Posted on 09/09/2016 7:42:41 AM PDT by Eurotwit
They sweat together, they sleep together: in the name of gender equality, Norway has introduced compulsory military service for women, even bunking them in mixed dorms with their brothers-in-arms.
The military's gender balance is not entirely equal yet, but almost a third of the Norwegian army conscripts born in 1997 were women this summer.
At the Setermoen army base just above the Arctic Circle, new recruits in an armoured battalion are learning to handle assault rifles for use on combat missions. Here and there, long ponytails stick out behind the recruits' caps.
"It gives me a bigger recruitment pool to choose from," the battalion's chief, Lieutenant Colonel Pal Berglund, says of the new gender equal draft.
"I'm still looking for the same competence I always have. And for me it's obvious that this competence is also present within a large part of the female population of Norway."
Norwegian women have been able to volunteer for military service for almost 40 years now, helping to gradually feminize the armed forces. The military welcomed its first female helicopter pilot, female jet fighter pilot and female submarine commander already in the early 1990s.
Unisex dorms But in 2013, at a time when the prime minister was none other than current Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, a virtually unanimous parliament passed a law applying military conscription to both sexes.
The Scandinavian country -- where four of the last five defence ministers have been women -- has thus become the first North Atlantic Treaty Organization member and European country to draft both men and women, joining a tiny group of countries around the world, including Israel.
"In operations, it's an advantage having females. They have access to parts of the population that men don't have, for instance for intelligence gathering," says Berglund.
The army needs less than 10,000 new recruits each year, far fewer than the 60,000 who are liable to be called up. That means that only the most motivated will actually be asked to serve, in a country where military service is often seen as a personal accomplishment highly valued on the job market.
"It enables you to cut the umbilical cord. It's good that girls and boys get the same opportunities," says new conscript Marianne Westum.
"I'm aiming to become much more independent, to learn to work as a team member, to make friends from other walks of life. Basically to become more grown-up."
The 18-year-old shares living quarters with another woman and four men. Camouflage gear and a military-issued flask are neatly organized in a metal cupboard, only a bra and handbag indicating the presence of a woman.
Is it not tempting fate to throw young men and women together in unisex bunks?
"We see that exposure to each other increases tolerance, acceptance and understanding toward each other," insists Nina Hellum, a researcher at the Norwegian Research Defence Establishment.
"You don't shit in your own nest. You don't want to have sex and fraternize with anyone in your room for example or in your small unit because that makes it quite awkward."
A 2014 study showed that unisex dormitories helped combat sexual harassment thanks to a phenomenon of "de-genderization". Sharing living quarters makes both the men and women pay more attention to their behaviour, and thus they're able to develop a camaraderie, an almost sibling-like relationship, the study's authors claimed.
"In the beginning we were a little shy. We didn't really know how to behave around the girls. But once the initial awkwardness had passed, we relaxed and the girls were soon just like us," says a young male recruit, Kasper Sjavag.
Being mixed together with the guys "means that when it comes to performance, I really push my limits and can get used to working harder to keep up," says Kasper's female roommate, Gine Grimsbu.
"From a social aspect, the guys treat us well and they're respectful. There are a few who aren't used to being with girls but I think it'll be fine."
A recent survey conducted by the Norwegian army showed that an overwhelming majority of female soldiers are in favour of unisex dorms. But 18 percent still said they had been subjected to inappropriate comments or behaviour.
TTIUWP
I recall that the Norwegian contingent marching in the D-Day anniversary ceremony looked like a gay dance team.
“You don’t shit in your own nest. You don’t want to have sex and fraternize with anyone in your room for example or in your small unit because that makes it quite awkward.”
That’s the official line, I’m sure. What’s the pregnancy rate?
Is this really what you want?
“In the autumn of 2011, a commanding officer made then 23-year-old Alice Aspelund bathe naked with 30 men and in front of other male officers during an exercise in the northern town of Bodø.
After two separate internal reviews, the military said on Tuesday that it would not make any changes to its bathing policies, meaning that other female soldiers could find themselves in a situation similar to Aspelund’s when Norway’s gender-neutral military conscription begins later this year.”
Bullshit. Just like us my butt.
“In the beginning we were a little shy. We didn’t really know how to behave around the girls. But once the initial awkwardness had passed, we relaxed and the girls were soon just like us,” says a young male recruit, Kasper Sjavag.”
Meanwhile, it provides dating opportunities for the draftees. It's ever so cute but leaves the real prospect of combat to someone else.
Just what every country needs....pretty female soldiers. Pure idiocy.
That was my question!
They obviously did not read the study and report that the US military did on the combat effectiveness of mixed gender units versus all male units.
Ate up like a warm soup sandwich.
This only leads to everybody scoring high on the horizontal PT tests but doesn’t really do diddly for national defense.
However, if it make those women want to kick the tar out of the muslims trying to rape them, well, I could live with that.
I hope they do the bras right. Women I know who have served say that the crappy quality of their GI underwear was one of their biggest gripes.
Who knew Norway had a military? /sarcasm
Make an example of a few molesters, the rest will join the modern era.
Delusional nitwits. For one thing, sending females to “gather intel” will provide a big morale boost...to the enemy. Two, right off the bat I would suspect survival in Arctic warfare favors those with a body surface are to volume ratio more consistent with a large guy than a smaller female.
Well miss marmel.
Norway fought at the side of America in both Iraq and Afghanistan and is currently involved in training Iraqies to fight Isis.
Some military freepers know of the great contribution of Norwegian special forces in Afghanistan especially.
Norwegian special forces honoured by President Bush
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1339330/posts
Norway’s “Hunter Troop”
The World’s First All-Female Special Forces
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/norway/2016-02-08/norways-hunter-troop
Speaking from an anthropological point of view, this is what dying cultures do.
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