Why are we sending Teenage Girls into the Battle Zone?

AP (Yahoo News) ^

[optik_b]

Jessica Lynch is known for her smile, her laugh and for loving children so much that she wants to be a teacher. "That smile is all you ever see," Glenda Nelson, a close family friend, said Monday. "No matter what, she always had a smile on her face."

Lynch, who aspires to become a teacher, joined the Army to get an education and because it was one of the few opportunities available in a farming community with an unemployment rate of 15 percent — one of the highest in West Virginia.

Once she entered the service, Jesse, as she is known to family and friends, would often write letters, send e-mail and call home.
The young woman is "every mother's dream of a teenager daughter," said Lorene Cumbridge, a cousin.

[uncitizen]

Isn't it funny how "women in combat" has backfired on the feminazi's? Those women in the military are now patriots.

[DeathfromBelow]

I DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR (OR AFFIRM) THAT I WILL SUPPORT AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES AGAINST ALL ENEMIES, FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC; THAT I WILL BEAR TRUE FAITH AND ALLEGIANCE TO THE SAME; AND THAT I WILL OBEY THE ORDERS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE ORDERS OF THE OFFICERS APPOINTED OVER ME, ACCORDING TO REGULATIONS AND THE UNIFORM CODE OF MILITARY JUSTICE. SO HELP ME GOD."

[wardaddy]

Good post. I have several Israeli buddies with Yom Kippur war experience. Aside from what you mentioned, they also pointed out that men were much more likely to be distracted by wounded women...which is not good in a firefight or advance.

Everytime I reload this thread I see that poor cute little girl. I could cry literally. I have only cried once in 25 years when my dad died. He was a vet and yep...he too was against women anywhere near combat. Same goes for my father in law....combat vet of 3 wars...WWII, Korea, 2 tours in Vietnam...career NCO....that's good enuff for me.

PS:...my father in law is so disgusted by the PC military that he will not allow my wife to frame his medals so his grandkids can be proud of them. He left after all this social experimentation started totally disulluisoned.

[DeathfromBelow]

As a retired US submariner, I always wanted women to serve on subs. But then I alway had ulterior motives.

[Terrence DoGood]

Hey guys this entire excersize demonstrates that "War Is Hell". You folks need to understand something...as members of today’s military, we accepted those risks when we swore that oath. From an Air Force perspective, the Air Force Combat Survival School (that EVERY AF flier has to complete regardless of what you fly) teaches us how to cope...various methods and techniques handed down from Vietnam Era POW's and others. We understand that there are a variety of ways the enemy will exploit captured forces, but I'd wager my female fighter pilot colleague could handle more than the public thinks. I have faith in the strength of our young men and women in uniform. Again this is the life we've chosen.

[LowOiL]

Call me a chauvinist but I don't have nearly as much problem with our brave young men going into the combat as our young girls.

I agree with you. My wife's sister joined the Army, she could not pass some of the tests, so they gave her more and more time to do it. Then she got pregnant (by another solder that did not want the baby). She lost the baby trying to make requirements and they gave her an honorable discharge. Women in the army are a distraction in my opinion.

Flamesuit on...

[rstevens]

see....that wasn't so hard......

Of course we are all proud of her and wish her only the best, now that she has been allowed, and possibily having been influenced to join the Army.

Your attidude is admirable, but I wonder how you will feel about women in combat when they start comming home is rubber bags or being taken prisoner and being brutally raped and mistreated.

[KDD]

Thoughts on Women-in-Combat

One does not have to be reminded of myriad studies comparing strength, stamina and endurance of men versus that of women to know that women are disadvantaged in these measures. Anyone who has grown up in a mixed-gender environment knows this common-sense revelation by practical experience. Only in the 'elite' non-serving elements of America would we expect this to be even the subject of serious discussion.

snip

Proponents of women-in-combat agree that strength, stamina, and endurance may be factors that render women unable to perform infantry combat duties but deny that women cannot perform combat aviation and combat shipboard duties as well as duties in artillery and armored vehicles. This flies in the face of past U.S. experience in warfare....

