Posted on 04/07/2014 5:35:52 PM PDT by MacMattico
Wow. My daughter is 16, an A student and interested in possibly joining the military. While this fills me with great pride, and my family has a history of male members in the navy and Marine Corp, this kind of blew my mind. Not in a bad way, I guess it's just amazing, wonderful and scary all at the same time coming from MY daughter!
I was wondering if anybody would like to share any and everything they know about their daughter or females in general in the military. At this point she is thinking of an eventual career in something like Energency Management, perhaps law or intelligence, or a medical field. In other words undecided, but we have a family history of Veterans that went into Emergency Management and Firefighting, so maybe that's what she sees as "the family business"! It's a lot to take in all at once for a mom, but what should she be doing now if this were her eventual goal? She is a Varsity athlete, good student, and keeps out of trouble. Thanks so much! And while I will of course ask within the family, I appreciate outside opinions.
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Her Marine Uncle recommends the Air Force, but I don’t really think she has decided that yet. |
I live in San Antonio. The Express News has published many articles over many years detailing the abuse and even sexual assaults that many male AND FEMALE recruits have endured while in Basic here at Lackland. Assume half of these stories are hyped up and sensational. Assume they are made up lies if you want.
But the truth is - this stuff happens. How many hundreds of recruits just endure the assaults and keep their mouths shut? I have to agree with so many others here when I say - DO NOT LET YOUR DAUGHTER ENLIST.
It is my unfortunate experience also.
I am very pro military but I can also remember the draft during the Vietnam conflict. How it was easy to avoid the draft if you had the financial ability to go to college and get a deferment.
The current generation has not had the experience of wondering if they will be sent to their death upon graduation from high school. It is a sobering memory to reflect upon and wonder if there is any way to avoid the same situation in the future.
With the current direction this country is headed, I fear the future as long as bread and circuses are being provided.
A strong military with weak leadership never turns out well.
As an officer, I would anticipate USN and USAF have fairly equivalent living arrangements. Advancement and responsibility in USN is lightning fast compared to USAF. I was in both as an EM.
Having had an association with the Love Boat once upon a Persian Gulf, I’d keep my daughters away from extended stays at sea.
Besides. Boats sink. :>)
One of the prettiest girls I ever knew was very successful in USAF. I met her when I was 4, and knew her all her life until she passed from cancer in her 40s. She was one of the very first active USAF female pilots. She was able to handle herself well with boys and girls of all ages and types. She met her husband (a USAF Contractor) while serving, and was in a very happy (albeit short) marriage. There is a tendency for some troops to be attracted to / want to take advantage of a pretty female or a handsome male. Fortunately, these folks have generally learned how to handle that. ‘Street smarts’; she will definitely need ‘street smarts.’ Martial arts may come in handy. My sister in law once had to use a Flamenco dance shoe as an improvised defensive weapon. It worked so well that when the police showed up 30 minutes later, he was still, -er immobilized in a fetal position.
Pelosi says that as a Christian, I am a bigot. Clinton says that as a Conservative, I want to starve children. And now comes you to tell me that as the proud father of a Marine, I have a bad conscience.
I just all broken up.
they are training them to turn on we the citizens...
During the Viet Nam war, leftists would spit on returning soldiers. I see the internet has turned out to be a real gas saver for you.
Did you want to insult my mother next?
I’m laughing at this one. (not at you) When my Navy husband was ready to retire, the main question we asked each other was “Which AF base do you want to live near??” We chose Robins AFB.
The AF housing is so very much nicer than USN housing! or any other branch.
yo mama
Just kidding laotzu, just kidding
They’ve done excellent work for the Navy. However, they haven’t been able to advance to some extent due to their rate being over-manned since about 2010. Second, there is still a stigma about women being in the Navy. Also, thirdly, there’s a coarseness about Navy atmosphere, if you know what I mean. For those major reasons I wouldn’t recommend the Navy to a young woman. (This isn’t even going into “Obama’s” Navy and the changes that has brought.)
I can chime in on this. Most of it is bogus. Sexual assault can be anything from playing grab a$$ up to an including rape. They are trying to hide the fact that more men are getting attacked by fudging the numbers. They recently changed the definition of sexual assault. Before sexual assault was rape or attempted rape.
Now sexual assault is basically any incident involving a man and a woman. Guys texting pics have been accused of sexual assault and punished. They also did a bogus survey where they asked if people was sexually assaulted even if it was in WW2 and later and they included those in the results to make it seem like rapes went up.
They claim its better reporting which I call BS.
There is a whole bunch of “I got drunk and woke up felt I was raped” The military keeps pushing the fantasy that men and women are equal and that results in most of these types of assaults. Usually one or both parties are blind drunk and both gets screwed.
On the male/male side, a lot of roommates get touched, groped while sleeping.
“My uncle joined the Navy in 1952 on the “Kiddie Cruise”. He was only 15 and lied about his age. He was actually only 17 when he got out.”
A very good man, no doubt about it!
He has led a colorful life.
I’m sure it’s not as “coarse” as it was when I was in. We mostly thought of Waves as lesbians. But I don’t know of anyone who ever met one. Ha! The ones I knew sure wasn’t lesbians. They were some sweeties! Our slogan back then was “Join the Navy and ride the Waves”. Now, that’s coarse!
I’ve always thought that one of the sexiest women you’ll ever see is a Wave in full dress uniform. Everytime my wife sees them on TV she says she wishes she had joined.
What are your daughters’ rates?
I just retired from the army last year after 24 years of service (My first 4 were USMC). Our commander gave us a mandatory briefing on the repeal of DADT. When I brought up questions regarding higher disease rates and higher rates of domestic violence he didn’t have an answer. He finally told me , “I didn’t write this briefing. I was simply ordered to give it.” I responded with, “Well, whoever wrote it is an idiot that obviously didn’t think about a lot of stuff.”
I’d say if she wants to join support her decision. But remind her that her oath is to the Constitution NOT the president! I carried a copy in my pocket and passed out copies to my Soldiers.
I hope she’s prepared to witness some of the most grotesque hypocrisy and double-standards a person can see in adult life.
Hand her a pocket copy of the Constitution and ask her to read it carefully, so she understands just what it is she’s swearing to give her life to defense. That will put her in a league of her own in the military these days (because most current military officers have absolutely no idea).
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