Alison is like a whole lot of naval/military personnel with whom I have served.  If it weren’t for people like Alison, the United States and the rest of the world would be in far worse shape than they are
today.

And maybe this article about Alison best answers the previous article on patriotism as patriotism is lived and breathed and acted out by our service personnel.

Dragon’s teeth.

God bless this brave woman, but women do not belong in the military, much less pregnant women.

I am going to be a little cynical.  If she were pregnant and been there 12 months who’s the daddy?  It just doesn’t pass the smell test.  Spent 10 years active duty and 15 years reserve in medical field.  There would have to be some indication of cancer and a combat support hospital probalby couldn’t do the path exams to prove cancer.  She is brave to be Iraq but still?

Seminaries, are you listening?  Where is the course work on PTSD?  What if she were coming home to your church or had grown up there?

What kind of society puts the nurturers of that society into her kind of positions? I agree with G. K. Chesterton, it is the abuse of women to do so.

Anything else I have to say would rightly be deleted by the elves.

I agree with Numbers 3 and 6.  No women in combat theaters, if in the army at all.

Evan,

Everywhere is part of the combat theater.

And, unless you are a male who has served his country, then I gently suggest that you have no say in the conversation.

I am a male who has served his country (Vietnam) and I agree with Evan.

Thanks for your service.  Can you explain your position?

“...then I gently suggest that you have no say in the conversation.”

Does that include God as well?

To say that someone has “...no say in the conversation” is illogical.

Trooper,
22 years from Pvt. to LTC.

Trooper, I’m with Jeff Thimsen [#9].  I spent five years on active duty (three years at sea) in the post-Vietnam USN. Maybe things are different now, but back then life aboard a warship, even in “peacetime,” was stressful enough without all the complications of having women aboard — males competing for female attention, jealousies, heartaches, pregnancies, etc. My former roommate stayed in and was XO of one of the first ships to have women; he reported that it was not a fun aspect of the experience. A military force exists to win wars and “reengineer” your enemy’s society, not your own.

trooper,

First and foremost, because they introduce sexual tension that can only arise when young people are put in close proximity.  The predictable happened, this soldier became pregnant, and the children died, another sadly predictable event in a combat zone.

The military is an inherently male institution.  Men, generally speaking, build armies, and women, generally speaking, build families.  The two institutions are structured for radically different goals.

This is a hero? With heroes like this…. LM

I’m opposed to pregnant women serving in the service.  They should be discharged.  However, whether men or women are capable of controlling their urges, depends on the man or the woman.  In this situation, two soldiers acted wrongly, and should face the consequences.  My point earlier was that there are not enough men enlisting to fill the ranks, so unless you know some young men stepping up… Not to mention that enlisted women are on the whole, better educated when they enlist, score higher on their achievement tests, have less disciplinary problems, etc than there male counterparts. 

And I still say that unless you’ve served, you don’t have a part in the conversation, though I concede that God does.

Trooper, in the cause of full disclosure, I’m sure that you’ll tell us your service?

There have been a lot of embellished or outright fake stories in the news lately.  Forgive me if I remain a bit skeptical about this one.

25 years ago, I was employed with a woman who would make up the most fantastical lies about her accomplishments, for no apparent reason or motive.  “I worked for the FBI when I was a teenager and caught the real Kennedy assassin, but they had to release him because he confessed before we read him his Miranda rights,” was the sort of thing she would claim.  And every day, there would be a new tale of this sort.  It finally cost her her job.

I’m not saying for sure this is one of those stories, but I’ve been Jayson Blaired too many times.

scotsreb,

USA, 1985-1990.  7th ID (Light) Ft. Ord, CA.  MOS 98G (Linguist)

ScotsReb,

Light means I humped it, a lot.  How bout you?

My husband humped better than me, but I translated better than him.  So, I figure it ended in a draw.  That’s my point.

Wiford I agree with you (see post # 4).  There are three reasons.  I work at a level one truama center/medical center.  We had a women whose car was T boned, she died but her baby lived, any explosion that would kill the twins would be devastating to her.  Combat Support Hospitals do not have the diagnostic capabilities to diagnosis cancer, they exist to stabilize and evac. They last reason is that nobody I have ever met who has been in combat thinks that being shot at and having to shot back is cool.  About women in the military.  Ever since Molly Pitcher we have had women in the army.  My mom was award a combat medal as a nurse during World War Two she was 12 miles from the FEBA (forward edge of battle area).  Women served in combat units as men in the civil war.  Women were taken as POW by the Japanese at Corrigador.  The contributions of women to the war effort during WW II is very well documented.  I don’t think you have to have served to comment. I think it is degrading to belittle the service of many brave women.  I served (Desert Sheild/Sesert Storm, Iraq war), my father and mother served (WWII), my brother served (Vietnam) and my son is serving (two deployments so far).  I think I am qualified to comment by the standard set by trooper.

If Spec. Alison K’s dramatic experiences are all for real, I am amazed.  We could call her Special K.

I sincerely hope that when this young lady comes home that she will not be subjected to arguments, spoken or unspoken, about whether or not she should have been in Iraq (for whatever reason).  Do our churches have any idea what to do with someone who has been involved in this kind of carnage?  What kind of “Welcome Home” will she get?  Will she even be able to set foot in a church?  What about all of the others who are home or will be coming home soon?  Are people going to expect them to just get back to “normal”?  PTSD is real and we have/ will have some very wounded folks in our midst.  As for this particular soldier, whatever her veracity and actual circumstances, perhaps we can pray that she will get the help she so obviously needs.

Special K might serve under Capt. Crunch.  Their mission: to interrogate Islamic cereal killers and get them to break fast.

Thanks for that, Wilfred!  You just made me laugh.

After looking further into the specialist’s story and hearing from other soldiers in 2-2 ID, I’m all but certain she was making up large parts of what she told me. I would appreciate it if you would remove the link, since spreading the story only denigrates the real sacrifices of 2-2 ID’s soldiers.

Thank you,
Wesley Morgan