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The fundamental nature of an all male organization would certainly change with the introduction of females. I know, I was a member of an all-male organization when it changed to accept females.

In my life, not too long ago, I was in an F-15E fighter squadron, happily doing the fighter pilot thing. Then one day we were notified that our world was about to come to an end.. (*Sigh. . .boy, I miss it. . .)

We were told the first female fighter pilot was going to be named that day and she would be inbound in a few months. Of course, we were told some changes would have to be made. An example of some of the changes follows.

Shortly before her arrival the squadron bars “lost” their Hog Logs. Hog Logs were books; journals really, that informally documented notable events of a fighter squadron. As you can imagine, the nature of the write-ups was direct, profane, merciless and fun. Just the sort of stuff you would expect from a bunch of type-A over-achievers as they sparred with each other.

Hog Logs are a tradition dating back to WWI. My squadron dates to WWII and had the Hog Logs to prove it. These logs vanished a day prior to the female’s arrival, as they were deemed by the leadership to be too sexist, too profane and too insensitive.

The removal of the Hog Logs, and other changes, caused the entire nature of the fighter pilot world to change. It changed from men freely doing a mans job to men frustrated by the shackles of political correctness.

No longer could banter be open and unrestrained, or events documented in blunt and colorful prose. Heck, you couldn’t say “F*ck” in the squadron without fear of chastisement if the wrong person heard it.

The special camaraderie was gone.

The open competition and free humor of the warrior class was now replaced by caution and restraint. No one wanted to offend the PC gawds (or gawdesses, as THEY defined the limits now).

No more could you write about boneheaded acts that your squadron mates engaged in that led to their butt-whipping in mid-air. No more could you gleefully regale all with a spoken tale about how some unlucky twists of fate made you look boneheaded (it was never your fault). Now these historical write-ups had to be written as if they were going to appear in a Dr. Seuss children’s book, and your spoken word was to be heard by your mother.

The all-male world changed, and not for the better.