First woman in Tennessee to enlist as combat engineer goes AWOL

She'll only be processed or disciplined if it's determined to be PC, not by any other standard. Women in combat is what's in nowadays and this will only be handled in whatever way it takes to make that philosophy look good and put a positive spin on it.

I agree completely and I think you may have explained it better than I did on how I view it, haha! So thank you!

Capt Tom Brown - Solid point, but at the same time with all the grumblings going on, I wouldn't be surprised if she IS made an example of to show that women WILL get the same treatment as men. Her actions while stupid as hell, could be the very catalist that makes folks think again. Equality should be Equality. So she should get what any male Soldier would. The one thing I'm having issues with is did she complete AIT? If not, what kind of punishment is there? I thought IET troops got a little more leeway being they're still learning vs someone who's made it to their first unit and screws up.

Media and it's a hot topic is the reasons I can think that this would even be given a second thought. The heading is what is going to get people riled up. I agree though and why I say it should be taught as an example of to look at the behavior and the person is a detail, but not the lesson.

Thank you for your comment MSG, I like to see Leadership like this. Gives me hope for the present and future Army.

I agree Sir, and it may take a few generations until there are others looking at this history to think that it was kinda "silly" that it took so long or be baffled by our way of thinking before. I think there are women out there who are going to blow this thing right out of the water and make it a "no-contest" kind of deal. But this is one more hurdle for them to have to jump while flipping off the rest of the world.

Please, Bill. I'm not sure why RP leaves former ranks up still. I'm just a civilian

To your point, we have a very provincial way of looking at things. Myself, if I see someone from MA or NH in the news I have a weird sort of affinity for them, something that I don't have with race or sex. Then again, I'm a minor majority being a male Caucasian (although I've often been part of the majority sex-wise in organizations) so perhaps it's quite natural to downplay "firsts" if one of "my own" is not one of them.

Secondly, I'm of three minds when it comes to women's integration in the military, combat arms and otherwise. Either (1) disallow it like we did for 200 hundred years with no apparent detriment to our nation and quit apologizing, acknowledging that the military is not an equal opportunity employer. (2) Separate but equal. Allow men and women to serve equally but mostly separately so as to avoid all fraternization and cohesion issues. (3) A mixed force restricting women which both favors and inhibits them. Or (4) a completely androgynous approach in which women are integrated fully but treated no different then men.

We've seemed to have shifted from 3 to 4 over the last few years. While I don't give a full throated endorsement, I am in favor of it if we do in fact treat everyone the same--exactly the same. I agree, some women will perform admirably and exceed the standard, taking advantage of their talents is to the credit of the military. And when that happens we all will look back with some chagrin. But I think it must be 100%. Same clothing, same haircut, same promotion quotas, same housing, same acceptable language, same physical standards, same crude treatment, etc. Then and only then will those who are opposed to integration be fulling willing to accept women as interchangeable members of the armed forces, particularly the combat arms.