WillBrink
03-15-17, 09:07
Is the story of Maj. Mary Jennings Hegar. Rumor has it that her part in this event for which she was awarded Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor Device was a tad exaggerated, but I was not there. I'm conflicted by stories etc like this. I have not been in the mil nor served with women nor been in combat, so my opinion on it not coming from first had experiences. My basic position is if a woman can get through all the training without lowering the standards in any way, it's difficult to justify banning them from combat, but (1) the standards are different* and (2) women being in combat presents some unique challenges for the mil. Seems it will happen one way or another, so best to prepare them as best we can and see how the social experiment works out. I can see all manner of problems arising, and few benefits, but hard to tell someone, man or women, they can't go fight for their country if that's what they truly want. First female soldier raped followed by having her head cut off by some POS terrorist on vid will likely be a game changer....
A Purple Heart Warrior Takes Aim At Military Inequality In 'Shoot Like A Girl'
In 2009, Maj. Mary Jennings Hegar was shot down by the Taliban in Afghanistan while co-piloting an Air National Guard medevac helicopter. Though she was wounded in her rifle arm, Hegar managed to return fire while hanging onto a moving helicopter, which saved the lives of her crew and her patients.
At the time, the Department of Defense allowed female soldiers to participate in air combat, but forbade women from ground combat positions. Hegar tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross that the rule was often circumvented, which meant that women who served on the ground did not receive credit for combat duty.
In 2012, Hegar became a plaintiff in an ACLU suit against the Defense Department, arguing that excluding women from combat was unconstitutional. She says that participating in the lawsuit "wasn't about women's rights, it was about military effectiveness." That same year, then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the Joint Chiefs of Staff lifted the ban on women serving in combat. But Hegar doesn't count the case as closed — she says, "The lawsuit remains open as a way for us to monitor integration, especially through a changing administration, and make sure that we don't take any steps backwards."
Cont:
http://www.npr.org/2017/03/02/517944956/a-purple-heart-warrior-takes-aim-at-military-inequality-in-shoot-like-a-girl
* = and get conflicting reports on whether the few gals who passed Ranger school were given no quarter during training.
A Purple Heart Warrior Takes Aim At Military Inequality In 'Shoot Like A Girl'
In 2009, Maj. Mary Jennings Hegar was shot down by the Taliban in Afghanistan while co-piloting an Air National Guard medevac helicopter. Though she was wounded in her rifle arm, Hegar managed to return fire while hanging onto a moving helicopter, which saved the lives of her crew and her patients.
At the time, the Department of Defense allowed female soldiers to participate in air combat, but forbade women from ground combat positions. Hegar tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross that the rule was often circumvented, which meant that women who served on the ground did not receive credit for combat duty.
In 2012, Hegar became a plaintiff in an ACLU suit against the Defense Department, arguing that excluding women from combat was unconstitutional. She says that participating in the lawsuit "wasn't about women's rights, it was about military effectiveness." That same year, then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the Joint Chiefs of Staff lifted the ban on women serving in combat. But Hegar doesn't count the case as closed — she says, "The lawsuit remains open as a way for us to monitor integration, especially through a changing administration, and make sure that we don't take any steps backwards."
Cont:
http://www.npr.org/2017/03/02/517944956/a-purple-heart-warrior-takes-aim-at-military-inequality-in-shoot-like-a-girl
* = and get conflicting reports on whether the few gals who passed Ranger school were given no quarter during training.