Tag Archives: military

Donald Trump Helpfully Reminds Us All Men Are Rapists, Always

Jessica WakemanMay 8, 2013 //

Sexual assault should not be part of her job. Read More »

Military Ban Lifted

The military has lifted the ban on women in combat roles. Read More »

A Soldier's Thoughts

An ex-soldier on lifting the ban on women in combat. Read More »

Just in case you thought that men should be expected to obtain consent from women before engaging in sexual behavior with them, bigoted blowhard Donald Trump is here to remind you all men are rapists, always. Why else would 26,000 service members have reported experiencing [second item] “unwanted sexual contact” last year? It’s because, Trump tweeted, men and women have never, ever worked alongside each other in coed workplaces without men raping their colleagues. In a followup tweet Trump — who, correct me if I’m wrong, attended a military high school but has never served a day in the actual military, unlike actual women in combat — said “top military brass” didn’t want “a mixer.” But “dumb politicians” just had to endanger these vulnerable women at the hands of all the rapists in uniform. Sorry, ladies. Rape away, dudes — I know you can’t help yourselves. [Examiner]

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel Taking Sexual Assault In The Military Seriously, As He Should

Sarah GrayMarch 13, 2013 //

Military Ban Lifted

The military has lifted the ban on women in combat roles. Read More »

Women In Combat

Rick Santorum frets your ladylike "emotions" are bad for combat. Read More »

After Sexual Assault

Tips for reclaiming your sex life after being sexually assaulted. Read More »

A new defense secretary has just been confirmed and already he has a big issue to address: sexual assault in the military. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) (Full disclosure: I used to work in her office), and Senator Janeane Shaheen (D-NH) recently sent a letter requesting Chuck Hagel immediately review a decision by an Air Force Lieutenant General to dismiss all charges against an officer who had been convicted of sexual assault.

Lieutenant Colonel James Wilkerson, a fighter pilot, had been charged with aggravated sexual assault on former colleague Kimberly Hanks at Aviano Air Base in Italy. Hanks had been socializing with Wilkerson and his wife at their home and stayed the evening in their guest bedroom; in the middle of the night, she woke up to find Wilkerson on top of her. He was found guilty and sentenced to a year in the brig (AKA military prison). But he never served any time in prison because his superior, Lieutenant General Craig A. Franklin, dismissed the jury’s conviction and reinstated him. Senators Boxer and Shaheen and others are rightfully concerned that a troop charged with sexual assault was let off scot-free.
Keep reading »

Bill Introduced To Help Military Sexual Assault Survivors Get Disability Benefits

Jessica WakemanFebruary 14, 2013 //

Marine To Fox News

Sexual assault should not be part of her job. Read More »

Military Sister

My brother joined the armed forces. Read More »

A Soldier's Thoughts

An ex-soldier on lifting the ban on women in combat. Read More »

Yesterday afternoon, two Democratic politicians introduced the Ruth Moore Act, a bill to support former service members who survived sexual assault in the military. Veterans Affairs has long rejected disability claims of military sexual trauma (MST) for troops who were raped by colleagues and now need assistance. According to the Service Women’s Action Network, only one in three claims of PTSD from MST were approved by the VA between 2008 to 2010, presumably because the threshold was too high for these survivors to been seen as eligible. Keep reading »

Jon Stewart Reminds Everyone That Women Are Not Mice, Can Fight In Military Combat

Sarah GrayJanuary 29, 2013 //

Military Ban Lifted

The military has lifted the ban on women in combat roles. Read More »

Controversy

What the military ban lifted on women in combat means. Read More »

A Soldier's Thoughts

Why an ex-soldier was reluctant to endorse lifting the ban. Read More »

Women's War Daily

Jon Stewart’s latest crusade: picking apart the right-leaning backlash stemming from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s decision to allow women to serve in combat roles. A former U.S. Marine penned a piece in the Wall Street Journal [second item] fretting that in combat soldiers often have to urinate and defecate in front of each other — often in close proximity to a fellow soldier’s face. Stewart points out: In a war zone, are you really worried about “dying from embarrassment?” Keep reading »

The Soapbox: Why I Was Reluctant To Endorse Lifting The Ban On Women In Combat

Alice RichtigJanuary 28, 2013 //

Controversy

What the military ban lifted on women in combat means. Read More »

Military Ban Lifted

The military has lifted the ban on women in combat roles. Read More »

Armor For Women

Military women finally get specially designed body armor. Read More »

Bottom line: I was a female soldier in the combat zone. So why do I feel so uncomfortable about formalizing women’s placement in combat roles? I did a lot of soul-searching about why this bothered me so much. Ultimately, though, I’ve discovered there’s nothing I should be uncomfortable about.

When I first read that Defense Secretary Panetta had lifted the ban on women in combat roles, I felt queasy. While I left the military for the private sector in late 2011, I spent the first decade of my adult life in the Army, half of it on active duty as a Military Police officer. I have led and served alongside extraordinarily tough and competent leaders, male and female, while deployed in Iraq and in training all over the world. This was personal.

