Why are we sending Teenage Girls into the Battle Zone?

AP (Yahoo News) ^

[af_vet_rr]

I think singling this woman out right now to argue the issue of women in combat is DISTASTEFUL, given that she might very well have made the ultimate sacrifice for you.

I've seen this on FR a lot since saturday, people are using the deaths or capture of American soldiers to push their own agendas. Distasteful is not a strong enough word.

I expect liberals to use the death and capture of our men and women in uniform to push their agendas, and if you turn on your local news, you'll see them doing just that. I didn't expect it out of people on FR

We need to honor these people, not bicker between ourselves over whether they should have been there or not.

[MineralMan]

"How else can our enimies from within demoralize the nation by having pretty young girls suffer the raveges of war."

So, would it be OK with you if _ugly_ girls suffered? Sheesh!

[americanbychoice]

lately you wouldn't get much contempt:) I just coudn't help that one.

[hardhead]

One word = Billary

[Ga Rob]

You're right we shouldn't be arguing about it.....

Because the discussion should not have to take place. It's not an agenda on my part or an opinion. It's a fact!!!!

[AnalogReigns]

I'm assuming some Allied nurses or other female support personal were probably taken captive by the Germans during WWII.

Does anyone know their story, as to the treatment of these women POWs?

[americanbychoice]

There was a large Air base and several Army bases in Wiesbaden/Mainz. A very large housing area, even an american Golf club that I have played on myself.

[hollywood]

No, and you know that, I'm sure. (forgot your sarcasm tag?) Anyway, more insidious is this article's wording, making it seem like "you can join the army to get a good education, and, since there is nothing else to do in her town due to Bush-induced high unemployment rates, well she was just trying to better her life by enlisting. What a nice girl little she is, and now, look at what the military is doing to her. Shame on us! Shame on the military! Shame on Bush!" Nope, no bias in this article. (/sarcasm)

[Mark17]

There was a large Air base and several Army bases in Wiesbaden/Mainz. A very large housing area, even an american Golf club that I have played on myself.

Wiesbaden Air Base was taken over by the Army sometime back in the 70s. Lindsey Air Station was, of course, Air Force. Mainz-Kastel had both Army and Air Force, and Lee Barracks was in Mainz. You must have played at Rhein-Blick golf course.

[jrawk]

I am here to learn as well as discuss.

I would also like to hear their story.

-- lates

[AnalogReigns]

Well, answered my own question: Interesting reading guys, her fiance allowed to conduct his own search for her???

Quite a change in chivalry since then, eh?

(fr: http://www.military.com/Content/MoreContent?file=ML_whittle_bkp )

2nd Lt. Reba Whittle

Army Flight Nurse Was Only U.S. Woman POW in WWII Europe

By Bethanne Kelly Patrick
Military.com Columnist

Over 50 years have passed, and still no one knows why or how the C-47 medical evacuation plane became a target over German territory. What is known is that when flight nurse 2nd Lt. Reba Whittle scrambled out of the downed plane's burning shell, she became the only American woman POW in Europe during World War II.

On Sept. 27, 1944, Whittle and her fellow crew members from the 813th Medical Air Evacuation Squadron in England had been en route to France to pick up casualties. When their plane was shot down over Aachen, the survivors immediately were captured by German soldiers and taken on a forced march to prison camp. Along the way, they were examined at a German hospital, where a doctor asked Whittle questions about her occupation. In her diary -- now in the possession of her husband, Stanley Tobiason, and researched by Lt. Col. Mark Clark, a military historian -- Whittle wrote that the German doctor "at last shook his head and said, 'Too bad having a woman, as you are the first and no one knows exactly what to do.' "

Not knowing "exactly what to do" about Reba Whittle continued even after her release from Stalag 9C, where she had been allowed to nurse other captives. The U.S. government did not officially acknowledge her status as POW. Her widower Tobiason told a newspaper that "maybe it was because she was the only one." At the time of Whittle's capture, she and Tobiason were engaged. When he learned of the C-47's disappearance, Tobiason talked his general into allowing him to use an aircraft, gathered a volunteer crew, and flew his own search-and-rescue mission for his fiancee, without success.

Once married, the couple again faced failure in the struggle to have the bureaucracy grant POW status to Whittle. However, Tobiason says his wife was never bitter over her anonymity. She had been ordered by the Army not to talk about her experiences -- a common wartime regulation to protect military personnel still held by the enemy. She never did talk about those experiences, even to her family. Whittle was awarded the Air Medal and the Purple Heart in 1945, and in 1992, she was posthumously recognized as a POW. When that acknowledgment finally came, her husband said, "She would have been very delighted."

[Mark17]

Hey mineral guy. I tried to find anything I could about women still being used in combat roles in the Israeli forces. By that, I am referring to infantry, artillery, and armored forces, and fighter aircraft. I could not find anything, so I simply e mailed Israeli Defense Forces, and asked them about it. We shall see if they respond, but if they do, I will surely let you know one way or the other.

Regards.

[Willie Green]

Apparently because they can't kick field goals consistantly enough to make it in the NFL.

[ggekko]

"Untrue. What about Israel? "

Israel dropped woman from combat roles in the early 1980s. Women still serve in the Israeli army in non-combat roles.

[bat1816]

If soldiers only ate MREs every day for weeks on end, morale would suffer terribly. Also, they can cause constipation. And they taste terrible, thus most soldiers tend to eat less when they are forced to eat nothing but MREs. The result is they lose weight, energy, and can lead to depression.

Regular meals interspersed with the MRE diet are essential to a strong fighting force.

[HairOfTheDog]

Welcome, glad you finally chimed in! If she is yet alive, I hope she comes home. I don't think that many former prisoners, despite the horror of capture, would give up the lives they still had waiting. People are tough. If she can get out of there, she has life ahead. Don't be so quick to give up.

[MineralMan]

Go here:

http://userpages.aug.com/captbarb/myths2.html

[MineralMan]

See here:

http://userpages.aug.com/captbarb/myths2.html

That has apparently changed again, or is changing. And, according to our German Freeper in this thread, women may serve in combat roles in the German military.

[arly]

Right On !.. God Bless your daughter and every other daughter and son over there fighting for Liberty my prayers are with them and I salute there Bravery!

[Michael81Dus]

Alright, today I learned much about the PoA - thanks to you!