For the record. Major Meilahn spent the first 14 years in the Army, joined up during the Cold War, and was already flying helos before women were ALLOWED to fly C-130s, fighters, or attack aircraft. She spent the rest of her career in the Air Force. Know how I know? Because I AM Major Meilahn. I left active duty because the Army offered me the chance to fly the Apache, an attack aircraft, but I had to go to Division Maintenance and spend my time, not shooting missiles, but flying test flights. That is a career ender. So, indeed it was true, I used to say "I can get shot at but I can't shoot back?" If I had accepted that compromise, the Army could have counted me as yet another success - they would have told the world about how they had increased their numbers of female attack pilots. Problem is, we were all side-lined.
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Not Semi-Soldiers
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Yet regulations still decree that women, no matter how able, cannot serve in Special Operations forces, in infantry or tank units, or in other units that have an offensive mission. "I used to say, 'I can get shot at but I can't shoot back'?" says Maj. Kathleen Meilahn, who flew C-130s for the Air Force into Baghdad. Since promotion to the highest ranks is determined by combat experience, that means the ceiling for women in the military is not glass, it's concrete. But it's not just about a career path. Women are fighting in Iraq in what looks like combat, feels like combat—and kills like combat. Americans talk about supporting our troops, but it's not supportive to suggest otherwise. Erin Solaro, a veteran and the author of "Women in the Line of Fire," says it's simple: "Combat is inherent to the profession of arms. If you're going to exclude people from combat you ought to exclude them from the military."
The military can't afford to exclude women—not from service, not from combat. Regulations shouldn't suggest that Sergeant Hester shouldn't do the job, couldn't do the job, didn't do the job. The Silver Star says she did. "It really doesn't have anything to do with being a female," she has said. "It's about the duties I performed that day as a soldier." Not a semi-soldier. A soldier. A decorated combat veteran who happens to be female. Soldiers fight. That's what they do.
© 2007
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