Summary: The military has become one of America’s petri dishes for social policy experiments, and the integration of women into the front line fighting forces has introduced stresses far greater than anything they’ve experienced before (the faux revolution from letting people out of the closet has produced a false sense of confidence in the outcome of this far greater change). Here we briefly review the state of the action today. {2nd of 2 posts today.}
The tides of change have hit the US military as it adapts to equal roles for women, with massive effects that we as yet can only dimly see.
One result has been to start a slow-mo purge in the officers corps. “At least 30% of military commanders fired over the past 8 years lost their jobs because of sexually related offenses, including harassment, adultery, and improper relationships” (per AP). The scalps include those of senior officers. They might look with envy at Congressmen whose office policies (illegally) protect them at against charges of improper behavior (it’s as delicately written an article as any in a Victorian era newspaper).
War is perhaps the most complex and demanding of social activities, made more so by its rapid rate of evolution during the past 150 years. Adding women to the formula makes it far more complex. What gets dropped to make mindspace for these new concerns? What would Clausewitz or Patton make of this: “Lawmakers want clearer Army breastfeeding rules“? Or this tidbit about women warriors from AP’s “Pentagon grapples with retaliation in sex assault cases“…
“… often victims believe they are being retaliated against if peers no longer invite them to parties or if they are disciplined for illegal drug or alcohol use in connection with the assault.”
In the universities and armed forces of America — our petri dishes for social policy experiments — we see the tensions created by rapid social change expressed in a binary state of reporting about women today, flipping between the contradictory scripts of women as Cinderella (so vulnerable to diminished capacity after a few drinks) and Xena Warrior Woman. It’s difficult to honestly describe these tensions, so the media frequently resorts to fantasy, as in this May 14 story in the Marine Corps Times:
…{it’s about} home life for many Marines of the Ground Combat Element Integrated Task Force, who wrapped up a series of combat arms assessments … Marines assigned to the task force’s infantry and weapons elements lived side-by-side in one- and two-man tents — regardless of gender — the way a future integrated unit might expect to live during field training or downrange on a deployment. Despite the close quarters and privacy challenges, Marines said they settled easily into the arrangement.
“Everyone’s pretty professional about it,” said Cpl. Carolina Ortiz, 27, a member of the task force’s artillery assessment. “Nothing less than green-on-green [respect] and everyone’s comfortable following the rules, so nobody sees anything they don’t want to see.” Most female Marines chose female tent mates for their weeks of living in the field, Ortiz said, but they had the option of rooming with a male Marine if they preferred.
… In more serious moments, some male volunteers told Marine Corps Times that adjusting to integrated life was awkward initially, but grew more comfortable as the unit spent time together. “It was really strange for some people at first,” said Cpl. Kevin Rodriguez, 22, who was directly assigned to a staff position at the artillery unit. “But now it’s like we’re brothers and sisters. It happened really fast …
Just good comrades! No screwing in the bushes like bunnies. As a long-time Boy Scout leader, I saw much of this is “socialist realism” reporting that glosses over unsettling details to paint a politically correct picture. No sexual assault problems here, just brothers and sisters in arms. As we saw in the 1997 films GI Jane and Starship Troopers (with one of its more best known scenes below).
Guessing about the results of women’s victory
Martin van Creveld gives us one view of the future in Men, Women & War
Here and there a few women {in history}were able to participate in combat … Their existence proves, if proof were needed, that women, provided they get the change, can command and rule just as well as men.
… the turning point in the relationship between men, women and war, as in so much else, was brought about by the introduction of nuclear weapons in 1945. Politically speaking, nuclear weapons cut the link between victory and survival, thus ending the role of war as an instrument of politics and turning it into suicide. Even more important was their effect on masculine pride: precisely because there is no defence, they put an end to ‘heroic action’.
… Against this background it is no wonder that, in terms of both absolute size and relative numbers, the world’s most important armed forces have entered a prolonged decline. Other things being equal, the less likely those forces were to fight serious wars against equal opponents the more women they took in. … the more women the armed forces took in the less capable they became of fighting serious wars against equal opponents. The chicken-and-egg game started some time during the late 1960’s or early 1970s. … If it continues then the day is in sight when the only mission left to most of them will be peace-keeping …
For More Information
If you liked this post, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. See all posts about Women and gender issues, especially these about women in the military…
- 28 Articles: a guide to a successful insurgency against America, 7 May 2007 — About harassment and rape of women soldiers.
- Women as soldiers – an update (2009).
- Putting women in combat: a quick look at the other side of the debate.
- About the future of an American army with women as combat soldiers.
- Women in combat are the real Revolution in Military Affairs.