G.I. Jane: A Woman’s Place and how stupid is Tucker Carlson and other chauvinistic right-wingers

“Feminism’s latest victory: the right to get your limbs blown off in war. Congratulations.” — Tucker Carlson tweet.

Let me break it to you, Mr. Carlson: women have been getting their limbs blown off in combat for at least the past 10 years and I would guess there were quite a few women severely wounded during the first Gulf War. And there are eight women on “The Wall,” the Vietnam War Memorial.

The inclusion of women in combat began 11 years ago when the military was pressed with the task of trying to respect cultural sensitivities in the Muslim countries where our troops would be deployed. Since then women have been going on patrols in Iraq and Afghanistan for years, one of the main reasons being that they are the American personnel who search civilian women. So, wherever that Marine Recon or Army Ranger patrols go, a few women marines or soldiers go along, with their own weapons, the M-4 or M-16, loaded down with armament, body armor and all the other accouterments of the combat soldier or marine.

Senator John McCain wants women to meet the physical standards. Umm … yeah, but where was that discussion 11 years ago when the Department of Defense decided to attach women to combat units that were going out on patrols? Basically, the only thing changing for the women is that they will officially be combat soldiers or marines, as opposed to women attached to combat units. They will still go out on the same missions they already take part in, but now, 11 years after the fact, Senator McCain wants to make sure they are physically capable? That test has been passed. But, to his credit, McCain supports opening up combat billets to women.

What makes me wonder about this though is the waivers each branch of service can apply for; would the Navy keep women out of the SEALs? They already have women serving on submarines, a once all-male bastion. Would G.I. Jane, the Demi Moore movie, come to life down here on the Strand at the Navy Special Warfare School in Coronado? Would the Marines let women into Force Recon and MARSOC, going through the same training?

The services have until 2016 to figure it all out. That’s when there can be no restrictions on where women can serve. So there will be women SEALs, Marine Recon, Army Rangers and Green Berets and Air Force AFSOC. There won’t be a mad dash to fill the billets; the DoD plans to gradually assign women to infantry units. But it’s gonna happen sooner or later and the later ain’t that far off.

Retired Army General Janis Karpinski was on MSNBC’s Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell and not only is she fully behind the change in policy, she believes it’s taking place too late and too slow. “… Since they lifted the ban 
effective today, they need to make it retroactive back to at least 2002, 
when women were already serving. There was no question about physical 
capabilities then, as they were attaching women to these fighting units.”

Man, don’t ya just hate it when someone brings logic to a TV debate?

Of course there are the naysayers … yeah, I’m about to name check the FoxNews crowd. Fox & Friends had a woman marine on who said it would be a bad idea, for many of the same reasons we’ve heard over the years, reasons that have long since been discredited, largely by the women themselves who have been serving in combat since 2002.

Really, it’s a done deal.

Women have been serving in combat since the beginning of the Iraq War; over 255,000 serving in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Of those, 110 women have been killed in the Iraq War and 24 in Afghanistan. Their sacrifices are no less heroic and painful than their male counterparts.

It’s interesting this change to DoD policy comes as the war in Afghanistan is coming to an end. Once all combat troops are withdrawn from Afghanistan the Army and Marine Corps can integrate their units in a peacetime setting.

Racial integration of the troops took place during peacetime when, on July 26, 1948, President Harry Truman signed Executive order 9981. By the time the Korean War started African-Americans were serving along side White, Latino, Asian and Native American troops and unit cohesion was no longer an issue.

Little know facts: the U.S. military had been integrated until the War of 1812 and in 1944 General Dwight D. Eisenhower, short of men for replacements, signed an order allowing African-Americans to serve in White units on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

With women integrating into infantry units during peacetime, it’s more than likely unit cohesion will be little or no problem, considering many of the combat veterans who choose to make a career in the military will have already fought in units that were integrated with women.

Tucker Carlson’s crude and ignorant Tweet not only trivializes the sacrifices women have made in these war efforts, it’s an insult to every woman who has served, especially those who have come back from these wars missing limbs and other body parts and suffering other war-related conditions.

These women vets are not “feminism’s latest victory.” They are dedicated, patriotic warriors who, unlike Tucker Carlson, wore the uniform and served their country in war. They did not hesitate when given the opportunity to be attached to the infantry units. They deserve a little more respect than that  tweet from a snide little twit.

I’m just trying to picture Marine Corps boot camp with a female Drill Instructor. Now that boggles the mind.

“Semper Fi” ladies, it’s about time you were treated as equals.

Tim Forkes

Tim Forkes started as a writer on a small alternative college newspaper in Milwaukee called the Crazy Shepherd. Writing about entertainment issues, he had the opportunity to speak with many people in show business, from the very famous to the people struggling to find an audience. In 1992 Tim moved to San Diego, CA and pursued other interests, but remained a freelance writer. Upon arrival in Southern California he was struck by how the business of government and business was so intertwined, far more so than he had witnessed in Wisconsin. His interest in entertainment began to wane and the business of politics took its place. He had always been interested in politics, his mother had been a Democratic Party official in Milwaukee, WI, so he sat down to dinner with many of Wisconsin’s greatest political names of the 20th Century: William Proxmire and Clem Zablocki chief among them. As a Marine Corps veteran, Tim has a great interest in veteran affairs, primarily as they relate to the men and women serving and their families. As far as Tim is concerned, the military-industrial complex has enough support. How the men and women who serve are treated is reprehensible, while in the military and especially once they become veterans. Tim would like to help change that reality.

www.forkesreport.com