Fill her head with funny ideas and then just pull her string and her extra large mouth will spew forth on your command....

That's why you conservatives have wives.

Us liberals actually tend to encourage free thought from our wimmens's.

Imagine.....they may even get the right to vote soon.

That's right--women love the strong Phil Donahue types like you Stlhdh20.

I myself LOVE the womens movement--especially when I'm walking behind it!

I've seen that reference a couple of times now. Pardon my ignorance, but what exactly does it infer?

Phil Donohue represents the sensative softer man that the Womens lib movement wanted. They had to tear down men to build up femininty for some reason. So he is the opposite of Macho. Real men call Phil a pussy and the MAcho guys idiots and the feminists c u next tuesday

I disagree, Aunty. That guy is a typical knuckle-dragger. He got out as a captain which means he probably only did about 4, maybe 5 years of active duty. I think that's relevant because he obviously didn't spend enough time in uniform to experience all the aspects of diversity.

Having females in combat support is not the problem. It's a leadership issue. The Army has caved in to the politically correct crowd and now everyone walks on eggshells. Esprit de corps and morale started slipping when we could no longer curse in cadence. I know that sounds archaic and sophomoric, but it's true. If we could get back to treating soldiers as soldiers, where everyone is unisex and green, we could solve many problems.

I've had the opportunity to work for some superb women, and have had the pleasure of some fantastic young female warriors under my command. There wasn't anything their male counterpart could do that they couldn't. Some even far out performed the males.

Sure, some get pregnant and you lose them. But I've had male soldiers that were a big PITA for other reasons. Some I had to send home, to the psyche ward, or jail, after losing all pay and allowances, etc.

Every person that puts on a uniform, being male or female, has certain traits and it's up to the leaders to capitalize on those traits for maximum effectiveness to create the combat multipliers.

But then again, being a Phil-Donahue-radical-left-winged-socialist-commie-liberal, oh, and anti-American, what do I know?

you forgot anti-semitic....

Men see one thing in a woman, specifically until they are at least 30. All decsions are based whether he would sleep with her or not. It's genetic and no amount of logic can overide it given the place and time. Any man that says otherwise is gay or a liar.

I agree there. But I consider that to be combat arms, i.e., infantry, cavalry, SF, etc. And that's only because our societal mores aren't ready it. The overwhelming psychological need for men to "protect" women is so deeply engrained in our psyche that right now it's impossible to put a woman in a foxhole with an infantry squad. The fear is that males would take ill-advised risks rather than put the female in harm's way.

However, Abu Ghraib aside, woman have been in MP units for years performing many hazardous duties with great success. If a civilian woman can be a cop and search a building for an armed suspect, there's no reason she can't do it in the Army. The cordone and search tactic being employed in Iraq is very similar to that.

I'm curious (well, Navally ignorant, really), if your husband's female CO was a top performer in your book, why wouldn't he want her to command a ship? Is there that much difference between shore duty and sea duty in that regard?

Yeah, I can appreciate all of that. That's the political correctness problem I think the Army is experiencing.

But it's not the same across the board. I've been in units where we had co-ed tents without any problems. Each gender respected the privacy of the other. And I've been in units where there were separate tents or dividers between genders sleeping areas.

Again, I think it can be traced back to proper leadership and what you instill in your subordinates. Proper respect for each other.

I can see the special challenge of haing a co-ed ship on long deployments, however. Especially with young men and women. That urge is pretty damn strong and can cause some serious problems.

Remember the Tailhook scandal? Women can be way more sexually agressive than men sometimes...Don't believe me go to the Muckleshoot Casino Monday and check out how hysterical they get at the Chippendales show

I don't remember the women being the aggressors at the Tailhook.

So Harley you attended Tailhook? how was the party?

I thought 4S was the booze-hound skirt-chaser around here.

No, I never did Tailhook. Wrong branch.

We kept our scandal in basic training where the audience was a little more captive.

Was 4Salt at Tailhook too? He's such a nice boy I cannot imagine that he would have sex with a naked female sailor while at a navy function....that would be harassment

If we let women into the military then before you know it they're going to want to be able to wear shoes,vote and drive cars.

I think Tailhook was an airforce thing but I'm sure the same stuff goes on in all branches.

Tailhook is a Navy thing. It's the Naval aviators. It's named for the hook on the tail of an aircraft that grabs the cable on the deck of a carrier to stop when landing.

"I thought 4S was the booze-hound skirt-chaser around here. "


Unfortunately Dan, I missed out on the Tailhook party. If I remember correctly (REALLY tough to do sometimes! ) I was "previously engaged" and coming off of a week long bender!