A small bird will fall frozen dead from a bough

Without ever having felt sorry for itself.

Chances are that some of have seen the movie GI Jane and have cheered along with Demi Moore's character as she spit in the face of her commanding officer as he proceeded to beat her to a pulp to prove a point about womens' inferiority and how their presence can make the men weak. I was cheering with the best of them at the time, but now I'm not sure that if I saw it again, I'd be cheering with the same zeal.

When I first started to write this paper, I was drowning in my preconceived opinions about women's involvement in the armed forces, but I currently find myself at a loss for a well-established, solid ground to stand on. I have explored the opposing viewpoints of this issue and I'm still torn. I have always had a great deal of respect for the armed forces and at one time even visited a recruiter. Sometimes I think that the dream still isn't dead in me, especially since this past Thanksgiving.

This year, my family (my mother, my sister and I) decided to be a host family to two Great Lakes Naval Base Boot Camp me

Secondly, the college was forced to admit females against the will of the school and the students. Many students enrolled because of the all-male policy, and school was not able to offer that to them for their entire enrollment. As you probably know, the Citadel participated in a lengthy and costly legal struggle to maintain its all-male status. We lost, and were forced by the courts to admit female cadets. Many all-black, all male institutions, and all female schools filed 'Friend of the Court' papers in support of my Alma Mater. Their support consisted of evidence that an all-male environment is conducive to the learning process. Women seeking a military career have a variety of other options for a military education, such as The Military Academy, The Naval Academy West Point, etc. I don't see that it is wrong to allow males to attend an all-male institution if they so choose.

Women in the Military: Flirting with Disaster by: Brian Mitchell

For lack of a better example, I am forced to refer to the movie GI Jane once again in which a piece of equipment referred to as a 'female aid' was introduced. The 'female aid' was a boost that was to be used by Moore's character to get over an obstacle on a course, bringing her to where she'd be able to compete with the men. This same idea was expressed again when Moore's character came in last in the previously mentioned course exercise, yet passed while men who'd finished ahead of her had to complete it again. When questioned about this, the superior officers said that it had been through 'gender norming' that this resulted.

Recorded history shows that women have served great purposes in the military since as early as World War I. In fact, women make up almost fourteen percent of its active force today. Myth has it that the first women to serve in combat were Margaret Cochran Corbin who loaded and fired the cannon herself until she was wounded by grapeshot, which tore her shoulder, mangled her chest and lacerated her jaw. The second was a woman by the name of Molly Pitcher, who fetched water and swabbed barrels for the Continental Artillery during the Revolutionary War. World War I brought on the establishment of the 'yeomanettes', a 12,500 strong force of women who were recruited by the Navy and the Marine Corps to perform clerical jobs that would 'free the men to fight'. This number, however, does not reflect the combined forces of these women and the many nurses that served. When that number is included, the total involvement swells to a whopping 34,000 in size!

They Also Served: American Women in WWI by: Olga Gruhzit

In the same book however, the following fact is stated, 'the average female recruit's rifle test score is 200 compared to the average male recruit's score of 212'. The passage goes on to explain that this is most likely caused by women's and men's physical differences. The test calls for the recruit to be in a lying-down position. Since women typically have shorter arms than men, while in a horizontal position, it is harder for them to maneuver their trigger finger. Another argument against the advancement of women in the military was made by Brian Mitchell, a decorated Navy intelligence agent, in his book 'Women in the Military: Flirting with Disaster', when he stated that in Korea in 1976, when war was hours away, numerous requests were received from females asking to be transferred to the rear.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Corps Cadets, GI Jane, Gulf War, I've Marines, West Annapolis, I'm I'd, McDonough Recovering, Academy West, War II, M14s West, women military, world war, armed forces, female cadets, special treatment, moore's character, attended citadel, movie gi jane, gi jane, movie gi, nr rowan, world war ii,
Approximate Word count = 2303
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)