Military Abuse

Everyday, women in the service go thru their own different obstacles, but the most important, biggest issue is the sexual harassment they encounter. "A substantial majority of Americans (81%) view sexual assault in the military as an extremely or very important issue" (PewResearchCenter). 57% Republicans say that the military leaders should handles this issue on their own, while 58% of Democrats say that Congress should step in and change the military laws to stop this issue. Some feel that military leaders are doing their best to stop this problem and others think they are doing quite enough.

Most women that experience sexual harassment and assault in the military will not speak up and say anything, and this causes them to be stressed out and it makes things worse. The harassment and assault include inappropriate comments, touching without permission,  and rape. The men normally doing the harassment normally threaten their victim which scares them even more. They are scared, timid, and are afraid that of what might happen if they do speak up and say something. Some women experience it so bad and get affected by it so severely that ends up to suicide.  It should never get that far, and a woman should never feel too scared to speak up and say something and protect their self from the harassment.

I think the military AND the Congress should both try to do more about this situation because it is very serious and can cause death.

Here is a video of a young woman in the military talking about an experience she had with her former drill sergeant plus more, etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD5MvyQu24c

Works Cited: Michael Dimock. Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
http://www.people-press.org/2013/06/12/sexual-assault-in-the-military-widely-seen-as-important-issue-but-no-agreement-on-solution/
YouTube. Center for the Army Profession and Ethic (CAPE). Published June 13, 2013.

Sacrificing Diversity

To this still day women are still trying to be able to fight in direct combat ground, but the government and Obama's new policies are interfering with that all for the sake of "diversity."

In January of last year, the 1994 Combat Exclusion Rule lessened its restrictions and is now suppose to allow women in the armed forces to be assigned into certain situations now involving them in direct combat ground. The official deadline for this is suppose to be set by the summer of June 2016. Now no one is getting too excited yet because some government officials still disagree and don't want women in the forces to be labeled as "anti women."

According the FrontPage Mag website, 88% of women are opened for jobs in the Navy, and 99% in the Air Force. The goal is to open up every possible job for these women but realistically it has to be approved first by the Secretary of Defense.

The armed forces are always opening up new positions for women but still have yet to really push the ground combat, which irritates so many women. Many reason why the government still hasn't made any final decisions about this is because they don't believe women have the social and dominate traits to fight in combat as much as men do. But that in my opinion makes no kinds of sense because a women may not be as strong as a man can be physically but mentally and emotionally a women can be stronger than a man. I think women get taken for granted and are put in a certain category and that is why they still to this day are not officially by law allowed to fight in direct ground combat.

Works Cited

          http://frontpagemag.com/2013/arnold-ahlert/sacrificing-military-women-on-the-altar-of-diversity/

Women Veterans

There is about 1.8 million women veterans in the world...and I have a couple in my family which is pretty cool to me. I get to hear a lot of interesting stories and learn a lot from them. There are many support groups for women veterans, concerning their health care, the homeless vets, and the vets with trauma issues. Many of these vets rely on systems to take care of them, but they sometimes don't get all the specific things to support their needs.

One of the support groups someone could donate to would be the Swords to Plowshares foundation. They have art shows and other events that help donate to the women vets in need. The foundation  also helps and cares for women veterans that are struggling to get back on their feet and make sure they have all the resources they need to care for themselves. They believe that women that served should still get the same benefits they received as when they were serving.




Sources/Cites: http://www.swords-to-plowshares.org/women-veterans/resources-for-women-vets/

12th Anniversary of 9/11

Many remembered and mourned yesterday, the 12th anniversary of the horrible attacks on September 11, 2001. I'm writing about it because it relates a little to my blog topic. So many innocent people lost their lives' that day and it effected the whole U.S. Even though I was only about 8 or 9, I still remember it to this day. My mother and father both work in D.C. and could have easily been one of the victims of the attack, thankfully none of my family was hurt.

Many people that served for our country lost their lives that day, firefighters, young children, and innocent Americans that didn't deserve to lose their life so soon.



"Americans marked the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks around the country with remembrances today. President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden attended a moment of silence at the White House and relatives of the victims visited the memorial sites at the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pa. The attacks, which claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people, were the deadliest terrorist strike on American soil." -- Lloyd Young

Sources/Cites:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2013/09/911_united_states_marks_12th_a.html

Strong &Inspirational

"Girls can fight too"

We all know that women can join the Army, Marines, and etc., but women still can not join ground combat since it is still banned. But the rules are changing and the U.S. is being more fair about women and their certain duties in the forces. Yes, women are allowed to go overseas and drive the trucks patrolling the streets, search the women in Iraq/Afghanistan for suspiciousness and are being able to be "gunners" on the vehicles, and get rid of bombs but we want to fight too!

Most women in the forces are Sergeants/Officers and command the males in their units which is pretty cool in my opinion. But the thing that is unfortunate, they do not get to go out and fight the battles with their male troops. People do not hear about these special women enough, and don't give them enough credit.

About 14% of females are of the active duties, and abiut 17% of them are of the reserve. Currently the government is trying to pass a specific law that allows females to actually fight in War. Most agree that it is fair but there is that few that just don't want to see it happen, which is holding us women back. Some gender-neutral standards have already been developed for certain frontline jobs and will open up to women fairly quickly. For example, as early as next month, female sailors will be allowed to train to join the Navy's Riverine force that provides security operations in river and coastal areas. While the Army has tentatively set plans to allow women to enter Army Ranger School to earn the "Ranger Tab" it does not mean that female graduates will automatically get to serve in the 75th Ranger Regiment. Like their male peers they will have to successfully meet the unit's own selective standards.

They are predicting that women should be able to fight in combat no later than 2016...hopefully.

Cites/Sources:

http://www.dosomething.org/blog/chatterbox/girls-fight-too-role-women-military

http://www.4militarywomen.org/Women_in_Combat.htm

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2013/0725/Women-in-combat-no-later-than-2016-Pentagon-says

A little history..

Here are just a few interesting highlights and facts about women in the military.

Starting from the late 1700's women normally just served as nurses and cooks in the military. Then finally in 1948, the Women's Armed Services Integration Act granted women to officially be in the regular and reserved forces of all.

The first African American woman was enlisted in the Marines.

& in 2008, the first time in US military history, a woman was announces to the
rank of four-star general. She was in the US Army.

These are just some of very many facts about the woman in the forces. (-:

Women In The Armed Forces.

The topic I chose to blog about is the women in the armed forces, and that includes each force...Army, Marines, Air Force, etc. This topic interest me because I am seriously considering joining the Air Force within the next year or so. Other reasons for picking the topic is because my mother was in the Army for about seven years in her younger days and she always has had positive things to say about it, also her friend who was in the Marines...they each said it changed their lives and made them the women who they are today. Women in the forces somehow inspire me and make me want to be apart of that movement. I hope you all reading somehow can connect and enjoy continuing to reading the rest of my blogs about this topic. (-: