(FREEPER) Afghanistan War Veteran Takes Fight to 7th US Congressional District Race

Afghanistan War Veteran Takes Fight to 7th Congressional District Race

South Carolina, Thursday, March 29, 2012 - On Thursday, Katherine Jenerette, a US Army Paratrooper and a former US Congressional Field Representative, who just returnedhome eleven weeks ago from a combat tour of duty in Afghanistan, announced her bid for the newly formed 7th District Congressional Seat.

“I’m not the kind of person who sit’s on the sidelines when there’s a fight going on and work to be done for the people of our state, district and our country,” Jenerette said. “I’ve been places where you have to do a lot more than talk tough and whoever the people of this district decide to send to Washington had better be ready to hit the ground running and know when it’s time to dance and when it’s time to play hardball.”

Jenerette, a longtime Republican figure since her freshman college days at CCU is no stranger to hardball South Carolina politics; she nearly defeated long time State Senator Dick Elliot in 2004 when she beat him in Horry County but lost the seat in the western part of the district by a mere 1,800 votes out of over 30,500 cast in the election.

“That was a bare-knuckled-street-fight and I learned at a young age that getting into South Carolina politics is a lot like asking for trouble,” Jenerette laughed. “Since I’ve been in politics I’ve had people try to shake me down with threats of political scandals, got email threats warning me not to run for office and just a few months ago when a reporter asked me what its like to be serving as a female in the dirt and grime in one of the most dangerous places on earth – I thought she was talking about Horry County politics and she was really asking me about Afghanistan.”

Jenerette said the next election is shaping up to be a battleground with a lot of issues for the people of our district at every level of government and included things like the price of gas, taxes, jobs and the economy, healthcare, wars in the Middle East and issues all the way to the US Constitution itself.

“I don’t have to tell anybody in our district how messed up things are with Congress and the present administration and with our economy,” Jenerette said. “But, I’m not going to blow sunshine and claim that I’m going to reform Washington or put everybody back to work fifteen minutes after I’m elected. But, this much I can promise to the people of this district - I’ve got their back and I will fight for them and I will get things done as their Congressman. I will represent all of the people of this district from the small business owner in Florence, the family with four kids in Marlboro County, retired seniors in the South Strand, the biggest hotels and restaurants along the coast and I will serve all eight counties in the district. There is a lot of work to be done.”

Jenerette, from North Myrtle Beach, is a Captain in the US Army Reserve and was awarded the Combat Action Badge after an insurgent attack in Kandahar Province last fall. Jenerette has served two combat tours of duty; she joined the Army at 19-years old and after Iraq invaded Kuwait was deployed in Operation Desert Storm: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-wv6LAy-R8

Jenerette, who is married and has four children is a graduate Coastal Carolina University and holds a Masters Degree from USC – Columbia and was a college history instructor before she deployed to Afghanistan. She has served as a U.S. Congressional Field Representative for South Carolina’s First District, a North Myrtle Beach Planning Commissioner, CEO of the Myrtle Beach Area Hospitality Association and was a Candidate for US Congress in 2010. Katherine was recently named as one of THE 45 MOST ADMIRED REPUBLICAN WOMEN UNDER 45 by The Republican Security Council based in Washington, D.C: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.104023369696843.5156.101173139981866&type=1

She is presently a volunteer coach for the North Myrtle Beach High School Girl’s Track and Field Team and is active in regional veteran’s organizations and activities including support for Wounded Warriors projects.

4 posted on Fri Mar 30 2012 14:48:41 GMT-0500 (Central Daylight Time) by Pining_4_TX: “A female army paratrooper? Sorry, but this is not a good thing. Her campaign for office is not the issue, but conservatives have to make up their minds about whether they will stick to their basic principles on the military or not.”

10 posted on Fri Mar 30 2012 15:18:34 GMT-0500 (Central Daylight Time) by Pining_4_TX: “One of the main goals of liberalism is to obliterate the distinctions between male and female. Women should have very limited roles in the military, and I stick by that. I find it puzzling when conservatives seem to support the feminist liberal view of women when it suits them.”

I found this thread when I learned that CPT Jenerette was a Freeper running for office with Tea Party backing: http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2881856/posts, post 36.

