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Back from combat, women struggle for acceptance
AP via Yahoo ^ | 14 Dec 2009 | KIMBERLY HEFLING

Posted on 12/14/2009 9:15:22 AM PST by US Navy Vet

Nobody wants to buy them a beer.

Even near military bases, female veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan aren't often offered a drink on the house as a welcome home.

More than 230,000 American women have fought in those recent wars and at least 120 have died doing so, yet the public still doesn't completely understand their contributions on the modern battlefield.

For some, it's a lonely transition as they struggle to find their place.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: combat; militarywomen; oefveterans; oifveterans; women; womenincombat
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To: donna

I don’t care if you believe it or not. The defendants got extended time sentences for assaulting official law enforcement officers while performing the duties of their office. And both the females I know stopped the defendants from assaulting each other by taking the hits themselves.


141 posted on 12/14/2009 2:38:44 PM PST by marajade (Yes, I'm a SW freak!)
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To: Nepeta

So you think putting German women in military uniforms and sending them into combat with Americans would have won WWII for the Nazis?

Because we are not talking about women working in factories.


142 posted on 12/14/2009 2:41:24 PM PST by donna ( I am confident that we can create a Kingdom right here on Earth. - Barack Hussein Obama)
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To: sabe@q.com
And both the females I know stopped the defendants from assaulting each other by taking the hits themselves

You make my point. The women couldn't keep the peace and they got abused trying. Men had to clean up the mess.

143 posted on 12/14/2009 2:44:07 PM PST by donna ( I am confident that we can create a Kingdom right here on Earth. - Barack Hussein Obama)
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To: donna

Um men take the same hits as women in my line of work.


144 posted on 12/14/2009 2:47:06 PM PST by marajade (Yes, I'm a SW freak!)
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To: donna

I honestly do not know how to respond to this. Especially after just reading about women in WWII (http://userpages.aug.com/captbarb/femvets5.html) and the sacrifices women made in that war.


145 posted on 12/14/2009 2:55:31 PM PST by SoldierDad (Proud Dad of a U.S. Army Infantry Soldier whose wife is expecting twins SONS.)
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To: Boucheau
Thank you.

I'm not a fighter. I'm just a contractor who's been working with the mission in Baghdad since early '04.

I have nothing but the highest regard for the guys who actually take to the streets to fight the enemy.

But in these particular wars, anyone associated with the military bases are in the same danger when the mortars and rockets come hurtling onto base (not so much these days) or when we're in convoys getting to a work location off the FOB or the airport, etc. and the roadside bombs are there.

I'm not complaining at all. I enjoy this work and wouldn't trade these experiences for anything. I chose to do this.

I'm not in combat and would not choose to be. To be honest, I never saw women on the combat convoys as they headed off base each day, but I suppose there must have been some. Somewhere.

146 posted on 12/14/2009 2:56:19 PM PST by Allegra (It doesn't matter what this tagline says...the liberals are going to call it "racist.")
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To: donna
So you think putting German women in military uniforms and sending them into combat with Americans would have won WWII for the Nazis?

Because we are not talking about women working in factories.


I stated bluntly before that I do not think women belong in combat. That said, they do not belong home not contributing to a war. Some of those roles--in medicine, for example, can take them close enough to fighting to put them at risk. The industrial parts of Germany were pounded by bombing during WW2, sometimes with few structures left undamaged--working at a factory job need not be risk-free.

I've known women who could not have handled the aftermath of bombing or dealing with maimed casualties--but I've known a lot of squeamish men, too, who couldn't stand to get dirt on their hands. I've known sissy boys who wanted to stay in an air-conditioned car rather than inspect the tanks outside the Patton Museum (God help us).
147 posted on 12/14/2009 3:02:55 PM PST by Nepeta
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To: Nepeta

Better to think about how male soldiers cannot fight to their full abilities with women around. Every woman in Germany unfortunate enough to full under the Russian invasion was raped. America women should think about how best they can help men in or near combat instead of demanding the jobs for themselves under a misguided Feminist influence.


