Remember that piece I wrote about women in the military? I took a lot of flak over that (mostly from people who, by their own admission, never served a day in uniform).
Here's a woman I'd have on my team, any day:
She can obviously KICK ASS ! ! !
All I want to know is; I do ten times MORE than that, every day. How come I can't make my "dunlap" go away ? ? ?
Many thanks to Theo, for this!
Showing posts with label soldiers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soldiers. Show all posts
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
WARRIOR WOMEN
"The female of the species is more deadly than the male."
The women of the IDF talk the talk, and they walk the walk.
Women were allowed to become fighter pilots in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) after a landmark court ruling in 1995. In the year 2000, Israel's military service law was amended to allow women to serve in any capacity that male soldiers serve, including combat units. Israeli women serve in the infantry or mechanized units, or any other combat occupation. They make up a third of the IDF, and are treated as equals with males.
The United States military started allowing women to serve in direct combat support units, such as Military Police, in the late 80's. During Operation Just Cause - the Panama invasion - a female MP platoon leader was decorated for valor in combat.
According to current Department of Defense policy, women are not allowed to serve in ground combat units at the battalion level and below. But because of the highly mobile nature of modern warfare, there are no "front lines" one imagines in classic war scenarios.
Special operations units and irregular forces traditionally operate far behind enemy lines, choosing when & where they engage enemy forces, and their targets are quite often support & logistical units. During the initial stages of the Iraq War, our supply convoys experienced close ambushes and we took the heavy casualties - including women in non-combat MOS's.
Women are now integrated into almost every military role - only combat arms units remain the exclusive domain of men only. The Navy has women serving on all ships, and the Air Force has female pilots flying everything from C-130s to F-16s.
Army Sergeant Catherine Ross pulling security in a Stryker, Mosul, 2004.
The New York Times story 'WOMEN'S WORK' by Catherine Ross vividly demonstrates how the military’s policy on barring women from combat doesn’t match reality.
I know I'm going to take a lot of flak from my SF compadres over the sentiments expressed in this post. Here's what I've got to say to that: there are a lot of women I'd take on my team over some of the miserable excuses for soldiers I had to tolerate during my time in - especially toward the end when the X Box Generation started showing up.
- S.L.
.
The women of the IDF talk the talk, and they walk the walk.
Women were allowed to become fighter pilots in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) after a landmark court ruling in 1995. In the year 2000, Israel's military service law was amended to allow women to serve in any capacity that male soldiers serve, including combat units. Israeli women serve in the infantry or mechanized units, or any other combat occupation. They make up a third of the IDF, and are treated as equals with males.
The United States military started allowing women to serve in direct combat support units, such as Military Police, in the late 80's. During Operation Just Cause - the Panama invasion - a female MP platoon leader was decorated for valor in combat.
According to current Department of Defense policy, women are not allowed to serve in ground combat units at the battalion level and below. But because of the highly mobile nature of modern warfare, there are no "front lines" one imagines in classic war scenarios.
Special operations units and irregular forces traditionally operate far behind enemy lines, choosing when & where they engage enemy forces, and their targets are quite often support & logistical units. During the initial stages of the Iraq War, our supply convoys experienced close ambushes and we took the heavy casualties - including women in non-combat MOS's.
Women are now integrated into almost every military role - only combat arms units remain the exclusive domain of men only. The Navy has women serving on all ships, and the Air Force has female pilots flying everything from C-130s to F-16s.
Army Sergeant Catherine Ross pulling security in a Stryker, Mosul, 2004.The New York Times story 'WOMEN'S WORK' by Catherine Ross vividly demonstrates how the military’s policy on barring women from combat doesn’t match reality.
I know I'm going to take a lot of flak from my SF compadres over the sentiments expressed in this post. Here's what I've got to say to that: there are a lot of women I'd take on my team over some of the miserable excuses for soldiers I had to tolerate during my time in - especially toward the end when the X Box Generation started showing up.
- S.L.
.
Friday, February 19, 2010
WE ARE UNDER ATTACK
Five Muslim Soldiers Arrested at Fort Jackson in South Carolina
The CBN News site reports that five "Muslim soldiers" at Fort Jackson in South Carolina were arrested just before Christmas. The men are suspected of trying to poison the food supply at Fort Jackson. It is unclear whether the men are still in custody.
The five were part of the Arabic Translation program at the base - at this time I am unable to determine whether the soldiers are Americans, or some kind of foreign soldiers here to participate in the training program. At this time it is not clear whether or not this is a case of Home Grown Jihad Syndrome.
Patrick Jones, the Deputy Public Affairs Officer for Fort Jackson, confirmed yesterday afternoon that an investigation was ongoing.
