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Do Female Soldiers Get Any Privacy?
By Charlie
I caught this in SLATE today:
Given these dangers, how much privacy do women get when they're deployed in the Middle East? …It depends on what they're doing there. In Kuwait, where companies bound for Iraq stop for training and acclimatizing, the degree of privacy is up to the women. Male and female soldiers are expected to sleep cot to cot under large tents that house 50 to 60 people at a time. The women usually curtain off a single-sex section in the back with sheets and ponchos. But this kind of self-segregation carries the risk of alienating women from their platoon, depriving them of Army chatter, or making them seem as though they need special treatment. In particular, females in leadership positions can't afford to live apart from the male soldiers they command. For them this means changing clothes inside sleeping bags—a practice many male soldiers also adopt.
…Changing clothes inside the sleeping bag?? Get over yourself. If we expect soldiers to see combat, is it so unreasonable to expect them to see nudity?
Chalk this up as another reason I’m glad I’m serving with an infantry unit.
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» dijipevacudaqifeinfo from dijipevacudaqifeinfo
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Comments
as much as I support women in the military, I can't support women serving in combat roles. Social engineering and the military don't mix.
I agree, when a country has to use its women to fight, whats next, small children?
Keep the women in stateside billets or European bases.
…Changing clothes inside the sleeping bag?? Get over yourself. If we expect soldiers to see combat, is it so unreasonable to expect them to see nudity?
An interesting position. A Query: If you're comfortable with this, what do you think of mixed sex bathrooms/showers? It's a common feature in futuristic sci-fi/military movies, men and women showering together (with, supposedly, no sexual overtones). I've always found this to be rather unrealistic, no matter how integrated the military becomes. Am I mistaken?
No particular opinion on integration of women into the military, as I'm rather inclined to allow the military to decide what's best for the military. I'm pretty sure they know better then I do.
I would guess that any woman who can stand shoulder to shoulder with men isn't much bothered about privacy or modesty.
During my tour in Iraq, my combat engineer platoon (all male combat unit) spent some time up on the Syrian border. During the overall mission, another guard unit, a Multi-Role Bridge Company came up, which was about 45% female. They didn't have enough room, so about 40% of their unit moved into our tent. We really didn't protest very much, since the unit was from a college town.
For almost a month we lived that way, open with no segregtaion. We did change under the sleeping bags and it wasn't a big deal. During their initial part of the operation, they put in as assault float bridge, and during that time, stayed under intermittent mortar fire until the squadron moved up a section of Paladins. We didn't have too much problem repsecting their capabilities after that. The only real problem was that the combination of PMS and mortar fire can really get a woman peeved.
Anyway, after that, I haven't been too much worried about sharing anything with my sisters in arms. Everybody's got a job to do, and yes, "things" can happen, but there are a lot worse things to worry about in country. I'm not saying that we need to open up all the combat arms MOS's or anything. Just pointing out that in those kinds of conditions, everyone has a lot more to worry about than a little partial nudity or PMS.
Of course you men don't see anything wrong with a little nudity but this proves the point of why you hear so much about women being raped or crying rape. If you had wives or husbands how do you think the feel about the situation?second off anything can happpen regardless of war zone! Men and women both get the urge and it wouldnt help if women and men shower together or change in front of one another.this would cause a lot more problems and could eventually make the military look like its just a place to see nudity or have sex. Not a good idea if u ask me.
First of all, I'm pissed off and I don't have PMS I have a husband over in that stinking country. I don't approve of my damn husband being around a bunch of slutty military women. They have no morals or class and will sleep with anyone who shows interest.
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The units I was in, the women either had a separate tent, or did the "screening" thing. It didn't have any negative effect because nobody was that interested in staying the the sleep tents for much of anything but sleeping.
As for nudity... remember, they're in a GO #1 environment there. It doesn't take much for the hormones to throttle the thinking centers of the brain after awhile.