Yet, even as a woman who had been to combat, I couldn’t endorse lifting the ban. The more I examined my prejudices, though, I realize that they were just that — prejudices. Keep reading »

Military Ban Lifted On Women In Combat: Here’s What People Are Saying About It

Jessica WakemanJanuary 25, 2013 //

Military Ban Lifted

The military has lifted the ban on women in combat roles. Read More »

Unjust, Unfair

Army Staff Sergeant refused widower benefits because she is a lesbian. Read More »

Armor For Women

Military women finally get specially designed body armor. Read More »

Earlier this week, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta lifted a ban that prohibited women from openly serving in combat roles in the military. This would entail overturning a 1994 rule that bans women from certain ground combat roles, thus opening up more jobs to servicewomen. Women have already been attached to ground units performing these jobs — they just haven’t been properly credited for it.

Yesterday, Panetta and General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Join Chiefs Of Staff, officially overturned the 1994 rule. “Everyone is entitled to a chance,” Panetta said. According to The New York Times, the Army is now creating gender-neutral standards for all their positions but will not be lowering the physical standards required just so that women can be admitted.

All week there have been reactions to lifting the ban, both for and against. I’ve rounded up some of the responses: Keep reading »

Military Ban Lifted On Women In Combat Roles

Jessica WakemanJanuary 24, 2013 //

The Secretary of Defense has lifted a ban that prohibited women from openly serving in combat roles in the military, NPR is reporting. Secretary Leon Panetta made the decision on the recommendation of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who suggested overturning a 1994 rule that bans women from being assigned into certain ground combat roles. However, women have at times served in those roles anyway, and furthermore, being excluded from those positions have held women back from rising in the ranks through the military. Servicewomen have repeatedly sued the Pentagon to fight the exclusionary policy. Last year, the Pentagon changed policies which opened up 14,000 additional positions to women; the military has until January 2016 to pursue a justification for continuing to exclude women from ground combat.

I know we have many ex-military members who read The Frisky. Let us know what you think in the comments! [NPR] [Photo: Getty]

Military Continues To Address Sexual Assault Within The Armed Forces

Jessica WakemanJanuary 14, 2013 //

A former soldier and military sexual assault survivor attended Friday’s U.S. Commission On Civil Rights meeting to address sexual assault in the armed forces. Jen McClendon said she is “cautiously optimistic” that the military will address widespread internal failures which blame the victims and protect the rapists. Presently, onely eight percent of reported military sexual assaults result in convictions. [Raw Story, NBC News]
Frisky columnist Andrea Grimes on how officials in Texas are completely in denial about how blocking reproductive health access to low-income women won’t actually hurt low-income women. Maybe it’s opposite day in the whole state? [Reproductive Health Reality Check]
50 Shades Of Grey is the subject of a course at American University. [The Daily Beast]
Meet the folks who are pushing for an LGBT History Museum in Washington, D.C. [Arts Journal] Keep reading »

Marine Corps Requires Military Spouse Clubs To Include Same-Sex Partners

Winona Dimeo-EdigerJanuary 10, 2013 //

Marine To Fox News

Sexual assault should not be part of her job. Read More »

Military Sister

My brother joined the armed forces. Read More »

Repub. for gay marriage

"I want to throw a wedding for my kid." Read More »

When Ashley Broadway, a military wife of 15 years, wanted to make new friends and connect with other military spouses, she applied for membership to the Association of Bragg Officers’ Spouses. Broadway lives at the Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina with her family; her wife is an Army lieutenant colonel, and the couple have one son and another child on the way. Broadway was excited about the prospect of meeting other spouses, volunteering for family events, and being part of a support group. Instead, she was denied membership because, as a same-sex spouse, she doesn’t have a military ID card (due to the Defense of Marriage Act, the military doesn’t recognize same-sex unions). But wait! This story of discrimination actually has a happy ending… Keep reading »

Army Staff Sergeant Tracy Dice Refused Widower Benefits Because She Is A Lesbian

Jessica WakemanJanuary 8, 2013 //

Obama On Gay Marriage

The president comes out in support of same-sex unions! Read More »

Bigots "Lost" Gay Marriage

Bigots admit they've lost the gay marriage battle in our generation. Read More »

Privilege Of Marriage

Andrea Grimes knows she is privileged to be able to marry. Read More »

Infuriating!

Watch this absolutely infuriating interview with Army Staff Sgt. Tracy Dice, who lost her wife Sgt. Donna Johnson on October 1 when she was killed with two other soldiers by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan. Sgt. Dice is now being shut out of military benefits owed to her, as Johnson’s legal widow, because of the Defense Of Marriage Act. [Towelroad]
ESPN sportscasters drooling over Miss Alabama in the stands of the Alabama/Notre Dame football game was gross. [Viva La Feminista] Keep reading »