[red flanker]

From Wiki:

McSally graduated from St. Mary Academy - Bay View and then the United States Air Force Academy in 1988. She earned a Master's degree from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

She earned her wings at Laughlin AFB, Texas and was initially assigned as a First Assignment Instructor Pilot (FAIP) in the T-37. She was selected for Lead-in Fighter Training (LIFT) in 1993, completed the Replacement Training Unit for the A-10 Thunderbolt II, was assigned to an operational A-10 squadron and was deployed to Kuwait in January 1995. During that deployment, she flew combat patrol over Iraq under Operation Southern Watch, enforcing the no-fly zone. In 2000, she reported to Joint Task Force Southwest Asia (JTF-SWA) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for a temporary assignment in support of Operation Southern Watch.

In July 2004, she took command of the A-10 equipped 354th Fighter Squadron, and was subsequently deployed to Afghanistan under Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, where she employed weapons in combat for the first time. In 2005, McSally and her squadron were awarded the David C. Shilling Award, given by the Air Force Association for the best aerospace contribution to national defense.

[Yashcheritsiy]

Ace pilot or not, she’s clueless. Flying a plane is not the same thing as frontline combat. While she can drive a stick as good as anyone else, I doubt she can haul some wounded 250 lb. Marine’s rear end out of a firing line on her back while under enemy suppresive fire. Face it - women are simply NOT fitted, physically, for much of what military forces need to do. This remains true, whether she wants to play “little Ms. offended” or not.

[elvis-lives]

No need to get all crampy Martha. Maybe it would make you feel better to make me a sandwich....but after you fetch me a beer.

[StAnDeliver]

"A retired female fighter pilot running for former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' open seat in Congress said Friday that Rick Santorum's recent remarks on women in combat make her want to "go kick him in the jimmy."

Lighten up, Franc(e)s.

[Happy Rain]

How many have perished because female cops and firefighters didn't have the upper body strength to rescue them?
How many have died for a politically correct ideology that denies simple biological fact.
And how many will die because women are mixed with men in combat?

There was an entire fire crew out West several years ago who were all burned to death in a fast moving brush fire because the men waited for the women—this stuff happens a lot but it's un PC to report it.

[RinaseaofDs]

McSally’s face is likely on a poster at Boeing that reads:

“Hurry, because the quality of the meat in the seat is dropping!”

Kicking fellow Republicans in the jimmy is what they are teaching our future national leaders at Harvard, apparently.

[Nathaniel]

I have a lot of (maybe somewhat disjointed) thoughts on this - Santorum speaks out of both sides of his mouth - he said he supports right to work, yet did not support it overtly as a US Senator from PA because he felt his state didn’t want it - he came to this conclusion not by actually asking his constituancy, but by his desire not to “rock the boat” and possibly alienate some of his union thug constituents. Now - as for McSally - I don’t know much about her other than what I’ve read here. As a retired US Army Airborne Infantry First Sergeant, I can point blank testify (and yeah, I did a tour as an “Equal Opportunity Advisor” - I was DA selected to go to DEOMI - The Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute at Patrick AFB near Cocoa Beach, Florida, then served at Brigade level in the EOA position in Korea - DEOMI was 16 1/2 weeks of politically correct head-warping during which students who fit my profile - white, Protestant, combat arms, rurally backgrounded, pickup truck driving, Wrangler & boot wearing, country / Southern rock listening, conservative.... you get the picture - were indeed Lucifer and were/are directly responsible for everything wrong in all of Creation and that people like me deserved to by eternally damned for all percieved injustices purpetrated against minoritys and/or females ruthlessly and with *oh my goodness* PREJUDICE. Oddly, the assignment - even though utter PC BS - helped vault me into early promotion once I - thank goodness - returned to the Infantry where I belonged. The “system” worked against itself). Karma? Maybe. What goes around. comes around. Anyway - I do not KNOW McSally. But I DID witness commissioned officers (ususally “ring knockers” -West Pointers) pull ALL sorts of stunts - captains being handed blank award reccomendation sheets by LTCs and being told to write up their own awards (reminds me of Kerry the cut-my-finger Purple Heart recipient). Senior Noncommissioned Officers being routinely and gleefully thrown under the bus to take the blame for their commissioned superiors’ errors and indescretions. Captains who couldn’t get a command anywhere else taking command of Basic Training companies with the mind set that they HAD to destroy at least one Drill Sergeant’s career to be a “success”. And yes, gender came into play (thankully, not in the Infantry - at least yet). There came a “NEED” to place females into very prominent command positions. Navy Captain Holly Graf was one such. Her gross incompetance and utter lack of leadership ability is the stuff of legend. Yet, because of her PLUMBING, she was “fast tracked”. McSally? I’ll read more - although in my dotage, I no longer believe everything I read - ESPECIALLY when it is written by a PC career-climbing weasel. If McSally is a Republican, she might be trying to “flex” for potential voters. I truly admire strong conservative women - I’d follow Sarah through Hell - she’s a LEADER. I am not in the least threatened by her gender. McSally, it appears, is trying to make her gender the issue - perhaps her gender is what got her the cushy and/or career ticket-punching assignments and “honorary” degrees, etc. And remember - Giffords - and it IS an abomination that the creep shot her - and he was NOT a “right winger” - was a turncoat. A former Republican who switched parties in order to get re-elected. (Her totally WHIPPED PC hubby is an embarassment to his uniform, BTW). I don’t care for “Slick Rick” Santorum, but I’ve mad up my mind to vote for WHOEVER has the best shot at defeating B. HUSSEIN Obama. I’ll hold my nose and cast my ballot in November accordingly. (An Allen West/ Sarah Palin ticket would have been awesome). Anyway, I am naturally suspicious of females with chips on their shoulders. McSally looks like that kind. I am no longer subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice - the UCMJ. As such, I no longer am required to address jackasses as “Sir”. I have excercised that prerogative with relish on several occasions when visiting commissaries and having cause to redress rude, boorish behavior on the part of some. OK - the subject was McSally - I will check it out.