Yes, you're right that FReepers need to decide whether its a violation of “basic principles on the military” for women to serve as commissioned officers doing CIVIL AFFAIRS work in the United States Army. That's CPT Jenerette’s MOS as a reserve officer.

We're not talking infantry here. CPT Jenerette has received some pretty tough military training so she can effectively do public affairs and civil affairs work if attacked.

I have zero problems with women in civil affairs or public affairs. If you do, that's your choice. I respect people's right to oppose women in the military but that's not my position, and it has not been the position of the United States military for over seven decades. As far as I can tell, CPT Jenerette is doing things that women were allowed to do in the Army even before World War II broke out.

Based on what I see in her Free Republic profile, it looks like she's chosen non-combat MOSes but has been trained to deal with the reality that we no longer have front lines and there's a good chance that anyone in Iraq or Afghanistan, no matter what their MOS, will need to be able to defend themselves and their unit.

Yes, she has a combat action badge, and if you're going to do two tours of duty in a combat zone, getting attacked sooner or later is a significant possibility.

From her FR profile page: “Katherine is a Commissioned Officer serving in the U.S. Army Reserve and an Army Paratrooper and is currently assigned to the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (Airborne) at Fort Bragg, N.C. Jenerette is a CA Team Leader and is part of the military’s highly specialized Civil Affairs teams which forms the nucleus of the Army's Civil-Military operations expertise for both Army Special Operations (SOF) and conventional forces. In January 2009, Katherine completed the US Army Combat Life Saver Course as part of pre-deployment training and is a graduate of the U.S. Army's Airborne school at Ft. Benning, Georgia, the Mobilization Civil Affairs Course (MCAC) at Ft. Bragg, NC and the Military Police Corps BOLC III Leadership Course at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri.”

Based on her awards and decoration, it appears her previous MOS was in Army Public Affairs, or at least she was working as a military journalist: “AWARDS AND DECORATIONS
US Army Airborne Parachutist Badge • US Army Commendation Medal • Army Achievement Medal • NCO Professional Development Ribbon • ARMY Service Ribbon • National Defense Service Medal • SWA Service Ribbon • Marksman M-16 Marksmanship Qualification Badge • U. S. Army Europe, “Military Journalist of the Year” 1989 and 1990 • U.S. Army 2nd Runner-up, “Military Print Journalist of the Year” 1990 • U.S. Army Europe, “Editor, 1st Place Magazine” 1990 • NCAA Big South All Conference Runner 1994 • Marshall Cavendish Scholarship (American Library Association), first alternate 1997”

Here's some more from CPT Jenerette’s background. I have no idea whether Congressional Candidate Katherine Jenerette is the best candidate for her district, but I do think CPT Jenerette is worthy of our support and encouragement as a soldier in the US Army.

Also, a clarification on my last post: my point was that women have been able to do civil affairs and public affairs work since before World War II, not that women could go to jump school and take military police training during World War II. Based on what I've read of the situation in World War II, women nurses and other women serving in the military often got additional training through informal channels from experienced combat veterans with whom they were serving, or learned the hard way if their units were attacked. Under current conditions with no front lines, even civilians serving as embedded reporters are seeking out training so they can survive if their units are attacked, so why shouldn't we give military women the training they need to survive?

____

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2836152/posts?page=212#212

Thank you for the really kind comments! I finally got home from Afghanistan less than two weeks ago after serving most of my tour with the ‘MSH’ 5th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment - Shah Wali Kot and the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division ‘Task Force Arctic Wolves’ in the Horn of Panjwai in one of the most volatile districts in Kandahar Province, known as the ‘birthplace of the Taliban.’ And I thought South Carolina politics was rough! My ‘Soccer Mom’ husband and four kids met me at the Myrtle Beach airport along with members of the Coastal Carolina Bluestar Mothers, the Patriot Riders, and the Little River Veterans Welcome Home Center who were there with American flags and banners. It was great! I’m so happy and thankful to be back home. Please understand that I am not any kind of hero; believe me there are so many real hero’s still in Afghanistan - all kinds of young American guys and gals putting it on the line each and every day in every province over there. Just remember them – they are still at war far away from home! Here is a more current picture of me. I was just a kid Lieutenant in the old one that you used! Thanks!
thanks! Katherine

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Afghanistan War Veteran Takes Fight to 7th Congressional District Race