The Marines have long had women among their ranks but the Iraq War is changing women's roles. The Lioness program, referred to as the "pride of the Corps", was originally developed to provide culturally-sensitive searches on Iraqi women but has also given women more equality on the front lines. Unlike the woman in this WWI recruitment poster, female Marines today have actually seen and taken part in combat. Sometimes peacekeeping missions run into ambushes and as one veteran so aptly said in a NYT article, "When someone is shooting at you, you don’t say, ‘Stop the war, I’m a girl.'"
The Marines have discovered how valuable the Lionesses are in obtaining information and cooperation from the Iraqi people, whether by befriending the women or subtly intimidating the men - an American woman in uniform carrying a rifle is a jihadi's worst nightmare.
So, on the eve our own Independence Day, here's to our brave women, fighting and dying alongside our men while bringing hope and freedom to the rest of the world. Thank you.
p.s. My good friend, frequent commenter, and self-proclaimed #1 fanboy Mad St. Jack gifted me with a copy of Band of Sisters by Kirsten Holmstedt the last time I saw him. It's a great read, I strongly suggest it.
15 comments:
Great post! The women in combat have been downplayed for a number of reaons, not the least is security for them, but they ARE doing a super job, and a number have given their lives for their country. God Bless them!
Great read Breda! You'll like this cartoon: http://www.fighterchicks.com/images/Humor_1.jpg
Ooh! Have you read Love My Rifle More Than You?
Good Post Brenda, I would also like to direct you to another awesome read regarding our forgot "sisters" in age of War, Honor and Glory..
"SISTERS OF VALOR" by R.Turner
http://www.sistersofvalor.com/
This book was dedicated to my Father (and maybe more so Mother) regarding the Women left behind... Take a read.
Chicks kick ass.
God bless our warriors, women and men.
Triggerfail.
Vaarok, while trigger-finger discipline in the military is still bad, it's light years better than it was in the past.
Watch old WWII newsreels and you begin to understand why Condition 3 carry is usually mandated by the .mil.
Wow great post, thanks for the info.
Minor nitpick, Breda- it's "Woman Marines".
And Tam is quite right- the whole shuck and jive of coming into a FOB and having to go to a clearing barrel and completely go through the ritual of unloading and clearing your rifle and sidearm is a nightmare. No wonder there are mishaps and NDs when people have to go through that ritual every time they walk through a gate, and most of them only are actually clearing a loaded weapon perhaps one in 20 times. It breeds casualness, which is very unfortunate.
Per Tam's comment, a related story from a sniper buddy. He's sitting in the mess hall when a new AF contingent arrived at the FOB, fresh over from the states. First officer steps to the clearing barrel, drops mag, removes safety, racks slide, click. Second officer steps to the clearing barrel, drops mag, removes safety, racks slide, click. Third officer steps to clearing barrel, removes safety, racks slide, BANG! Red faced, he quickly racked the slide again, BANG! As he went to rack the slide a third time, the NCO behind him grabbed his hand and politely suggested removing the loaded magazine first.
While women can certainly do a fine job in many things, some better than men, it is foolish to ignore the fact that they are different from men. The ability to throw a wounded 250 pound buddy over her shoulder and run to a waiting chopper is not present in all men, but especially not in most women. (Not to say some men are not weak and all women could not do this.) This is not an argument against women in combat, but an argument for consistent standards between men and women, whether marines or fire fighters. The real issue is that a society should not put its women onto the front lined if it does not need to. Down range is no place for glory, and I rue the day when I would have my daughter drafted. It is a weaker society that puts its women in front of men to take bullets. Also you must remember the way women have always been treated in war when they are captured. Much more likely to suffer the terror and torture of sexual abuse. Don't make you fight to feel 'equal' result in our precious daughters being drawn into hell in place of men.
Anonymous 8:19 is the last traditional man left on the planet. Long live Anonymous 8:19.
"The real issue is that a society should not put its women onto the front lined if it does not need to."
The real issue is not what "society" wants to force women to do one way or the other. The real issue is what a woman choose to do herself.
Society should not be forcing anyone in front of anyone else to "take bullets".
That some individuals decide to step in front of others to protect them and the ideals they hold dear from harm is what makes great people, male or female.
Consistent standards are one thing, and I support them, but particular chromosomal pairings is not a reasonable standard.
Real men don't want fainting, helpless princesses, immature, manipulative headcases, or any of the zillion other types of broken and incomplete humanity wandering around.
They want Eowyn; a full equal with a mind and formidability all her own, who unambiguously *chooses* her man freely above all others.
Lesser men need not apply, and this, I think, is the key to why the Lionesses are so intimidating to some; they know they simply do not have the wherewithal to either handle such a woman, or the means to attract and sustain her attention.
Dealing with men in that position is tricky, their fragile egos make them liable to lash out, but such a woman has her means of dealing.
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