Posted on 11/29/2006 8:36:31 AM PST by XR7
HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. — When they called her name, she could not move. Sgt. Leana Nishimura intended to walk up proudly, shake the dignitaries' hands and accept their honors for her service in Iraq — a special coin, a lapel pin, a glass-encased U.S. flag.
But her son clung to her leg. He cried and held tight...T.J. was 9, her oldest child, and although eight months had passed since she had returned from the war zone, he was still upset by anything that reminded him of her deployment...
The faraway move to live with his grandmother. The months that went by without his mother's kisses or hugs, without her scrutiny of homework, her teasing humor, her familiar bedtime songs.
Nishimura was a single mother — with no spouse to take over, to preserve her children's routines, to keep up the family apartment.
Of her three children, T.J. seemed to worry most... "He went from having one parent to having no parents, basically," Nishimura said, reflecting. "People have said, 'Thank you so much for your sacrifice.' But it's the children who have had more of a sacrifice."
When war started in Iraq, a generation of U.S. women became involved as never before — in a wider-than-ever array of jobs, for long deployments, in a conflict with daily bloodshed. More than 155,000 women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Among their ranks are more than 16,000 single mothers, according to the Pentagon, a number that military experts say is unprecedented.
How these women have coped and how their children are managing have gone little noticed as the war stretches across a fourth year...
"I tell [the children] that if God needs Mommy to go ... then Mommy's going to have to go again and they're going to have to let me."
(Excerpt) Read more at archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
After 20 years in the military, I must admit that women do not belong in military combat forces!
And you're creepy.
I am not a fan of "transformation" the way that people in the building are implementing it.
Wars are not always tractable to light fast wheeled vehicles and 'netcentric warfare' isn't going to solve our problems. We're in for a rude awakening yet again.
The Army is VERY PC these days. I can't tell you how much training we get on "prevention of sexual harassment" celebration of this or that monority's history month, etc. etc. It's amazing we can get any work done.
Aside from the fact that this "single mother" is divorced and joined the military to get off of Public assistance.....
Let's say she did have a child out of wedlock. Would she have been better off aborting her "bastard child"? What is to say the man had no intention of giving her child a father?
I'm not even gonna get started with these clowns. Got to get back to work.
Regards
In this case, as you would know if you had read the article, it is a formerly married woman whose marriage ended.
Knock it off.
No please...you've done it now. It's going to turn into a divorce thread ;-)
Bet you can't resist responding to me. Betcha.
That is the root of the issue. When I was in, I worked in both all male units, and units with large numbers of women. Many of them were extremely good at their MOS, and from a technical standpoint I learned a lot from some of them. As far as soldiering, though, you're entirely right. The vast, overwhelming majority are just not built for it, mentally or physically.
If any of the people pillorying her have not also pilloried able-bodied welfare recipients for failure to get off their butts and find work, I'll eat my monitor.
There seems to be the possibility that no one has actually READ this article.
Breaking up the basic command and control structure from Division to Brigade is a good thing IMHO, but we do need heavy forces (I would call all light units Infantry from now on and all heavys Cav so that many of the esprit building things Cav troopers get to do could spread, but that is way outside the topic being discussed). Otherwise it strikes me as Rummy trying to make the Army mirror the Marine Corps and I don't think that is such a great idea.
God, how I dread POSH and all the rest of the diversity crap. The desert was a welcome respite from most of it.
How is the writer "trying to make us feel guilty"? I don't feel guilty about policies I oppose but can't change. I oppose the policy of allowing women to serve in combat, and I oppose the policy of allowing mothers of minor children serve in the military. But I can't change that policy, so I don't feel guilty about it - as much as I regret the consequences of that policy. Did you feel "guilty" about stupid Clinton policies? I didn't, even though I opposed them. An article that shows some of the consequences of the stupid policy of letting women serve in the military is welcome. If it happens to make you feel guilty for some reason, that's your problem - and maybe it's a sign that, even though you might not admit it, you're not entirely comfortable with the policy either.
"Do you really believe that people who volunteer for military service are selfish people?"
She is selfish because she is a "single mother". It has nothing to do with her military service. My definition of a "single-mother" is a woman who has children out of wedlock and has no intention of giving their bastard a father.
Then you must admit that your definition does not apply in this case, and that she is not a "single mother." The article clearly states that she was married.
We do not know the circumstances of her divorce, and considering that she is serving our nation (and will go back when asked) I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.
Before jumping to conclusions, you might actually pause and check that the facts are on your side. In this case, they are not.
If she doesn't have the skills to land a white-collar position, other jobs with halfway decent medical coverage for the kid might well be out of reach.
Yep and it's only going to get worse.
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