Women in the U.S. Military: Growing Share, Distinctive Profile

[Pete]

Women in the U.S. Military: Growing Share, Distinctive Profile

http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2011/12/22/women-in-the-u-s-military-growing-share-distinctive-profile/1/

"The women who serve in today’s military differ from the men who serve in a number of ways. Compared with their male counterparts, a greater share of military women are black and a smaller share are married. Also, women veterans of the post-9/11 era are less likely than men to have served in combat and more likely to be critical of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In other ways, however, military women are not different from military men: they are just as likely to be officers; they joined the armed services for similar reasons; and post-9/11 veterans of both sexes have experienced a similar mix of struggles and rewards upon returning to civilian life................."

An interesting study. The single parent rate between men and women was 4% and 12%. Bunch of other interesting items.

Should there be a cap on the % of women in the Military?

Also women seem to prefer the Air Force.

[greenberetTFS]

I'd like to Afchic response.......:cool:

Big Teddy :munchin

[Buffalobob]

The Pew Research survey also finds that women veterans are more critical than their male counterparts of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—fully 63% say the Iraq war was not worth fighting and 54% say Afghanistan has not been worth it (compared with 47% and 39% of male veterans, respectively). Among the general public, by contrast, there are no significant differences by gender in the share who say the post-9/11 wars were not worth fighting.

Interesting statistics on vets of both genders opinion of the two wars and nearly half did not find Iraq worth fighting. Reminds me of the Vietnam war. Never exactly figured out why we were at war and never actually gave a shit as long as I got to go.

[afchic]

This is much ado about nothing as far as I am concerned. Different people join for different reasons. I joined because there was no way my parents could put four kids through school, so I got both Army and Air Force ROTC scholarships. I chose the Air Force for two reasons, one I grew up in it. My dad did 23 years so it is what I knew. My favorite uncle was a Ranger and told me the Army was no place for a woman because they treat you like shit, and women even moreso.

Maybe because I am in logistics I have a different viewpoint. All the women I know in my career field have deployed more than twice. Much more than men I know in other career fields.So that really holds no water for me. Certain career fields deploy more than others. Certain career fields have more women in them than others. I am not really sure you can blame that on the women per se. The Army/Air Force has more say as to what an enlisted person's career field is going to be than they do. Recruiters play a big part in that also. So maybe the traditional stereotypes of women force more women into 'traditional' female career fields such as admin, finance, etc.... It would be an interesting study to see why women are in the carreer fields they are in.

As far as attitudes, I think it has a hell of alot more to do with how you are raised than if you are female or male. I was rasied in a Republican household, which helped to form my views in life. Although all the kids in my family took a walk on the wild side and played with liberalism for a while, it never stuck, and we are all fairly conservative. But i was brought up in a white middle class neighborhood by educated white parents.

The female major that works for me was brought up in an upper middle class black household and had two liberal professors for parents. Do you think her view of the world might be a little bit different than mine? What is not different is that we are both in logisitics. We are both married to white men who are or were in the military. We both have sons and daughters. And we have both been deployed overseas on numerous occassions. Her last time over was embedded with an Army MTT in Afghanistan for a year. She didn't question the why's and how's of the politics of what sent her over there. She did her deployment to the upmost of her ability, just like I had done mine in the past.

Yes we discuss politics and race all the time, and we both have different views, because we came from different places, which shaped those views. We both respect and admire one another and those differences will never change that.

Much the same can be said about the rest of the military. Why do alot of women join the Air Force over other services? For many of the officers I know it is because they are given opportunities in the Air Force they are not given in the other services, the opportunity to go into Combat. YOu all may not agree with that definitioin of combat, but it is as close as women will ever get in my generation, or maybe the next. For enlisted women I know, it is becausee they are treated better in the Air Force than they would be in other services.

The ongoing joke is that the Air Force builds its MWR facilities, and then goes back and asks for more money to build the runway. If you are an inner city black woman, and are given the opportunity to see all the services, and it is blatantly obvious that one treats its folks a might bit better than the others in terms of housing, child care, support, etc and that is nothing you have ever known before, doesn't the rational mind show that they may lean more towards that kind of life if they can get it? I may be wrong.

So that inner city black woman who is now talking to a recruiter who is more likely than not to push her into a more traditional female field, who may or may not deploy very often, who is brought up in more than likely a liberal household.... Are you actually surprised about what their views onthe war are?

I haven't study any of this, this is simply my experience over the past 17 years. YMMV

[afchic]

Another interesting point Pete brought up: if there should be a cap put on women in the military, why so? Should there be a cap on non whites? Should there be a cap on lower income personnel joining? Should there be a cap on individual career fields on those identified above?

My personal opinion is that our differences in very large part is what makes us the greatest fighting force in the world. If we were all the same demographic would we be less likely to change? Changes in modern warfare are because of the people that influenced change. If we all grew up with the same experiences would we be more or less likely to seek change?

Innovation is spurred on by people with differing ideas that in part where based on their upbringing. Would we be better off if the Tuskegee Airmen were never given the opportunity to fly because some thought they were incapable. And that incapability was based on the supposed smaller brain size of the negro? That was common place thinking at one point in our history. What if no one was ever able to prove that thinking wrong, where would we be now?

The same can be said of women. Do we offer something to the fight? Are we as capable as men to fight for our country? If the answer is no, then maybe there should be a cap on the number of women that should be allowed to join. If the answer is yes why should we limit the number allowed to join?

[Utah Bob]

"Distinctive profile"
Really biting my tongue here. Oww. Sorry..:D

[alright4u]

Interesting statistics on vets of both genders opinion of the two wars and nearly half did not find Iraq worth fighting. Reminds me of the Vietnam war. Never exactly figured out why we were at war and never actually gave a shit as long as I got to go.

The only Army women and other officer women in Vietnam were nurses that I saw after being shot twice.

I saw platoons and companies that kicked the enemy's ass like 80 to 2-3. In fact, had it not been for Senator Kerry whose picture is in the NVA Army Hall of Fame, those poor SOB's were ready to surrender.

I watched the last GI's leave Iraq, and; I wondered what idiot would allow Iran a free run on Iraq, add to that there influence in Yemen? When and if oil ever gets cut off in both straights-it is fairly obvious why.