Modern fighter aircraft have control surfaces which are completely driven by hydraulic and electrical systems. The 'stick,' with which the pilot controls the aircraft's flight, is artificially given spring-driven forces so that the pilot doesn't inadvertently over-control and overstress the aircraft with large, rapid stick movements. In fact, stick-force-per-g is a design factor that purposely imposes a muscular force by the pilot on the stick so that the aircraft cannot be damaged by pilot input. These stick forces are fairly light for normal flying but in combat they can be quite high -- up to several tens-of-pounds per g. This force doesn't require extraordinary pilot strength but in a combat dog fight, under very high-g loads (both positive and negative) and vigorous stick-maneuvering by the pilot, high stamina is a very important requirement. For those with low arm-strength, this force, required over a relatively long period of time, drains one's stamina. Consequently, those with relatively low stamina (females in particular) are disadvantaged in combat maneuvering against a determined enemy.

Females are disadvantaged in both strength and stamina in flying fighter aircraft in combat. An experienced Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS) flight instructor told me that the first few females who were trained in fighter aircraft in the East Coast FRS had to be sent off-base to special weight-lifting and strength training in order to meet the physical rigors of air-combat maneuver training. They simply did not have the strength or stamina to accomplish prolonged combat maneuvers without this extra special physical training.

CAPT Dennis McBride, a brilliant naval officer with an advanced degree in Neuroscience, told me (phone conversation 2/17/99) that, as the officer in charge of Medical Science and Technology at the Naval Research Laboratory, they had uncovered evidence that females could not handle the full range of combat requirements for flying the F/A-18. The question was, could females pull the ejection seat handle (40 pounds pull required to go past the ejection detent) successfully? Of 149 females tested, only 59 percent succeeded. Of course, the principle investigator concluded that this was just fine.

In addition, the study revealed that females, in general, could not hold their head up to see the Heads up Display during high-g force maneuvers. They could not pull high-g turns and turn their hear around to visually acquire a bogey in a dogfight. They found that 30 percent of men could not be assigned to Tactical Air for this same reason. But females are waived from this requirement. They also found that there is only a 10 percent overlap between the strength of men and women. That is, the strength of the strongest 10 percent of women in the Gaussian distribution overlaps the weakest ten percent of the men's strength distribution.

Women-in-Combat after the Terrorist Attack on America:
The Intersection of America's Culture War and the 'Shooting War'

[wardaddy]

Something we both have in common aside from our views.

[homeschool mama]

You have *three* lovies in the military?! Bless your heart...thank you for supporting your children in what they're doing...I am so very appreciative.

Blessings and prayers heavenward for Snickersnee children.............BIG time. :o)

<><

[homeschool mama]

Bush 41 was shot down in WW2 while serving in our military. His son, Bush 43, was a fighter pilot in the National Guard during the Viet Nam era.

[wardaddy]

Come now...KDD...don't let facts get in the way.

All that matters are intentions and fairness....don't ya know?

[homeschool mama]

In addition to my last post...Bush 41 was a *fighter pilot* in WW2, and was shot down in the Battle of Midway.

[Michael81Dus]

:) Believe me, you really hadn´t wanted to serve with those women who enlisted shortly after we opened troops for women. Some had for the gender... LOL

[Michael81Dus]

TO ASK for the gender. SORRY!

[DeathfromBelow]

You are right, I remember one that could play tackle football with the best. Old Memories

[Michael81Dus]

This won´t happen, because nobody wants history to be repeated. We have one advantage! We KNOW what happened when two axes strived for a clash. All German forces are in case of an attack on the NATO-terrirtory under NATO-command, and no French soldier. These EU-soldiers won´t be under EU-command. The last order gives our parliament and noone else. Believe me, ending NATO would mean Schröders end. Ending partnership with America (not ´only´ damaging) would mean his end. Germany´s elite (elite, not government) knows that we can´t live without Americans shoulder.

[repub32]

Thank the Feminist movement for the need for Women to wear Jock straps!!!!!!!!!

[usslsm51]

Was this girl drafted or forced to serve?? If not shut up, for it is the women who have fought to have these grils in combat, the Armed Forces have never wanted it.

[jpl]

Men feel protective of women.

You don't think the women are just as protective of the men?

Unless the man happens to be an offspring of the woman, then no, not even close. In fact, the men in a combat unit are probably more tightly bonded together and protective of each other then the woman is to most of the men.