Posted on 05/15/2005 7:13:35 AM PDT by metalcor
MOSUL, Iraq -- Jennifer Guay went to war to be a grunt. And the 170-pound former bartender from Leeds, Maine, with cropped red hair and a penchant for the bench press, has come pretty close.
It was mid-February and Guay, 26, an Army specialist who was the first woman to be assigned as an infantry combat medic, was spending 10 hours a day on missions with the 82nd Airborne Division, dodging rockets and grenades in the crowded streets of Mosul.
"Break-break-break: U.S. soldier down!" a hard-edged voice came over the radio. A gun battle had just broken out.
In less than five minutes, Guay was at the scene. She dashed to Sgt. Christopher Pusateri, 21, who was lying on the ground, a bullet through his jaw. "I was in charge of this man's life," she recalled. Pusateri had "a massive trauma injury, and I had to get him off the middle of the street."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
HAH! If a wasn't secure in my own manhood as the FATHER of a combat medic, I might take that 'you go girl!' a little differently. But thanks, I guess.
My bad. I had it in my head that you are a mom. Either way, I know you're very proud of your daughter and so am I.
Ah, she was a MEDIC. Well, excuse me. I thought she was actually fighting. She was a medic. That makes MUCH more sense. I stand corrected.
Harry S. Truman gave a medal of honor to a medic. The medic was a conscienous objector who would not carry a gun. He was 100% patriotic, wanted to serve in WWII and so became a medic. Truman always considered COs as cowards...but this medic was a genuine hero. What he did was too incredible and brave to be believed. If Hollywood had made a movie of his exploits, NO ONE would have believed it. Meidc. Jenny was a medic. Well, good for her. She is STILL an anomaly...but deserves all the hoopla she gets. I hope all the other heroes get as much as she does....they deserve it too, even if they are only men.
Funny that SHE gets the accolades BECAUSE she is a woman...and so unusual. SHE is hyped BECAUSE of her gender. That proves what a raree show this all is.
History changes; miltary capabilities change; human nature doesn't. This information is purely anecdotal and belies the entire history of the human race. In pure combat, mano a mano women are dead meat. You've seen too much scifi.
Get over it.
You are, of course, correct.
But, women libbers so dislike who they are, that is, women, that they really, really, really want to be more like men.
They also hate men because they hate themselves. The disrespect they pile onto men reflects the disrepect they have for themselves. They focus on what they don't do, don't have and therefore, naturally, they MUST do and MUST have. If men do it or have it, then it MUST be superior. Sad.
Women and men who like themselves are content with who they are, what capabilties they have and what biology has given them. They focus on and enjoy what they CAN do, not what they can't do.
More importantly, they don't OBSSESS with what they don't have and can't do. There have been discontented men and women throughout history. The libbers are the latest display of discontent by some women.
..and for all those who think (if that is the correct word) that being a medic in the field is NOT being in the thick of the fighting.....they're wrong. That position that you have to be in to help the wounded...is the same exact position that the soldier was hurt at.
....and the enemy does NOT stop firing just because you have a medic's insignia.
redrock
"never had to" being the most important part of your statement. If women had to meet those standard then they would, though there would be fewer women in the military.
bttt
Amazing how you could make such lengthy comments on an article you apparently didn't read. Not that unusual, unfortunatly. The females in my daughters company are all medics, but their duties inlude guard tower duty, serving in teh MEV on convoy protection, working in the combat surgical hospital---not directly in combat. Yet, they are subject to sniper fire, IED's, suicide bombers, mortar, rocket fire. My daughter just returned to her home FOB after escorting a convoy to Tall Afar and manned a gunners hatch on the back of a Stryker Ambulance. She has been at FOB Marez since Christmas Eve and has experienced all of those things. Again, I'm not in favor of woman in roles dedicated to direct combat and ambivelant about them being in direct support roles, but they deserve respect, admiration, and gratitude. And articles like this serve to make the public aware of what is being done on their behalf. Even if they chose to dismiss it as social activism.
Why?
I don't believe that women belong in combat, and the facts ... including the actual experience of such forces as the Israeli army ... bear me out. To opine so does not put me in the position of those who disrespect the people who are already there, any more than the fact that Clarence Thomas was the recipient of racial benefits stay him from taking the opposite side in the dispute over them. Two separate concepts; two separate arguments.
I wouldn't draft them for combat, I'd draft them for the billets they're already in. In any case, men and women are in the military - both should register
Remember, she is a medic.
Medics are non-combatants.
If she is strong enough to pick up any 200-lb soldier and carry him a few miles to a MASH unit, then fine, kudos to her -- she's doing her push-ups.
It's my guess that she is not THAT strong.
Many MEN aren't that strong. But that is ONE of the many benchmarks of being a soldier and being in combat. Another is jogging, sometimes running, 15 miles a day through enemy territory with a 100-lb pack on the back. The soldiers throughout history have all had, basically, the same weight to haul, about 60-lbs in peace and 100 lbs in war. That is historical fact...the packs were just different stuff than they are today.
Who would was his father, brother or husband the 200-lb soldier LEFT on the ground because the medic is a woman and not quite strong enough to do more than drag him a few feet? Not me.
I've read the stories. The soldiers throughout time HAD to carry their fellow soldiers out of the jungle, desert or combat zone. They HAD to be strong enough and most found the strength. If they didn't they died.
Women, Jennifer and many men, for all their heart, will and courage CAN'T do that. The military isn't even for all men, old men or disabled men. Never has been. Armies were made up of young, strong, healthy men....for VERY good reasons.
Combat isn't for women. Sci-fi = FICTION.
Fact of life, innit?
Why not?
see 54
Why do you believe 18 year old women should register for the draft?
"I knew one or two of women Marines who I suspected would be better than most males in combat. I’d have followed them without hesitation". I get the feeling somehow that the Shrill sound of a high pitched voice screeching "ATTACK" would not inspire confidence amongst our FIGHTING MEN. I could be wrong and so could a couple of thousand years of History but you can't fool human nature.I have seen films of women in training and it is pretty laughable, the Bayonet training is especially funny.They stick it in the dummie and then can't get it out.
So they can be drafted along with the men. They're a resource.
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