148 posted on 12/14/2009 4:07:22 PM PST by donna ( I am confident that we can create a Kingdom right here on Earth. - Barack Hussein Obama)
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To: SoldierDad

Why do you want women to make sacrifices in war? It makes women bitter and scared. Why do you think, after WWII, they turned to government for support instead of the men coming home from war? Feminism has killed 60 million unborn babies and destroyed the family and modesty. Women don’t even want to raise their own kids anymore.


149 posted on 12/14/2009 4:16:55 PM PST by donna ( I am confident that we can create a Kingdom right here on Earth. - Barack Hussein Obama)
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To: Nepeta

Correct, and yes, absolutely.


150 posted on 12/14/2009 4:18:07 PM PST by Hulka
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To: sabe@q.com

‘Just cause you say they already knew about it doesn’t mean they understood it was endangering the mission as you say”

You still can’t answer a simple question.


151 posted on 12/14/2009 4:36:13 PM PST by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: SoldierDad

“It matters little what a person’s role is when the enemy is within sight of you.’

There is a vast difference between a civil war at home and shipping women over to a combat zone.


152 posted on 12/14/2009 4:37:39 PM PST by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: driftdiver

Other than the location in which people die from war injuries, I’m hard pressed to see what differences you’re referring to. War is war, regardless of location.


153 posted on 12/14/2009 4:39:28 PM PST by SoldierDad (Proud Dad of a U.S. Army Infantry Soldier whose wife is expecting twins SONS.)
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To: Nepeta

“They instead brought in foreign slave labor, unmotivated to produce and highly motivated to sabotage whenever possible. “

And despite that it was strategic decisions that cost them the war and not a broken gun.


154 posted on 12/14/2009 4:39:52 PM PST by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: donna

Raped to death in many cases.


155 posted on 12/14/2009 4:41:41 PM PST by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: driftdiver

well - from my post, my knee jerk reaction is that there’s gotta be SOME place for women in combat. But man, I’m not going to argue with you - because I’ve not been there, or even close to there. So thanks for your service, I salute you, for what mine is worth.


156 posted on 12/14/2009 4:42:46 PM PST by Hegewisch Dupa
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To: SoldierDad

“I’m hard pressed to see what differences you’re referring to”

Because in a civil war the war comes home to you. In the current war you are shipping people over to the war.

Women are very capable, very intelligent, and very strong in many ways. We are taking children from their mothers and shipping the mothers over to a war.

The only reason women are in the combat roles they are today is so the military can say how tolerant they are.

PC gets people killed.


157 posted on 12/14/2009 4:44:46 PM PST by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: Hegewisch Dupa

“my knee jerk reaction is that there’s gotta be SOME place for women in combat. “

Why does there have to be a place in combat for women? Just so they can be “equal” or perhaps because they are “better” than men. Many feminazi’s would say they are better.

Men and woman have their own gifts. We are stronger when we play to those strengths and not pretend everyone is the same.


158 posted on 12/14/2009 4:47:21 PM PST by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: Hegewisch Dupa

‘So thanks for your service, I salute you,”

No salute necessary, I worked for a living. :) I went in for my own reasons and got out for my own reasons. I enjoyed certain parts and hated other parts.


159 posted on 12/14/2009 4:58:15 PM PST by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: driftdiver

Perhaps, then, any future wars must only be fought in locations where there are no women present? Though, I’m not sure where that place would be. Wars are not fought in sterile environments. There will be women there, whether as members of the military or as civilians. The men who fight in wars will have to deal with the presence of women and the horrors that they will witness with respect to women (and children) being killed. The men who fight wars will always have to deal with issues of becoming entangled with women while away from home (or at home) while in combat. That has been an issue with respect to war for many hundreds of years.


160 posted on 12/14/2009 5:02:59 PM PST by SoldierDad (Proud Dad of a U.S. Army Infantry Soldier whose wife is expecting twins SONS.)
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