A source with intimate knowledge of the investigation, which is ongoing, told CBN News investigators suspect the "Fort Jackson Five" may have been in contact with the group of five Washington, DC area Muslims that traveled to Pakistan to wage jihad against U.S. troops in December.
That group was arrested by Pakistani authorities - these TRAITORSwere featured on STORMBRINGER just before Christmas.
This comes on the heels of November's Fort Hood jihadist massacre.
A trio of incidents last September: WE ARE UNDER ATTACK
FBI Arrests Jordanian for Downtown Dallas Bomb Plot
Zazi Indicted For Conspiring To Detonate WMD
U.S. Terror Suspects Accused of Targeting Marine Base
Then back in June, more homegrown terrorism
On American Soil: US Military Recruiting Station, Little Rock Arkansas
These are difficult, confusing times; let it be the enemy who is confused, not us. Throughout this struggle, we must never forget that as many Muslims have died fight FOR the US and our Allies, as have died fighting AGAINST us (if not more so).
Ayman Abdelrahman Taha, US Army Special Forces, KIA in Iraq, 2005.
For this reason it is VITAL that we do not succumb to the enemy's plan to turn this thing into a religious war. If we do, they win.
.
The CBN News site reports that five "Muslim soldiers" at Fort Jackson in South Carolina were arrested just before Christmas. The men are suspected of trying to poison the food supply at Fort Jackson. It is unclear whether the men are still in custody.
The five were part of the Arabic Translation program at the base - at this time I am unable to determine whether the soldiers are Americans, or some kind of foreign soldiers here to participate in the training program. At this time it is not clear whether or not this is a case of Home Grown Jihad Syndrome.
Patrick Jones, the Deputy Public Affairs Officer for Fort Jackson, confirmed yesterday afternoon that an investigation was ongoing.
A source with intimate knowledge of the investigation, which is ongoing, told CBN News investigators suspect the "Fort Jackson Five" may have been in contact with the group of five Washington, DC area Muslims that traveled to Pakistan to wage jihad against U.S. troops in December.
That group was arrested by Pakistani authorities - these TRAITORSwere featured on STORMBRINGER just before Christmas.
This comes on the heels of November's Fort Hood jihadist massacre.
A trio of incidents last September: WE ARE UNDER ATTACK
FBI Arrests Jordanian for Downtown Dallas Bomb Plot
Zazi Indicted For Conspiring To Detonate WMD
U.S. Terror Suspects Accused of Targeting Marine Base
Then back in June, more homegrown terrorism
On American Soil: US Military Recruiting Station, Little Rock Arkansas
These are difficult, confusing times; let it be the enemy who is confused, not us. Throughout this struggle, we must never forget that as many Muslims have died fight FOR the US and our Allies, as have died fighting AGAINST us (if not more so).
Ayman Abdelrahman Taha, US Army Special Forces, KIA in Iraq, 2005.
For this reason it is VITAL that we do not succumb to the enemy's plan to turn this thing into a religious war. If we do, they win.
.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
PROFESSIONALS WANTED
Although not new by any means, the privatization of the military was foreseen as early as 1993 by futurists Alvin and Heide Toffler in their book WAR & ANTI-WAR:
The idea is nothing new - no army in history has ever marched one step without private enterprise providing everything from boots and uniforms to meals, weaponry, tires, spare parts and maintenance - in an earlier era horseshoes - and of course the horses themselves and the feed they ate.
Berlin, 1961, height of the Cold War.
The Toffler's book was timely because it coincided with the immediate end of the post-Cold War Era; hallmarked by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the Soviet Union two years later. The First Gulf War against Saddam Hussein - a long-time client of the Soviet Union - was viewed by many historians as an epilogue of the Cold War.
Fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989.
At that point in history it was immediately evident that there was no longer a requirement for a huge standing military; the Communist Block had imploded and the commonly-held belief was that a kind of World Peace would ensue.
The need for a standing military along the lines of World War II armies was over; the United States had long since dispensed with the draft and had gone with a conscription-free, all-volunteer professional army. To streamline operations, to enhance the flexibility this new army requires, many functions have been contracted out. While the Army still has cooks and mechanics, most overseas messhalls are staffed by locally hired civilians, and military motor pools include qualified technicians representing commercial suppliers such as Land Rover.
I joined the US Army in 1983. Infantry, Airborne, 11 Charlie. Our squad leaders and platoon sergeants were professionals, and they told us horror stories of serving amongst draftees of the Vietnam era; drugs, rampant crime within the ranks, disciplinary problems in garrison AND in combat.
We listened and learned; whatever the Army threw at us, we were willing to deal with, because we wanted to be there. What we DIDN'T want; was to be with people who didn't want to be there. We were professionals.
