Saturday, April 12, 2003

Bill posted a link to the article below in one of his comments. It is a very interesting perspective on women in battle, and while the author obviously has issues better discussed on a psychiatrists couch, he raises some interesting points. The femi-nazi in me wanted to take this guy to the carpet. But realistically, until men can stop getting their deepest thoughts from their pants, this will remain an issue.
Everyone is glad and grateful that Jessica's rescue was a success. That's not what we're talking about here.

The madness of saving Jessica


Issues I agree with (although maybe not dripping with the same vim and verve as the author):

I am certain that no such effort would have been made to rescue a young man of her age and inexperience.

General Franks it was who ordered Jessica's rescue, perhaps sharing her family's anxiety over the possibility of rape, perhaps recognising what a propaganda coup could be made of it.

Would so many men and so much expensive machinery have been risked for the rescue of a jar-head marine of 19, a black boy of 19, a homosexual boy of 19 or a poor white boy of 19 from the same incestuous hills of West Virginia among which Jessica was born?

Sane men, however, able to assess the risks involved on such a moonless night, must count this rescue a work of sheer insanity, unless those ordering it put into the equation the publicity inevitable with success. ( I think they knew it would play well if it went well, I don't necessarily think that's why they did it.)

"America doesn't leave its heroes behind, it never has, it never will," were the weasel words of a US army spokesman - and to such nonsense the only possible response is "Tell that to the marines." The objective of this cynical exercise was to fortify the folks at home, and there can be no doubt, so deep is the naivety of the provincial American, that the ruse worked.

I can imagine nothing more terrifying than a battalion of bearded lesbians.
(that one cracked me up)


Issues I don't agree with:

...it is just that I believe women to have no business to be anywhere near the front line in any campaign, other than, perhaps, as doctors and nurses. (it's the condescension I can't stand, and it only gets worse.)

I am certain that no such effort would have been made to rescue a young man of her age and inexperience. (yes, I know this is in both categories, but I have my reasons)

Driving across the desert with other US servicemen unable to read a compass or take direction from the sun, she was separated from a convoy, ambushed, injured... (last I heard this happened at night, but regardless, we don't know the facts yet)

This girl was rescued not because she was a heroine... (I believe the fact she fought for her life and she managed to live MAKES her a heroine)

Again I doubt it, for these, weary, cold by night, sweating by day, now long unshaven and unshowered, stinking with the stale odours of the body, know perfectly well that no attempt would be made to rescue them were they in the same predicament as Private Lynch and through the same incompetence.
(since when do we rescue POW's based on HOW THEY CAME TO BE POW'S? While I agree we might not have made such a heroic attempt for "just another grunt", I'm still naive enough to want to believe we would. )

The point that everyone has overlooked is that Jessica Lynch should not have been sent to Iraq until active hostilities are over.

"Some brave souls put their lives on the line to make this happen." And so they did, but they should not have been required to do so.


From the "Me Thinks He Doth Protest Too Much" file:

If women feel compelled, in their absurd pursuit of equality, to join the armed forces and cannot, will not, see that in the front line they pose a menace to all men, then the forces must draw the line for them, no matter how great a political incorrectitude it may seem to outsiders. (since we are obviously not able to make the CORRECT decisions, they must be made for us. I won't even bother going there.)

Women should be the army's clerks, cooks and bottlewashers, its doctors and nurses, its counters of beans and buttons, but never - even though I can imagine nothing more terrifying than a battalion of bearded lesbians - bearers of arms, never frontline soldiers.

Ok, forget the fact that this guy is a huge, flaming misogynist. Forget that anyone THIS condescending about women is probably a closet homosexual. Forget that this guy is EXTREMELY bitter that we had to rescue Jessica, or maybe he just resents all the attention she's getting. Either way, he's really angry. I wonder if he left HIS Lazyboy for the last three weeks. Has this guy served a day in his life? I don't know.

He brings up some interesting points, but for all the wrong reasons. For the life of me I can't tell if he's left or right, only that he has serious problems. So forget him.

His main point seems to be that women on the frontlines are so distracting that they're a danger to the "real" soldiers. I think we can all agree that not only have female soldiers already died in this war, other's have been kicking some ass.

I've never been in a war. I've never known sniper fire, never had a bomb go off beside me. Never saw someone die, and never was the cause of someones death. But I have a healthy imagination.

And if you men tell me that during all this horror you still get a little tingly, you know I just don't believe that. I don't think that in the heat of battle, you really give much of a damn who's in your foxhole as long as they're shooting. I don't think they'd be thinking 'wow she's hot, wonder what she's got under that flak jacket...'.

I somehow think our military is a little more professional than that. And fear is a mighty powerful anti-aphrodisiac. It's not like there's a bunch of Hooters girls in the military.

Having said all that, here's the rub. Forget fair and right. Let's talk reality.

Is it a reality that women are a distraction to soldiers under fire?
Is there really this neanderthal mentality that men can't shake even in battle?
Would soldiers try to save or protect a female comrade more vigorously than a male comrade out of some subconscious sense of chivalry?
Do you think the fact that Jessica was female had anything to do with her rescue?

Talk amongst yourselves....

Kansas @ 10:15 PM