When I went to basic at Ft. Jackson we had a sister company of female soldiers. They were a week ahead of us and we'd see them in passing here and there. One day we were at the Shopette getting ready for our FTX that basic trainees go to and these busses pull up. They unload a group of female soldiers, face smeared with camo, M-16's, rucks, blah, blah. Out Drill sergeants start making a production about how that would be us next week, yada, yada and all I can think is "We get to take busses back from this?"
Fast forward a month or so and I'm now at Ft. Gordon for AIT and we're given an outline of what AIT will consist of. Week 6 it says "FTX" so I think we get a week in the field. Whatever.
Later that week I'm talking to one of the females in my platoon who had arrived a week before me. We're doing the "Where'd you go to basic, what unit were you with?" game and I find out she was in our sister company. Later we get on the subject of the FTX and she announces that she won't do it. Huh? She won't do it, she'll get out of it like she did in Basic.
How the fuck do you not go the FTX and still graduate? Easy, she and HALF (by her estimation) of the company claimed they were having their period and were excused from the FTX. And then I thought back to that day we saw them step off the busses...there wasn't 150-180 joes like we had....they had a lot less than us get off the busses.
So I ask another female that was in the same company and she confirms the story. I'm floored.
I'm sure things are different now, I'm sure that crap doesn't fly...at least I hope it doesn't. But I never could shake the memory of 50% of the women in a unit faked having their menstrual cycle so they could avoid going to the woods.
As long as there are women pulling this stunt and as long as units allow it to happen, then our female soldiers will have an albatross around their necks. It should not be that way. I have no doubt that gryfen is one bad-assed NCO and soldier and brooks no bullshit when it comes to doing her job. I have no doubt that there are a multitude of women out there in the same boat as gryfen; there are two Silver Stars to women that I'm aware of in the GWOT. But female soldiers will have two fights: 1) to get their weak sisters to harden the fuck up, shut up, and do their jobs. 2) Fight preconceived notions from DA on down that they can pull their weight.
I think female soldiers are taking care of #1, it is #2 that needs to be addressed and one great way to do this would be a uniform APFT. The Army will have to get the PR machine in motion to deal with the number of women that won't be able to pass an APFT with higher standards. In today's PC world I don't see a GEN sitting before Congress to justify why x number of female soldiers are on the street because of a toughened APFT.
I think the problem needs to be addressed, I just don't see it ending with equality. My heart goes out to gryfen and others like her who don't ask for favoritism because of a chromosome.
In the end we can say all soliders are equal and it is bullshit. We have to accept that and move forward.