What kind of nation drafts women and sends them to war?

People who get pregnant to get out of deployments suck. One thing you have to consider is if the female solder/sailor/airman is married she could end up pregnant at any time unless they are actively using birth control. Most women in their mid to late 20's start thinking about having a familiy because unlike men that kind of thing gets older as we get older. I have never gotten pregnant to get out of a deployment. Deployment is way cheaper than paying to raise a child for 18 years. By and large military people seem to procreate more than civilians. You can't be angry at the female soldier with 4 kids if you are not angry at the male soldier with 4 kids. Maybe if a female wants a combat arms job she must agree to a birth control implant for 2 years or so. That way its a choice. I am also all for the same physical standards for all dependent on job not gender.

 

Uh oh.

 

I am in agreement with @mysterymet

If you are going to do a job that requires the time commitment then a woman must accept the implant, and so should the men around her.

 

I didn't 'get angry' at the woman with 4 kids. I did get pissed at the 'single mom' who was always skating because she seemed to have a 'sick baby at home' that needed tending, just before every field exercise. or

"Hey, Spud, gotta a ticket to work on Aircraft 05-222."

"WTF Sarge? Isn't Brenda the crew chief on that bird?"

"Ya, well - she says she's pregnant and can't be around the hydrzine...so you get to pull a double shift today. I'll send some extra water out with you, supposed to hit 110F this afternoon."

"Sarge, you see a doctor's note saying she's on no duty?"

"Look, Spud, you trying to make trouble...?"

And then the Commander wonders why there is so much friction with the new female workforce.... I'm note going to bother with fussing 'bout the ones that can't pick up their own toolbox, etc....

The problem is putting people into jobs they physically cannot handle - M or F. The drama on pregnancy is just a bonus. BTW - these were all single females.

 

I haul my own tools out to the flightline.

 

People say they want "equality" when what a lot of them really want is special treatment. Be careful what you wish for, you might get it.

 

May I ask when you joined up? Did you have to pass a weight lift test prior to being accepted as an aircraft mechanic?

When you say haul...what kind of cart do you use? People can be pretty inventive.

 

To qualify for all the regular air force jobs you have to be able to lift something like 50 or 60 pounds over your head, at least that's how it was in 2000.

 

As far as I'm concerned, if there is to be a draft...It's all in...men and women, rich and poor, no exceptions, no dispensations, no loopholes. However, allocation to specific employments should be a matter of meeting the necessary minimum requirements. The children of congressmen and women and of senators should have their opportunity to serve their country at the sharp end in the wars that their parents send others.

Kaka burning should definitely be a gender neutral duty....

Just be careful of the corn and peanuts...kaka burning injuries might not look so good on a Purple Heart citation.

 

I come at this issue from a very distinct viewpoint! My third tour in A-Stan, close to retirement, and we get told to expect to treat female casualties because the Army, and Marines had caved and let the ladies serve in front line combat assignments! Sure nuff, alarm sounds that very shift and we go out to evac the wounded! The report comes in to the Pilot telling us what to expect, and it was BAD! As the Lead Bird, and Me as the Lead Medic I called the Cat-Alfa's and that the trail bird would take what ever else hit. We landed and find an MRAP full of ladies had been hit with a monster IED, BAD!!! Those ladies were all mangled to hell, some of the worst I have ever treated No man should ever have to see the things I saw, and no man should ever have to see a woman in the conditions I saw those ladies in! Yes, I believe a woman can serve her country, but there is a place for that, and there are places women should never be sent, Combat is one of those places!!! The first female I treated had suffered a triple amputation, both legs, and the right arm, sever burns, and shrapnel to her face and torso! My partner and I had her and two other male Cat-Alfas on board, and we had to strip her nude and start working fast to try to save her, One look in those eyes when I punched the I.O in her good shoulder just about finished me! We did the blood sweep looking for more leaks, pushing blood and plasma, no pain mitigation, and her screams of suffering! As I said, no man should ever have to see what I saw!!! Ladies, I respect your desires to serve and to fight, but please, leave that to us men, cause combat isn't nice, people get killed in every way you can think of, and to see it happen to the women...............Find some other way to serve!!! Think very hard what you are asking for, and know that when you face an enemy, they will treat you as less then human, and even worse because you are female.

 

@Ura-Ki I agree with you about no women in combat. Not because women can't do the job, some women can, but because men, good men,can't stand to see a woman suffer like that..... it's so ingrained in a man's nature to protect eomen that it makes men Ineffective at their jobs when they see a woman suffer.

 

Correct! I should have used more understandable terms!

 

Agreed, That was a hard transition for all of us, and to have such little mental time to prep for it, even our senior command were pretty shocked and upset about having to face such things, and so suddenly! I could see that really affected all of us, even the trauma surgeons at the hospital were all caught off guard and very shocked when we came in with the first! Every one went silent as a grave when I started rattling off the stats and the Words "Female, Triple Amp" hit, you could have heard a pin drop from across the hospital!!! To every ones credit, every one went into action a split second later and combined, we were all able to save her!

 

So...So then women should not be allowed into any combat zone? Not as a driver, a surgeon, a cook, a communications tech, electrician, etc., etc., etc. So, they get the same pay, training, benefits but get to stay on the safe side of the pond, be with their family, use their schooling benefits, etc. yet the males will have to compete with them for rank and even for some of the highly sought after technical positions (which gives significant training/schooling)? No, this is not fair. There is no truly safe place in a war zone. For example, lots of women get snapped up as drivers for a convoy or they bleed just the same when the base is mortared, hit by RPGs, or sniper fire. I bet those women that @Ura-Ki saw ripped apart were not Combat Arms troops but they were in a combat zone. They signed up so they get the bad with the good and we men will just have to get use to it. You can't have it both ways. Most of the women I met in combat zones realized this and soldiered on. Many women liked deployments because the guys pay them much more attention then they got stateside or wherever they were stationed and that's the truth. But, I think opening Combat Arms to women will prove to be a huge mistake in so many ways that I can't count them but...that's my opinion. And, I still wonder why in the hell they are not registered for the draft? What's the hold up?

 

Best to deal with what is, than what ought be, and deal with the facts as they are at the time and place that they need to be dealt with; rather than bemoaning that which has to be dealt with, shouldn't be.

The fact is, that women service personnel, serve in operational places and roles where they can potentially become horrifically hurt, and die. Men need to (put aside their feelings, and) do what needs to be done, just as women have to do, under the same, or similar circumstances.

Toughen up snowflakes, because the enemy don't care that your sensitivities are offended by being forced to deal with reality: in fact, they probably would delight in any consequent drop in your morale. That is no reason to pander to some men's sensitivities by cotton woolling women and excluding them from tasks and places where women could potentially get hurt....It's a soldier's life, with a soldier's risks.

Improvise, Adapt, Overcome: Save the agonising for later.

 

You have my utmost respect for what you have done, and presumably are still doing during your service.

 

I wonder if the Israelis did the women in combat roles out of necessity due to manpower shortage or was it simply an equality thing or both? My understanding is they still are not the primary-combat units but they are indeed secondary-combat units that patrol, guard and etc. I just read that one is unit (Caracal Battalion) is a light-infantry unit composed of 70% women!