Web Letters: The Plight of Women Soldiers

The only way for the government to cure the epidemic of sexual assault and harassment in the military is to extend to military women the same workplace rights enjoyed by all other employees. If a civilian employee is harassed at work and her employer fails to correct the situation, she can turn to an outside government agency for an impartial review of her claim and, potentially, a remedy. Military personnel, on the other hand, are denied this right under existing federal regulations, and must instead rely on their employer to police itself. By continuing to subject military women to a separate and unequal justice system, Congress only fans the flames of the epidemic it purports to decry.

Rachel Natelson

New York, NY

"As Montoya said about her time as a soldier, 'The only thing the guys let you be if you're a girl in the military is a bitch, a ho, or a dyke. You're a bitch if you won't sleep with them, a ho if you even have one boyfriend, and a dyke if they don't like you. So you can't win. " "Winning" seems to mean "getting your own way."

What good to the country is that? Serving in the military is exactly that, service! The military is no place for narcissistic pansies to gain "self-fulfillment." So serve if you like, but don't bore me with the complaints about the reality of military life. It is a rotten job, you dummies, and if you can't stand the heat of it, get back in the kitchen.

James Solbakken

San Franciso, CA

The grammatically correct word is "female," not "women." Good article.

Dan Robbins

Henrico, VA

I have spent the last five years of my life living and breathing the life of an American infantryman. Unlike the author of the previous web letter's assumptions, I joined the military for neither lack of options nor lack of education. I grew up in a upper-middle-class home, where my father was a lawyer. I am college-educated and will be applying to law school in a few months when my tour in Afghanistan and service requirement has ended. I joined, like many men and women do, for love of country, and a sense of service.

I am much different from many of the typical infantry soldiers in that I am very progressive politically (I run a progressive blog from overseas) and have tried to have a keen eye for issues such as women in the military. I agree with nearly everything presented in the article, moreover, I have seen many of the injustices that the author presents firsthand. I have seen soldiers who do not respect the placement of women, especially in positions of authority. When I was in Iraq, a brave young female soldier died not far from me, and I remember how well she was celebrated at her memorial.

Today, I write this letter from only a few miles from the Pakistan border, from my computer in our wooden hut. If you asked most Rangers, Special Forces, SEALs, infantrymen, etc, why it is they do not think women should serve in combat arms positions, it will come down to one thing. Physical ability. Not mental toughness, not traditionalism, nor bigotry. I understand this is a touchy subject at best, but to deny the inherent differences between men and women physically is to deny human anatomy. I am speaking from experience ranging from deployments in both Iraq and Afghanistan as well as a graduate of military courses like, airborne, air assault and pathfinder, that it takes a physically superior person to accomplish these tasks. Ninety percent of men could not. We are talking about carrying 100+ pounds of gear through the mountains when you are cold, wet and tired for days on end. The question here is not whether women can handle this mentally; we all know women handle more mentally in our society than they many times should have too. The question is physically. When we are out on a mission and our livelihood is directly tied to the physical strength and endurance of the person next to us, it is essential to have someone completely up to the task.

The other issue is, What if there is a woman who wants a shot, regardless of the odds? To that I would say we should never deny a woman a fair shot (no change in physical standards) to achieve something she wishes to. There are always people who defy odds, even in the toughest situations. However, for the masses, being a Ranger or a SEAL is just not feasible for the vast majority of women or men physically.

All that said, the issues that women face dealing with sexual harassment, unfair treatment and lack of respect are real. The Army's effort in this area is simply not good enough to ensure our women who so proudly fight are not marginalized. I hope this article brings more light to such an important issue.

Harold Eustache Jr.

Charlotte, NC

Placing aside the notorious and wrongful instances of sexual assault and other sex crimes that women in military service are sometimes victims of, I don't have a lot of sympathy for the complaint that the military is treating women soldiers like "second class citizens."

For one thing, most regular enlisted people in the military, especially in combat and logistical support roles on the ground, are treated fairly roughly by the military, in comparison to civilian standards. Famously, the combat arms and organizations around the combat arms are rough, dehumanizing, and unrewarding to participants. This is a classic feature of the military.

For another thing, military organizations, especially the combat arms portions, do not by their own nature specialize in practicing enlightened secular humanism, nor are these organizations based on egalitarian notions of fairness and decency for all. The combat arms organizations systematically take men (traditionally) who don't have a higher or better short-term use and psychologically programming them to be very violent, to kill from a sociopathic mindstate, to view others with a degraded perspective. Throughout history, this has been the case in armies. Throughout history, women and children have been the victims, deliberate and collateral, of armies filled with soldiers. This is another classic feature of the military, and women who volunteer to go near organizations of (normally) men whose programming is to aggressively kill and destroy with a high level of animus towards their targets should probably be on guard as they are exiting any vestige of civil society, itself a place where women can expect modern and enlightened treatment.

For my part, I don't think women should be allowed anywhere near the combat arms in the military. I believe that civilian feminist commentators should probably accept that complaining that there is not a body of enforceable equal-opportunity law and affirmative action programs that encourage women to join the combat arms, where they can expect to have kids-glove treatment while working with men whose behavior constitutes repeated intolerable acts of homicide, sometimes mass homicide, is silly. Women in the military should be free from sex assault, and should be able to function in the professional parts of the overall military that aren't combat, but demanding that the combat arms simply open up is evidence of ridiculously unrealistic expectations. The combat arms specializes into turning young men into aggressive killers.

Seymour Friendly

Seattle, WA

There were similar problems when the services were being integrated. I was in England in 1956, when an NCO lost his rank for being prejudiced. It will take a lot of discipline and training to mitigate or solve this problem. Officers need to realize that their career can be affected by not taking these situations seriously. Senior women officers need to be involved in rape or sexual assault cases. As in civilian life, nurses should be available to collect physical evidence.

Pervis James Casey

Riverside, CA

This article is an exposé of much of the bigotry and harassment toward women in civilian life as well. However, women should be in the firing line--not of involvement in the military during a war but protesting against it.

I feel that many of the men volunteering for military duty, although unfortunately seeing no other alternatives for their lives, are not the best representatives of manhood in our society.

They are often young, uneducated, not in a constructive place and look to the military for support. The pressures of war brings out the worst in soldiers, and some of their victims are often civilians of the countries in which they are stationed. Likewise, attacks verbally and physically towards women in the military become intensified. It is a tragedy all around, and I hope that women will avoid joining the military, not for fear of harassment but rather because they should be in the forefront of working for peace.

Code Pink is an organization that emphasizes this dilemma.

Pearl Volkov

Burlington, Ontario, Canada