First Female Army Combat Engineer goes AWOL

[rjohnson4405]

http://www.local8now.com/content/news/First-woman-in-Tennessee-to-enlist-as-combat-engineer-goes-AWOL-367601961.html

Interesting to see what comes of this.

[Drang]

She left her husband and two children in September of 2015 for basic training where she was learning to build bridges, detonate artillery, and detect roadside bombs under combat conditions. She said, "You make sacrifices your whole life for your children and for your family, this will be a sacrifice... Women can do anything they set their mind to just as well as men I don't really see any difference at all. I hope women will want to join."
sigh

[Peally]

lmao.

[RevolverRob]

So...I'll play Devil's Advocate here...

What if she went AWOL, because she was kidnapped and murdered?

Will everyone find it funny then? More importantly, why the fuck is this important? Soldiers go AWOL all of the time. Would we have a thread titled, "First Soldiers to go AWOL, Goes AWOL!" And then laugh, "Hahaha...I knew this would happen when the Spartans allowed the Helots into their army!"

Dumb thread is dumb.

-Rob

[BehindBlueI's]

Meh. I'm tired of the "first whatever whatever" anyway. Females have been combatants in multiple cultures in multiple ages. WTF cares that modern US culture decided it's cool and made someone a poster child based on swearing in first. We had a couple guys go AWOL when I was a Combat Engineer, and as far as I know no one gave two shits. The only incident I recall that even made the slightest blip was SFC Webster, a Nation of Islam convert who refused to deploy to the Middle East.

I haven't paid a lot of attention but it looks like the "first female president" shtick isn't getting played much. Maybe, just maybe, others are tired of "the first...." as well and realized that "the first black President" didn't get us far other than saying we had the first black President.

[Jeep]

So...I'll play Devil's Advocate here...

What if she went AWOL, because she was kidnapped and murdered?

Will everyone find it funny then? More importantly, why the fuck is this important? Soldiers go AWOL all of the time. Would we have a thread titled, "First Soldiers to go AWOL, Goes AWOL!" And then laugh, "Hahaha...I knew this would happen when the Spartans allowed the Helots into their army!"

Dumb thread is dumb.

-Rob

Rob:

I'm sure that everyone here hopes that neither she nor any other service member is kidnapped and murdered.

But the vast majority of AWOLs are not involuntary--they are voluntary and when they happen at basic/AIT they usually result in a discharge from the military.

What is laughable here--and it is laughable--is the Department of Defense's premature celebrating her enlistment--something that is being pushed by Washington for political reasons. Thus, they had her say that women could do combat engineering just as well as men--which is a political line--even before she has spent a minute in uniform. She, like any other recruit, had no idea of whether that was true or not. They would have been far better advised to wait until she graduated as a combat engineer.

Now, I think the push to put women in combat units is very ill advised for multiple reasons. It think there will be relatively few women who can meet the standards, a concomitant push to lower the standards (something I saw repeatedly during my service) and a lot of problems arising from the fact that boys and girls are boys and girls and will act that way in units that do not need that kind of drama.

So I do not support Washington's political spin. However, if they are going to publicize the first woman combat engineer, they ought to wait until she is a qualified combat engineer. Their desire to broadcast these types of "firsts" prematurely results in the current situation in which, once again, the Army has egg on its face. It is not only laughable it is pathetic. They have been doing the same thing since the 1970's, getting the same problems, and they never learn from the past.

[Hambo]

There was an actual woman combat engineer prior to this one going AWOL.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2015/1206/The-US-Army-certifies-its-first-woman-combat-engineer

[Kyle Reese]

Norway has recently expanded conscription to cover women, making it the only NATO nation to do so. Let's see how that works out.

http://www.newsweek.com/2015/03/13/both-sexes-called-arms-norway-conscripts-girls-310990.html


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[BehindBlueI's]

There was an actual woman combat engineer prior to this one going AWOL.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2015/1206/The-US-Army-certifies-its-first-woman-combat-engineer

National Guard doesn't count. ;)

[ranger]

National Guard doesn't count. ;)

Grrr.............

[Maple Syrup Actual]

So...I'll play Devil's Advocate here...

What if she went AWOL, because she was kidnapped and murdered?

Will everyone find it funny then?
-Rob
Well, maybe if she was kidnapped and murdered by clowns.

[hufnagel]

Norway has recently expanded conscription to cover women, making it the only NATO nation to do so. Let's see how that works out.

http://www.newsweek.com/2015/03/13/both-sexes-called-arms-norway-conscripts-girls-310990.html


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I would not f*ck with a Norwegian woman, period. Add on some form of organized training in combat, and you have a whole lot of NOPE wrapped up in one big scary hairy ball.

[GardoneVT]

Well, maybe if she was kidnapped and murdered by clowns.

Perhaps she got Mitral Valve Prolapse and the military messed up her discharge documentation.

[ffhounddog]

I would not f*ck with a Norwegian woman, period. Add on some form of organized training in combat, and you have a whole lot of NOPE wrapped up in one big scary hairy ball.

They do the fucking.

[BehindBlueI's]

http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/000/164/366/131266412815.gif