| First
All-Female Air Combat Mission Over Afghanistan.
[United States] A crew of six Airmen
at a forward deployed location climbed aboard a C-130 Hercules together recently for the
first time in their careers. But something
distinguished this mission from others they had flown --it was the first time an
all-female C-130 crew flew a combat mission. Capt.
Carol Mitchell, aircraft commander; 1st Lt. Siobhan Couturier, pilot; Capt. Anita T. Mack,
navigator; Staff Sgt. Josie E. Harshe, flight engineer; and loadmasters Tech. Sgt. Sigrid
M. Carrero-Perez and Senior Airman Ci Ci Alonzo are all permanently assigned to the 43rd
Airlift Wing at Pope Air Force Base, N.C., and currently are deployed to the 737th
Expeditionary Airlift Squadron flying cargo and troops in and out of Iraq, Afghanistan and
the Horn of Africa. While some would call
their mission "historic," they feel this mission should be recognized like every
other flight -- a successful combat mission. |
| Soaring
Past Stereotypes. [United States] Many women
in the Navy, such as pilot Kendra Kaufman from O.C., wish gender were not an issue. Lt Kaufman [is] a veteran of the "but you're
just a girl" thing. "I get that all
the time," she said. "They ask the
co-pilot, 'Is she just learning to fly?'" In
fact, Kaufman is a commander in her squadron of pilots. But
she doesn't like to talk about the role of women in the Navy, wishing it was not an issue,
she says. She seems mystified about the
50-year-old women who approach her and say they wish they could do what she has done. The opportunity for women to fly planes in the Navy
is just about as old as Kaufman. Since 1974,
when the Navy graduated its first aviator, it has been a bumpy ride for women even after
access has finally been awarded to the brass hierarchy and the combat-driven dangerous
assignments. There were many reforms made
following 1991's Tailhook scandal, with its alcohol- fueled assaults on military women. Now the increasing number of females serving in the
U.S. Navy say breaking into the all-male bastion remains difficult but doable. |
| Women
In Military Often Keep Quiet On Harassment. [United States] Six in 10
women who have served in the National Guard and Reserves say they were sexually harassed
or assaulted, but less than one-quarter reported it and many who did were encouraged to
drop their complaints, a government survey says. The
survey by the Veterans Affairs Department found that nearly half of the women who
responded said the incidents occurred while they were on duty. One in 10 said she was raped, nearly 60 percent said
they were verbally harassed, and the rest of the reports were for other types of
incidents, according to the survey, which was released by Democratic members of Congress. In addition, more than 27 percent of male Guard and
Reserve veterans said they experienced some type of sexual harassment or assault - most
often by other men. |
| Guard's
Women Try To Strike A Balance. [United States] Master
Sgt. Janice Kent's service with the D.C. National Guard leaves her torn between the job
she loves and the children she adores. Sgt.
Kent, a single mother of three who has been in the D.C. National Guard for 24 years, has
been deployed at least twice in the past three years, including a 15-month stint in Fort Eustis, Va. Today, Sgt. Kent, 49, is one of hundreds of D.C. National Guardsmen in New Orleans helping with
Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. This time,
her job has taken her away from home for at least 30 days. |
|
England Found Guilty in Abuse of Iraq Detainees. [United
States] Lynndie
England, the army private
whose smiling poses in photos of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq made her the face of
the scandal, was convicted Monday by a military jury on six of seven counts. The jury of five male army officers took about two
hours to reach its verdict. Her case now moves
into the sentencing phase, which will determined by the same jury.
Captain Jonathan Crisp, England's lawyer,
contended that England had only been trying to please her boyfriend, Corporal Charles
Graner Jr., who prosecutors said was the ringleader of the guards who abused detainees. "She was a follower, she was an individual who
was smitten with Graner," Crisp said. "She
just did whatever he wanted her to do." |
| Lynndie
Deserves An Apology. [United States] It's
impossible not to be revolted by what England
did and to insist that no American should need special training
in the humane treatment of fellow human beings. But
she is, as she says, weak and passive and the sort of woman who is an easy mark for a man
with the gift of fibbery. This was Charles
Graner, her superior, boyfriend and the father of her child. As is very often the case in life and literature,
the perpetrator is often also a victim. No
reading of England's life story can stand any other interpretation. She is one of life's losers. Nonetheless, she deserves her punishment. So do the others. But
at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo and elsewhere, the buck stops suspiciously low in the chain of
command. Somehow, no one higher up is
responsible for the situation England found herself in or for what she did. She's apparently accustomed to this sort of thing -
just another example of getting stuck with the baby. Maybe
someday she'll realize that a whole lot of very important people did her wrong.
Who will apologize for that? |