I am the Mighty Soldier
On the Front Line: Embedded With American Female Combat Soldiers in Afghanistan
Jordyn Wallace almost never made it out of her hometown of Castle Hayne, North Carolina. The youngest of three, Wallace had military aspirations from the time she was big enough to chase her two older brothers down the aisles of the tiny river town’s Piggly Wiggly. “When I was in elementary school, they asked me what I wanted to be, and I said I wanted to be an Army man,” Wallace says.
"Fuck," Specialist Jordyn Wallace says. "It’s jammed again."
More than 200 bird species live on Cheyenne Mountain’s eastern flank, where miles of open space transition from grassland to montane forest at the southern reaches of the Front Range. On the afternoon of March 8, though, not a single note of birdsong can be heard—not the chirp of a black-billed cuckoo, nor the thunk of the downy woodpecker, nor even a screech from the area’s resident red-tailed hawks. Instead, the idyllic scene is soundtracked by the jackhammering of an M240B machine gun squeezing out five- to seven-round bursts.
“Fuck,” Specialist Jordyn Wallace says. “It’s jammed again.” Wallace sighs, pushing herself up from where she’d been lying in the dirt. First Lieutenant James Vigil walks over to examine the weapon. The 27-pound piece of steel and titanium has been acting up all afternoon.
Women lack violent tendencies
In truth, women are just as capable of violence as men. Although studies have consistently found that males are more aggressive than females, very little of the research considers the sex of the victim in comparison to the sex of the aggressor. When controlling for this, the sex difference isn’t as clear-cut – women are equal to, if not more aggressive than, men in some contexts.
One former female warrant officer in the British Army to whom I spoke for this article said: “Military training ensures that all personnel regardless of sex are capable of aggressive behaviour that is appropriate and proportionate even in high-risk hostile enviroments”.
Women in Military Interesting Facts:
Interest in combat arms occupations among female soldiers has far exceeded the Army’s expectations; as of this year, more than 600 women have been recruited for or transferred to combat occupations, and 12 women have graduated from Ranger School.
There are currently 92 women serving in Marine combat arms billets. Interest in combat arms occupations among female soldiers has far exceeded the Army’s expectations; as of this year, more than 600 women have been recruited for or transferred to combat occupations, and 12 women have graduated from Ranger School.
Dedicated Future bass and house track to women in combat
HISTORY 2011
Shikha Awasthi, a cadet of the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) at Pune, India, becomes the first woman to receive a Sword of Honour for overall excellence at the passing-out parade of the institute. She also becomes the first graduate of AFMC to receive all three top honours, namely, the Sword of Honour, the Presidents Gold Medal and the Kalinga Trophy.
An anonymous woman becomes the first to undertake combat missions in the RAF's new Typhoon fighter.
Ramona Go is the Philippine army's first female general.
Captain Lisa Head is the first British female officer to be killed in Afghanistan. She is also the first British female bomb disposal expert to be killed in action.
Ramatoulie DK Sanneh is the first female Brigadier General in Gambia.
Rear-Admiral Jennifer Bennett is appointed as the first female Chief, Reserves and Cadets, in Canada.
Orna Barbivay becomes the first female Major General in the Israel Defense Forces.
Sarah West was appointed as the first female warship commander in the Royal Navy of the British Armed Forces.
Second Lieutenant Noy, a combat soldier in the Caracal Battalion, became the first female officer to command a sniper platoon in the Israel Defense Forces.
A 30-year-old RAF officer (Flight Lieutenant Rachael Cadman) became the first woman to complete the Enduroman Arch2Arc Challenge.
Warrant Officer Class One Esther Freeborn became the first female Bandmaster in the 350-year history of the Household Cavalry in England.
The first female pilots joined the Botswana Defence Force.
Proscovia Nalweyiso became the first female Brigadier General in Uganda.
Australia decided to gradually remove all restrictions on women serving in front-line combat over a period of five years.
Five women were awarded their pilots’ wings in a graduation ceremony with the Israeli air force; they were the most women ever to become Israeli air force pilots at one time.[108]
South Korea's Navy appointed its first two female officers to command fast attack craft.[
A group of Chinese female pilots made their first solo flights in the J-10 combat aircraft, becoming the first female air force pilots capable of flying the multirole aircraft—the country's most advanced fighter jet.
Rear Adm. Robin Braun became the first female commander of the U.S. Navy Reserve, and the first woman to lead any Reserve component of the U.S. military.
Lance-Corporal Jacinda Baker, 26, became New Zealand's first female soldier killed in the war in Afghanistan, and in fact New Zealand's first female soldier killed since the Vietnam War.
Reference:
American Soldiers in Afghanistan
Status of women in combat
Women in Military
Myths about women on the military frontline