Not to keep beating a dead horse...

Standard Disclaimer on a military post: For those of you who may not know or remember, I was IN the military, MET my husband while working together and saw numerous other women meet their spouses/ex-spouses there. I also saw LOTS of marriages being destroyed by women and men working together in those environments. I am not just giving an opinion, I am stating facts that I witnessed and experienced first-hand. That being said, let's continue on, shall we?

*Sigh* When is it going to stop being a surprise that women returning from combat or military duty ARE NOT DOING WELL?? Remember when I wrote about this one? Well, here's another article...

"Back from combat, women struggle for acceptance."

"The Defense Department bars women from serving in assignments where the primary mission is to engage in direct ground combat. But the nature of the recent conflicts, with no clear front lines, puts women in the middle of the action, in roles such as military police officers, pilots, drivers and gunners on convoys. In addition to the 120-plus deaths, more than 650 women have been wounded.

Back home, women face many of the same issues as the men, but the personal stakes may be greater.

Female service members have much higher rates of divorce and are more likely to be a single parent. When they do seek help at VA medical centers, they are screening positive at a higher rate for military sexual trauma, meaning they indicated experiencing sexual harassment, assault or rape. Some studies have shown that female veterans are at greater risk for homelessness."

Now, the greater risk for homelessness was a new one to me. That's very disturbing.

Here's something else that should bother you...

"Genevieve Chase, 32, of Alexandria, Va., a staff sergeant in the Army Reserves, said the same guys who were her buddies in Afghanistan didn't invite her for drinks later on because their wives or girlfriends wouldn't approve.

'One of the hardest things that I had to deal with was, being a woman, was losing my best friends or my comrades to their families,' Chase said."


Did you catch that? The woman states that she "lost her best friends to their families"! Should those returning husbands and fathers be out drinking with their former comrades, or home reuniting with their wives, and children?? Of course their wives and girlfriends wouldn't approve! Why would they want to share their husbands with another woman? But, essentially, that's happening when you place men and women together in these situations!

Not only do these soldiers grow to rely on and trust each other, they become emotionally invested in each other during "down time." If someone is going to be willing to die for you, and vice versa, it's nice to get to know who you're fighting for. Right? So, it isn't all that surprising that SSgt. So-and-So complains to Corporal La-Ti-Da about his wife's nagging letter, or how she wants him to get out of the military as soon as this tours ends, etc. etc. It's the same scenario played out all over the world, when people start to get emotionally intimate with co-workers. Being in the military just amps it up a few notches. Working together in life or death situations, where you are often together for 12+ hours a day, and possibly in secluded areas, it can cause all sorts of hormonal/emotional issues. God never, never, never intended for women to have relationships with men - other than their OWN husbands - that were intimate and emotional.

It's heart-wrenching to read about. It's harder to watch it personally. There was a line drawn, a time when men wouldn't think of fighting beside a woman in combat. When women were supposed to be protected and fought for. Feminism successfully blurred that line. I'm not doubting the validity of the work these female soldiers have done. I definitely think some have undergone post-traumatic stress and their lives haven't been easy in the military. I'm just wondering why we were ever there at all?

The results of women in the military have been devastating and the effects, well, we'll be seeing those for a long time...

Discussing Sarah Palin

Dr. Voddie Baucham on CNN

Pro-Palin Logic Supports Women in Combat, Doug Phillips' blog post.

So, not to get into a huge debate, but here are a couple of things to think about.... I personally think it's sad that we are at this point, where to vote for the Republican/Conservative ticket means that we are settling, or voting for the "lesser of two evils." I am not excited about the concept of having a woman in Office that has children at home who obviously need her supervision. Someone who brags about going back to work 3 days after giving birth to a special needs child is not gaining much favor with me. Just giving birth to the special needs child (against popular demand) is not enough, as some would have you believe. Motherhood is a full-time commitment, one that cannot be done in a few hours each night; and I only have a vague idea of the insane hours/travel the Vice Presidency requires. But, it is obviously not an ideal situation for the family involved - whether her husband "supports her," or not. So, like I said, this is not a debate blog. I don't have the time (or mental resources) for that, but it is certainly something we should be thinking about.

Added 9/18:

World Net daily article: "Praised as virtuous by desperate conservatives, Sarah and Todd Palin fit nicely into today's modern version of Christianity where true masculinity in the form of family leadership is absent, and women abdicate feminine roles in the home."

“As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths” (Isaiah 3:12).

Military Moms Seeing the Effects of Their Choice

Here are two good articles about moms in the military. Some of you know this is my "hot topic" to take a position on, having seen so much of it first hand. There are a lot of consequences for women having a career in the military, in any branch. Those consequences show up the most when children enter the picture! I am so thankful that God kept us from having to go through deployments and leave a baby behind. Women all over the U.S are having to carefully choose a guardian to keep their children while they are deployed for months, some even a year, at a time.

Mom loses custody of child after tour in Iraq

Military Moms leaving children behind as they get deployed *

Something to think about!


*This article claims that "Women can take a voluntary discharge and leave behind their military careers." This is not a true statement. It was true about 15 years ago, but no longer is. You cannot get out of the Marines by being pregnant, and I am almost positive the Navy is the same. The Army and Air Force might have a more lenient policy, but during this time of constant military action, I doubt they would be very willing to let anyone "get out" easily.

We're going on a day trip...

Tomorrow we are driving three hours away to a town where my friend Ally's in-laws live. Confused because I called it a day trip? Well, in Texas, everything seems to take a little drive time to get to. That, and we're a slight bit crazy. Besides, we have the Road Warrior, what could go wrong?

Kevin and Ally are our friends from the Marine Corps days. They are married and have a little girl, who just turned 1 this week! So, we are meeting them for the first time 6 years to go to her birthday party!! They seemed to follow the same kind of path we did, moving across country and eventually winding up back in the husband's neck of the woods! Ha.

She is a SAHM now too, and it's interesting to see how much we are both glad to be far, far away from the military days! I hope to ask her some questions about it and tell you all about our perspectives when I get home. (Well, not right when I get home, maybe Sunday night?)

Anyway! Pray for us, it's always fun to see two tall adults and two increasingly taller children crammed into a Honda Civic for a road trip. At least we have the DVD player.
"Have DVD player, Will Travel." Just call me Palladin. (And if you didn't get that, then obviously your Dad never made you watch old black and white westerns during the entire summer he was off work and staying home with you.) Whew, sorry, I flashed back for a minute there!

Oh, and say a prayer for us too, we have a chance to look at a rental house with an extra bedroom and a FENCED IN back yard across town. For the same price as we are paying for this one! The hang-ups are: we would need to get out of the last two months of this lease, it might not have a gas dryer hookup, we might need to get our own fridge, and well...I am being pessimistic, huh?
Anyway!! GOD can totally pull it off, if we're supposed to move into that house!! Just pray for ME to "Faithfully Follow." Hmmm....haven't I heard that somewhere before?

***After we got home: Guess what we forgot to pack for the trip? The car adapter for the DVD player!! So, we were without movie entertainment for the entire trip! Can you believe it? And yet we survived! Amazing!
***Oh, and the rental house is on a very busy street, so we won't be able to go that route. See? God knew if it would work or not!

Not to keep hammering the point in, but...

Could I convince you to read just one more article on women in combat? Could I? It's here at John Piper's website.
Can't get enough of John Piper's stuff!!

Three more female soldier viewpoints

And you thought I was exaggerating. Here are three more viewpoints from women about being in the military. I thank God I am no longer in that environment. Check this article out!
(Disclosure: There is some adult content in the articles.)