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Thursday, March 28, 2024 - 02:40 PM

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

First Published in 1994

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF
UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

Faced with reduced strength resulting in reduced effectiveness in mission accomplishment from a large number of troop pregnancies, a commander in Iraq recently threatened any soldier in his command who became pregnant along with the male soldier who participated in the pregnancy with possible Courts Martial.

As could be expected, the feminists, such as Sen. Barbara Boxer, in the United States Senate, pitched a “hissie fit.” They began writing letters to the Secretary of Defense and general officers in the chain of command protesting the general’s threatened actions.

This incident has been virtually ignored and hidden from the public by the dominant, main stream media, because this is one of those topics that is “untouchable.”

The integration of women into combat units is a very controversial topic. The Subject has never been fully debated publicly and has simply just gradually happened. It is a serious problem for commanders in many military units, but is not discussed publicly by active duty military personnel because to do so would be detrimental to one’s career.

Officers, both commissioned and non-commissioned, are graded on how well they support women in the military. To utter a negative comment regarding any aspect of women serving in the military would be a career killer for any officer or senior NCO. It would be Politically Incorrect, seen as opposition to “diversity” and therefore not acceptable.

Women have always served in some capacity in the United States Military Services. During World War II they served heroically around the world as Nurses, WACs, WAVEs, SPARs, etc. Women were commanded by women and except for nurses, performed mostly clerical and other administrative duties.

During the Vietnam War, women continued to be commanded by women and housed with women only. During the day they reported to other supervisors for office type work. None were assigned to combat duties.

After Vietnam, and the emergence of the so-called “women’s movement” and political correctness, women were gradually, and without public debate, assigned to combat support, and then combat units.

Beginning with the Administration of President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalind, integration of women and men in non-combat units was aggressively pushed on the military services. Single and unaccompanied mothers with young children were assigned to units overseas. Commanders and First Sergeants complained among themselves, but no one could utter a public comment critical of what was happening to the combat effectiveness of the military units.

During the final years of the Carter Administration, I spoke with a first sergeant on a plane returning from a tour in Germany regarding women in his unit. He said half a dozen junior enlisted women with small children living in the local economy because they did not qualify for military housing and could not reside in a troop barracks, required most of his time during a typical duty day.

He said during a typical day he would start out about 5 a.m. going through the small German town picking up female soldiers and their children and taking them to day care and delivering the soldiers to their duty station.  He would typically get a call in mid-morning from a day care facility saying one of his female soldiers’ children were sick or had another problem. He would locate the soldier pick her up and go to the child care center and get the child and take it to a military medical facility, wait for treatment and take the soldier and child home. By the time he returned to his company headquarters most of the day was done and it was time to gather up the women, some who would be in the “field” and take them to pick up their children and deliver them all home. The first sergeant could then return to the headquarters and do his work after hours.

No statistics on numbers of pregnancies in the military have been released, but they are believed to be dramatic. Some of the pregnancies are promiscuous accidents and some are intentional in order to get out of the dangerous combat area. Regardless of the reason, it is a problem for commanders who have to deal with such social and legal problems along with their primary mission and a declining number of troops.

 

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