Caution: This column may be considered sexist by over-sensitive types.
Since when did that ever stop me….
With all the high profile murders of Armed Forces females by spouses or boyfriends, is it time to revisit the wisdom of allowing men and women to serve together in the military? Of course, in our politically correct society, that conversation will never occur until it personally impacts an elected official on Capitol Hill. But the fact remains that in our efforts to create a gender neutral society, the mission of our military and social engineering may be on a collision course. Don’t get me wrong; there are very responsible adults serving, but the bad news always tarnishes the reputations of the mature.
And I’m not even going to get into the gay effect on the military, so don’t ask. Been there, done that.
While on the USS Midway (and I don’t think much has changed since), the crew engaged in routine evolutions called the “Delta working party”. A supply vessel would pull up alongside to replenish our carrier with fuel and food for the crew. While dispensing the fuel was a job unto itself, the loading of food was an all-day affair.
This is something you never see in the Navy recruitment literature or videos. Delta working parties were made up of lower-ranked sailors who would form a human chain from the flight deck (where tons of provisions were placed on pallets) to the bowels of the ship were our food would be stored. This would involve dozens of crew members, and take hours to accomplish. Hours of handing off hundreds of bags of sugar, containers of ice cream, hundreds of cans, and to illustrate just how long this went on, box meals were provided so the work could continue uninterrupted.
I also got an opportunity to talk to shipmates who may have recently transferred from a supply ship, and their biggest gripes were that the females, literally, didn’t pull their weight. I was told that groups of women coincidentally had their “time of the month” during Delta working parties.
Because of Navy regulations, female medical issues could never be challenged (sexual harassment), thus many women based solely on their word, could get out of Delta working party duties, leaving it to increasingly resentful males.
The military has that purpose we all hear about, “To kill people and break things.” As simplistic and barbaric as that sounds, that’s the mission.
Let’s face some facts. The majority of those serving are men, and those men are taught to be aggressive. Passivity isn’t the preferred trait to take into battle. Within their own, that aggression can be tempered, but those outside the unit can be affected. Marriages of soldiers and civilians are hard enough to keep together, given the stress of deployments, but adding sexual tension within the ranks to the mix is not something the military disciplines should have to deal with.
The purpose of the military is not to be a social networking arena. While fraternization is technically illegal, we see more and more examples of military couples with disproportionate ranks. While that should raise red flags, the fact that unwed military personnel are breeding also means that eyes have been taken off the mission to the detriment of the Armed Forces.
There was a time when the military was segregated by sex, and it’s logical to assume we didn’t have these issues. But until we set political correctness aside and separate the boys and girls, we will continue to have all the social and instinctive distractions our gender-neutral military is having.
I don’t know what’s going on at Fort Bragg and if these murders of female personnel is purely coincidental or indicative of some “culture” on that base. But the media has noticed the pattern, and they’re eating it up. Many anti-war types would dissolve the military if they could, so something has to be done to not only keep women safe on bases, but men less distracted as well.
After all, when we signed on the line for service, there was no guarantee that we’d get laid by fellow soldiers. “Make love, not war” is good enough for civilians. It should never be sanctioned by the military.