Everywhere I served overseas, our operations were enhanced by civilian contractors. They ran the mess halls, fixed our radios, issued boots and uniforms, and in very extraordinary circumstances served in a paramilitary role, providing us with security details, training resources and even sources of intelligence. Of these activities there is nothing unethical, illegal, unorthodox or new in any way.
It is my professional opinion that it is better - and CHEAPER - to hire civilian contractors to perform service functions - to include personal security details - than to add these "garrison" duties to troops who should be out on patrol, taking the fight to the enemy.
Byron Cousin, an instructor of battlefield forensics, briefs students of his class. Cousin spent 18 years with the 82d Airborne Division, where he retired in 2006 as a first sergeant. On this day, his students were 82d Paratroopers.
Consider; a uniformed soldier has to be recruited, uniformed, armed & equipped, fed, paid, kept healthy, trained, paid, housed, educated (and his FAMILY has to be housed, fed, medically taken care of & educated) and then paid retirement for X # of years. A contractor just has to be paid, point blank & simple.
Since I retired from active duty I have provided goods and consulting services to the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, and to various state and local law enforcement agencies. At this time I am a professional security consultant. There is nothing unethical, irregular, or illegal in any of these activities. I provide a service, and a perspective, that an active duty soldier simply could not perform. I am paid well for what I do, and this is exactly what I am worth - less than, if anything.
To anyone out there who suggests the United States should revert to involuntary conscription, populate the Army with unwilling draftees who don't want to be there, and tie up the military performing chores outside of the military role or mission, I ask: what are the details of your honorable military service?
.
The idea is nothing new - no army in history has ever marched one step without private enterprise providing everything from boots and uniforms to meals, weaponry, tires, spare parts and maintenance - in an earlier era horseshoes - and of course the horses themselves and the feed they ate.
Berlin, 1961, height of the Cold War.
The Toffler's book was timely because it coincided with the immediate end of the post-Cold War Era; hallmarked by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the Soviet Union two years later. The First Gulf War against Saddam Hussein - a long-time client of the Soviet Union - was viewed by many historians as an epilogue of the Cold War.
Fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989.
At that point in history it was immediately evident that there was no longer a requirement for a huge standing military; the Communist Block had imploded and the commonly-held belief was that a kind of World Peace would ensue.
The need for a standing military along the lines of World War II armies was over; the United States had long since dispensed with the draft and had gone with a conscription-free, all-volunteer professional army. To streamline operations, to enhance the flexibility this new army requires, many functions have been contracted out. While the Army still has cooks and mechanics, most overseas messhalls are staffed by locally hired civilians, and military motor pools include qualified technicians representing commercial suppliers such as Land Rover.
I joined the US Army in 1983. Infantry, Airborne, 11 Charlie. Our squad leaders and platoon sergeants were professionals, and they told us horror stories of serving amongst draftees of the Vietnam era; drugs, rampant crime within the ranks, disciplinary problems in garrison AND in combat.
We listened and learned; whatever the Army threw at us, we were willing to deal with, because we wanted to be there. What we DIDN'T want; was to be with people who didn't want to be there. We were professionals.
Everywhere I served overseas, our operations were enhanced by civilian contractors. They ran the mess halls, fixed our radios, issued boots and uniforms, and in very extraordinary circumstances served in a paramilitary role, providing us with security details, training resources and even sources of intelligence. Of these activities there is nothing unethical, illegal, unorthodox or new in any way.
It is my professional opinion that it is better - and CHEAPER - to hire civilian contractors to perform service functions - to include personal security details - than to add these "garrison" duties to troops who should be out on patrol, taking the fight to the enemy.
Byron Cousin, an instructor of battlefield forensics, briefs students of his class. Cousin spent 18 years with the 82d Airborne Division, where he retired in 2006 as a first sergeant. On this day, his students were 82d Paratroopers.
Consider; a uniformed soldier has to be recruited, uniformed, armed & equipped, fed, paid, kept healthy, trained, paid, housed, educated (and his FAMILY has to be housed, fed, medically taken care of & educated) and then paid retirement for X # of years. A contractor just has to be paid, point blank & simple.
Since I retired from active duty I have provided goods and consulting services to the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, and to various state and local law enforcement agencies. At this time I am a professional security consultant. There is nothing unethical, irregular, or illegal in any of these activities. I provide a service, and a perspective, that an active duty soldier simply could not perform. I am paid well for what I do, and this is exactly what I am worth - less than, if anything.
To anyone out there who suggests the United States should revert to involuntary conscription, populate the Army with unwilling draftees who don't want to be there, and tie up the military performing chores outside of the military role or mission, I ask: what are the details of your honorable military service?
.
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