve as pilots and crew chiefs, pending congressional approval. The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, based at Fort Campbell, Ky., and known as the Night Stalkers, decided to give women a trial as pilots and crew chiefs as part of...

The equal treatment of gay spouses in the military took a step forward after the Fort Bragg spouse’s club offered full membership to the wife of a female officer. Ashley Broadway, who is married to Lt. Col. Heather Mack, was offered full membership to the Association of Bragg Officers’ Spouses on Friday, after initially being offered a guest membership. “In order to immediately support all military officer spouses who are eligible for ABOS membership, a more inclusive definition of spouse was needed,” the group wrote on its website. Moving forward, the group said any spouse of an active duty commissioned...

When outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that he had lifted the Pentagon’s ban on allowing women to serve in front-line combat roles, one of several questions it raised was: Is that unusual? Do a lot of countries allow women to serve in combat? The answer is that many Western, developed countries have women on their front-line forces. But outside of the West, it’s rare. The map at the top of this page shows in red which countries formally permit women in combat positions. Shown in orange are countries that allow women to serve in military roles that involve...

Panetta removes military ban on women in combat, opening thousands of front line positions.

Congress, in the pre-Christmas rush, passed a Democrat-sponsored provision that will allow women in the U.S. military to use their health insurance to pay for abortion in cases of rape or incest. Right now, the Defense Department pays for abortion only when the mother’s life is at stake. The expanded abortion coverage is included in the defense authorization bill that is now on its way to President Obama for his anticipated signature. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), who introduced the abortion measure, said on Nov. 30—in a speech on the Senate floor—that it was “unfair” to deny military women “reproductive health...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Four female military service members have filed a lawsuit challenging the Pentagon's ban on women serving in combat. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in San Francisco Tuesday and is the second such federal challenge filed by female service members this year.

Vanessa Dobos is a gunner on board a USAF AC-130 gunship.  The blue-eyed blonde has seen action in Iraq and Afganistan, and enjoys long walks on the beach, men who aren't afraid to cry, and puppies. Vanessa's dislikes include feed-tray stoppages, tracer flareout of her NVGs and premature fixed-wing strikes scattering her high-value targets... The 19 year old former Ohio high school cheerleader is in-fact the Air Force's first female aerial gunner ever: Raised in the small town of Valley View, Ohio, her interstest in the military was sparked by her father. Described by Dobos as 'a history buff', her dad talked...

A local soldier killed in Afghanistan on Saturday died in a suicide bomb attack, U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young told the Tampa Bay Times on Monday night. Earlier Monday evening, the U.S. Department of Defense issued a news release saying that Army Spc. Brittany B. Gordon died from injuries caused by an improvised explosive device in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The military provided no other details. Contacted by phone later that night, Young, R-Indian Shores, told the Times that military officials had advised him that the IED came from a suicide bomber. "It is not one that was planted as a mine....