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.
You do realize you were addressing the candidate herself, don’t you?
OCS, jump wings, two combat tours, and a C.A.B.
Soldiers like Katherine are A GOOD THING!!
DTogo, (male) Army Officer
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”