Disturbing post on Craig's List-Denver

[serryjw]

This is response to a 24 year female in CO considering joining the AF.

quote.......
Its a decision that should not be based on economic need or pressure, once you are in thats it. One woman Veteran here in CO told me, Army Medic, that women were getting pregnant 'on purpose' to get out of Iraq, she shared horror stories with me and the Realities and Truths about life in the service. You will have to work harder than the men just to prove yourself, will have to tolerate lots of shit, including risk of assault which is high...

you'd be wise to SERIOUSLY think on it and if the costs are worth the outcome. If you are considering joining as a parent, you need to seriously look at the Realist risk of losing custody of your child/children, it happens, alot. Also joining military is NO UTOPIA in escaping poverty, there are vast numbers of women vets homeless, from Desert Storm, many who are alcoholics, suffering from PTSS and who've not gotten the help they need, from all branches. (Vietnam Vets too)
end quote.......
http://denver.craigslist.org/pol/138948474.html

All I have to say is "support the troops!"

[politicat]

1. The poster is correct.

Pregnancy can be used to get out and can be used especially to get out of combat zones. It's considered a medical disability and women who get pregnant are shipped home. My sister and her husband had to make the decision as to which one of them would take the medical out when she got pregnant; she chose to medical out because he had seniority. If they had not chosen for my sister to leave the Army, either my mother or I would have custody of my nephew; it's required when both parents are active duty that someone else be responsible for their children.

It's not a route out of poverty - I know several vets who are homeless or near homeless, and this after using their GI Bill benefits to get a college education. (If your job market dries up, or becomes computerized, or off-shores, that Bachelor's won't do you any good.) Women do have to be harder, tougher and more competent than their male peers, and most of the women I've known who have been enlisted (including one of my sisters, a couple of cousins, and some more distant family members) have been at the very least sexually harassed. I know of several who were either raped or attempted rape. Only one ever reported it; they all knew the report would go no where and do nothing except be a black mark as a trouble maker on their own files. The brass is still a Boys' Club, and there are a lot of them who don't want women in the ranks.

And yes, women are less likely to receive effective mental health care from the VA, just as women are less likely to receive effective mental health care in the civilian world. There are still too many doctors out there who think that depression can be cured with a course of birth control pills, getting laid and losing weight. Women's health care is still uneven. (And real physical symptoms are often passed off as all in her head, too.)

The one thing the poster didn't make note of is that the physical fitness requirements for women are so stringent that many women cease to ovulate and become exercise addicts or bulemic to maintain their weight. Body fat levels drop so low in many women that their bodies begin to shut down or self-cannibalize - hair loss, muscle loss, amenorrhea. The fitness levels are not based on healthy women, but on men, and the physical differences in body fat requirements are too much. Seven of the nine women in my immediate circle who are vets are on thyroid hormones thanks in part to the extreme physical conditions they had to put their bodies through. Eight of the nine have either had or need joint reconstruction surgery on their knees and ankles.