From: vaccaro@novavax.UUCP (N. Trafford Vaccaro)
Newsgroups: soc.women
Subject: Re: Women in Combat
Summary: another 2 cents
Date: 19 Nov 92 09:19:28 GMT
Organization: Nova University, Fort Lauderdale, FL

In article <1992Nov12.011739.1064@octel.com>, cathy@octel.com (Cathy Kearns) writes:
> In article <1992Nov11.095500.9583@news.cs.indiana.edu> "Amy Young Leith" <alyoung@kiwi.ucs.indiana.edu> writes:
> >In article <4221@novavax.UUCP> vaccaro@novavax.UUCP (N. Trafford Vaccaro) writes:
> >
> >>You want people to keep their minds on their job. Now what do
> >>you suppose is on a lot of 18 year old men's minds when they
> >>are sitting out in the field, bored, and haven't seen a female
> >>in weeks? I've seen what happens when several young men are
> >>trying to "date" the one woman that shows up at the enlisted club.
> >>They're at each other's throats. 
> 
> .....
> 
> >Perhaps this attitude of being "girl hungry" after being at it for a
> >while comes because 1)these people view women as nothing more than
> >objects (surprise, surprise), and that would change if they were SHOWN
> >that yes, women are equal.  Not just toys for their enjoyment.  2)You
> >tend to respect those that you know personally more then just some
> >women who walks into a bar.  3)And you're going to LEARN to respect
> >them, if they are protecting your butt in battle.  
> 

OK, maybe that wasn't a good example. "Girl hungry" is a little
harsh for what I described above. Let me put it this way...during
boot camp (Marines) all we saw was camouflage clothes, vehicles.
When there was a recruit graduation ceremony going on in the
distance, I would look at the people in the stands just to see
the different color clothes. A couple of years later, while in the
field, I would be hot, bored, sometimes not very happy, maybe
very lonely, and it would be nice just to hear a female voice, because
it was like music to the ears. I don't know if you can understand
that. I wanted to socialize, not just in the horizontal etc mode,
although that thought would enter my mind, but "girl hungry" wasn't 
the word for it. I would say the need for companionship better
describes the feeling. The degree and quality of this need varies
with the maturity of the individual.

I've had my share of being a "toy" for enjoyment, and maybe it
was fun at the time, but the realization of how shallow a
relationship can be can be disappointing and disheartening.


> Perhaps the army will learn what American Universities learned when
> they went co-ed, and indeed, started having co-ed dorms.  For some
> reason, the women and men you live with, study with, see wandering
> down the hall to the showers (before!), etc, are much more likely
> to be friends, and even surrogate siblings than overnight stands.
> It should be pointed out that the 18 year old men, sitting out
> in the field, bored, will have seen a female in weeks, as a matter
> of fact, they will have been sweating with, running with, slogging
> through mud with, etc these women for all those weeks.  And will
> probably feel comfortable enough with them to cry on their shoulder's
> about their dear john (or jane) letters, and will probably really
> become friends.  Unfortunately, this will not solve the problem at
>{deleted text } 
> 					Cathy


I don't know anything about the Army, I do know that they have
women in their platoons, 'cause I've seen them.

I would like to hear from combat veterans on this subject. I
get the feeling that when it hits the fan, gender differences
are not noticeable at all, petty differences among everyone
in general are probably on hold. I don't know. All I know is
what I experienced personally. 


Nick
Newsgroups: soc.women