posted
Or we could put women in charge of all the units and then perhaps mistreatment of women would be less tolerated
I'm not sure the article made enough of a case that this is truly a systematic problem, but I'm willing to believe that it might be. The comments made by some people essentially excusing the rapists' behavior because they don't like the idea of women in the military are particularly disturbing, since it indicates that this sort of opinion may well be more common than we might think. Additionally, people wronged by the military hierarchy are particularly vulnerable since they can't get out of the situation (that's desertion/AWOL) and they can't report it because they might be allowed to die during a dangerous mission.
Do we have a serious problem with criminals in the military? The article mentions lowered standards, but surely violent criminals wouldn't be allowed in? That seems the height of stupidity to give a criminal a gun and *encourage* him to shoot people.
Posts: 3546 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
It's only an anecdote, but one of my friends, a female sergeant who served in Iraq, had this to say:
quote:This article is pretty much on point but it's also a bit exaggerated. I guess I didn't feel like sexual harassment was a big issue because I was with a bunch of good guys and I had a good friend to go everywhere with. Unfortunately there were a lot of cases of rape and I did feel the need to be aware of it when I was at a different camp. I'm contradicting myself but I guess what I'm saying is that I wasn't too worried about sexual assault because the war was what really worried me.
The part in the article about dangerous jobs women had in Iraq is way true, and it does feel like the men are the ones taking the credit. In the army today they still only acknowledge the men fighting in the frontline and women aren't allowed there but they are. There were many times that guys in my unit looked down on the women too, but I understood because some of the women were acting like the "typical" women. There was one girl in my unit who would try to get out of the missions by going to sick call all the time. It wasn't fair to any of us, so I guess it was more like just her huh? Maybe it's just most guys who join the army are the alpha male type and that's how their personalities are. So I had to prove myself to the other guys in my unit they treated me like one of the guys sooner or later. It took a lot of extra work to do so but it's okay, it gave me tremendous gratification knowing that I can do so.
posted
I'm sure I read something about certain gangs regarding the Army as "training". Obviously, most members of the armed forces are not criminals who enlist to get out of trouble, and I would venture a guess that many people go in and come out with more marketable skills and better self-discipline, which would seem to make a person better able to stay away from a life of crime if he so desires. But I will say that I do think there are probably people who should not be in the military in the military, and I am at a loss as to what can be done about that. If you can say the right things you can get in, it seems to me, and I don't know that that's the recruiters' fault.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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ketchupqueen, I also recall something about gang training being mentioned in some mass media, but I cannot remember the details.
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