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From: hammy@mit-eddie.UUCP (J. Scott Hamilton)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Ripping women to bloody shreds
Message-ID: <515@mit-eddie.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 29-Jul-83 11:51:11 EDT
Article-I.D.: mit-eddie.515
Posted: Fri Jul 29 11:51:11 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 29-Jul-83 20:09:13 EDT
References: <522@cvl.UUCP> <1737@rabbit.UUCP>
Organization: MIT, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 42


  >     Please correct me if I am wrong, but this is my understanding of the
  >military's present policy concerning women.  Women are now admitted into
  >the military, but they are not required to register for the draft.  Whenb
  >women go into the military, they are not allowed to hold combat jobs, ie
  >they can't fly planes or kill people, they can only push pencils.  Now
  >tell me this, what kind of equality is this?  I repeat, why do only men have
  >the privilege of dieing for their country?
  >
  >
  >			Meredith Morris


To the best of my recolection, the only restriction place on women in
the Army is that they cannot serve in the 'Combat Branches', for
example, Armor and Infantry.  The other brances can put you just as
close (or closer) to the battlefield, and can be just as deadly.  I
could probably feel as confortable (relatively speaking) being shot at
on the battlefield as being shelled back at the main camp.  I am sure
that there is no restriction on a women to kill people, and many of the
slots left open could potentially require it.  As to drafting, I don't
think they are required to register.

In my experiences with ROTC, the women where not trained any different
than men, except perhaps, they were given more encouragement by the
officers.  I am proud to say that as a group the women seemed to make
the better leaders, and often showed the most enthusiasm for the
program.  A number of them beat me on the on the running part of the
physical; two miles in Army boots and under eighteen minutes is not that
bad.  One of the women in my old unit is going to Airborne School
[Airborne!!]  (jumping out of airplanes, an activity that is highly
respected by Army people), another plans to go to Cold Weather Survival
training.  I would wish any women interested in the military, the best
of luck.

Please excuse me if I have offended any pacifist types (no flames
please). 


-- 
						J. Scott Hamilton
						!genrad!mit-eddie!hammy