Re: [semi OT] Women wargamers -longish

Most of the experiences I've had with females in the military
(professional that is) range from unpleasant to annoying, but then again
I've always been in combat arms or special operations so interfacing
with them has always been an odd fit. What bothers me the most is how
stupid guys start acting when you interject a female into their
environment.

That being said, I recall one in particular female, an interpreter, that
worked with our team in Haiti for some time. She fit in perfectly well,
or so I thought, until a certain, umm shall we say, sex scandal erupted.
Despite how it turned out I still enjoyed having her on my team. We
didn't have to be different around her. I remember her turning green
(hard for a black women <g>) when we started earnest classes on how to
defend herself with a pistol, due to an impending raid against a polling
station we were about to experience.

My beliefs are:

1. Females that meet a single standard are more than capable of being in
combat arms. (hell, I think my wife would make a great grunt!)

2. Most of the problems a rising from females in the military have to do
more with us men, and the double fitness standard imposed by the Army.

3. That being said, we're not ready yet for full integration in combat
arms. If it screws up small unit cohesion then I'm against it. And like
it or not, when you interject women into the archaic all male world of a
combat arms unit, (where sexual innuendoes and humor make up 90% of the
banter)  the first priority of the guys usually becomes getting laid.
Half the guys try subtlety or openly to hit on the girl, the other half,
become openly hostile for having their sacred world invaded. This
problem is primarily to due with us guys and little to do with the
females.

Nevertheless, we should still perform some combat arms test cases. But
without all the political bullshit. A good example was the female F14
pilot who got killed a while back. Buddy of mine was a flyer on another
squadron on her ship. Fact of the matter is, her landing quals were sub
standard. Any guy with her stats would have been grounded or sent
dirtside, but the CO was under pressure to make "the thing work". He
turned down any requests from a pissed off squadron commander. Sure
enough, her incompetence ended up killing her and her Wizzo. Left a very
lot of bad blood on the ship.

Make one standard for everyone and then have at it!

BTW, spent a lot of time in Eritrea as an advisor to their army. It was
the first time I ever saw females in the infantry. They have some
examples of females in company command during the war, but now their
regular grunts mostly. I'll give them the credit of humping their
weapons over the mountains just like the next guy, but I didn't see a
one that was as motivated as her male counterparts. Interesting aside,
all were married to guys in their platoon. They remain until they get
pregnant, at which time they have to leave the service. The Eritrean
defense force is planning to phase out females in their infantry. It was
a successful emergency measure, but now that they have transitioned from
a guerilla force to a conventional force, they no longer see it as
necessary. (this was something I was quite interested about and spent a
lot of time inquiring on).

Just to recap I do not fall into the category that females can't hack
it, (due to some perceived inferiority), an attitude which pisses me off
greatly. I fall into the category that men aren't ready for it yet. And
before anyone starts pointing to  non combat arms, and service /support,
there's as much difference between an infantry unit and a transportation
company, as there is between a transportation company and a civilian
workforce.

Los