21 October 2010

Yes they can

From the Soldier side:  I was listening to some random news talk thing on the radio today...I didn't catch the name of those talking, but one was a former female soldier who (from what I could gather after having missed some of the show) had served in recent combat. 
She said that she was running for some political office somewhere and some male said that she could not have possibley earned all the medals she had shown the public. 
Now, I didn't see her medals and awards, and she didn't mention what they were...however, I worked with a few female soldiers in Bosnia and Iraq who were going out almost everyday and doing the same shite us male soldiers were doing.  We had female soldiers on the security teams, on the "guns" and driving.  If we had to get out of the Humvees, outside the wire, they were next to us "men." 

Even the troops who never left the camps and FOBs, had the same chances of getting hit by the same random, poorly aimed mortar rounds as the rest of us.  Now the question I have is: "How many folks would be willing to stand up in the gun turret in a Humvee, with a 1/4 of metal in front of you and a little on the sides and be ready to fire up some asshole insurgent trying to attack the convoy.  I did it a few times, and I'll tell you it scared the shit out of me. 

Prep for mission in Baghdad- 50 Cal

Road back to Uglivik, Bosnia in the snow
Yes.  In the modern wars we're fighting now, female troops can earn Bronze Stars, Combat Action Badges and all the other shit that the dudes can earn. 

Coming soon: A cop story- "The great jewlery heist." 

7 comments:

LL said...

Soldiers usually earn one hell of a lot more than they are awarded in terms of gongs and baubles. I never fought along side a woman so I have no opinion one way or the other. Israel has a lot of hard fighting women in its small defense force and they earn their right to be next to the men.

Anonymous said...

1. Believe a female MP SGT at the start of the Iraq war got in a fight, went down a trench line and did for about 10 Iraqi combatants.
2. Soldier's name was Hester (LN) and she was awarded a Silver Star.
3. Have a tough time arguing about that award.
4. Think her regular job is Tennessee State Police.
5. Like the idea of throwing that up to the Moslem males: "This is what our women can do!"
6. The NOW people probably would find some objectionable sexist slant to that.
V/R JWest

CI-Roller Dude said...

LL, I always warned anybody who was on my team or in my platoon: "we're going to do good stuff, but don't expect the people who hand out medals to be the same as those who know what we're doing...in other words, don't expect shit."

Mr W, Yep, A female did get a Silver Star, and she earned it. We had a female who was a security team leader who did some good things, who I think should have been awarded a Silver Star, but she didn't get anything. For the unit I was with, it was based on rank.
We had an E7 who NEVER left the camp, but was in charge of the rooms we had (camp Mayor). She really didn't do anything and screwed up more things...and was given a friggen Bronze star!!!

I almost puked.

Anonymous said...

There are days I could take 'em on and not a man in sight would question my abilities. Would I do it for medals or to 'prove' myself? NO. To keep someone close to me alive? Oh, hell yeah!

Funny thing is, looking at me, you'd never know I had it in me. ;)

-J

Wrexie said...

I've been fighting dumbarse teachers this week. Sometimes I think I'd rather be in a gun turret than face them. Some teachers are THAT freakin' scary.

YOU have Buddy Holly on here today! He's from TX, ya know? I always like your tunes...

Hogdayafternoon said...

In my job I count several female officers amongst the top ten people I'd most like to have my back.

As for the gongs, one guy I knew who was awarded a very high medal/commendation indeed, in a very high profile incident in the 70's, was not exactly the man of the moment he was purported to be in the report that was written up. I have no intenton of naming him or the incident as he has passed, and a mans reputation in the eyes of his family is a precious thing.

Coffeypot said...

Not having a dick does not disqualify one as a hero. And the bullet flying through air does not know the difference between the sexes. If a woman is qualified to go outside the wire, and she pulls a trigger or drags a wounded comrade to safety, she deserves any and all wards that come her way.