[RightOnline]

Hey Martha.....take it from an old fellow Zoomie: Get over yourself.

RightOnline, USAFA ‘77

[longtermmemmory]

she may have an “R” but is she a rino?

another pro-homo, anti-second amendment, anti-religion, pro-abortion, feminst who is a Rino out of convenience is not going to be of any use.

We don’t need another McCain who hides liberalism behind a combat past.

for those with knowledge: what exactly does “deployed weapons” mean? pulled the trigger and missed? hit? dropped a bomb? Is this like a john kerry recieved a purple heart deal? She few, pulled the trigger and now can claim “deployed weapons?”

[jjm2111]

Yes, but has she ever passed the men’s physical fitness standards?

[Taxman]

Women have no legitimate place in ships at sea, flying combat aircraft or serving in combat zones!

The only reason they are doing so is because a cabaal of LIEberal women and soft men forced the military to “include” them.

Military combat effectiveness has not improved one whit since women went to sea, began flying combat aircraft or serving in combat zones.

And, improving combat effectiveness is the ONLY LEGITIMATE REASON FOR CHANGING THE WAY WARS ARE FOUGHT!

[oneamericanvoice]

Miss McSally’s comment that she like to kick Rick Santorum ‘in the Jimmy’ is unbecoming of an officer. She should hear and read Santorum’s comments, and then really critically think about them rather than just being critical. He is not talking about pilots but ground forces. But even if he were, there might be good points. Certainly there are women who are up to the rigors of ground combat, but what percentage in relation to men? The facts that men and women are not physically or mentally equal can not be ignored. And what about the logistics. Just imagine if there had been women at the Battle of the Bulge and they were menstrating. As a woman, I couldn’t just run behind a tree and change my protection, if I still had any. There were days when the cramps were extreme. But combat doesn’t stop for cramps.

There have always been women who found themselves in combat, sometimes by choice, sometimes when the rear became the front. But Santorum shouldn’t be kicked anywhere. Rather, how about a civil discussion. Perhaps they would both learn something.

[oneamericanvoice]

Miss McSally’s comment that she like to kick Rick Santorum ‘in the Jimmy’ is unbecoming of an officer. She should hear and read Santorum’s comments, and then really critically think about them rather than just being critical. He is not talking about pilots but ground forces. But even if he were, there might be good points. Certainly there are women who are up to the rigors of ground combat, but what percentage in relation to men? The facts that men and women are not physically or mentally equal can not be ignored. And what about the logistics. Just imagine if there had been women at the Battle of the Bulge and they were menstrating. As a woman, I couldn’t just run behind a tree and change my protection, if I still had any. There were days when the cramps were extreme. But combat doesn’t stop for cramps.

There have always been women who found themselves in combat, sometimes by choice, sometimes when the rear became the front. But Santorum shouldn’t be kicked anywhere. Rather, how about a civil discussion. Perhaps they would both learn something.

I am a Army veteran. Women’s Army Corp and regular Army.

[Nathaniel]

This entire McSally thing is far less about gender based equality than it is about politically correct “fast tracking” of service members who, by virtue of their being of a “minority” or a female to positions of high visibility in order to “demonstrate” the military’s *oh, my gosh* true “commitment” to equality. I would be perfectly willing to wager that McSally was accelerated to her assignments OVER more qualified males. I remember the BS mantra we were subjected to at DEOMI – “Affirmative action does not have ‘quotas’ – it has ‘goals’ “. Utter, complete and unadulterated HOGWASH – then and now. As an analogy, remember when Rush Limbaugh made the comments about Donovan McNabb – that the league was very desirous of having a black quarterback succeed? Limbaugh was – again – correct. McNabb turned out to be a moderately talented QB who would have been best suited to be a backup somewhere in the NFL. He was a choke artist of legendary proportions, went to two other teams – was immediately handed the team captaincy, and failed twice again. (I’m no Eagles fan – although Chuck Bednarik was a hero to me – both as a combat aerial gunner in a B-24 in WWII and to a lesser, but still awesome degree in the NFL). Anyway, Limbaugh was figuratively CRUCIFIED for speaking his mind – which was also the bone truth. So, to get back on the real subject – PC people high up in the military making these types of decisions in order to placate the B. HUSSEIN Obama regime instead of making decisions geared toward military victory – PERIOD, are scum. McSally was the poster child for affirmative action during her military career and is trying to extend that into her political ventures. I said it before, I am also no Santorum fan, but this is not about the “jimmy” whining, sniveling comment the pampered princess made. It is about right vs. wrong.