Posted on Apr 20, 2017
Overpaid, Oversexed And Over The Military: A Review Of ‘War Virgin’
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I've always questioned the sacrosanctness of General Order 1, and the no-sinners-tolerated attitude behind it, so this book review caught my attention. I'm not sure that I'll key in my plastic numbers for a copy any time soon (my "gonna read" stack is would be impressively tall, if it would stay standing as a single stack of books).
Still, I'd like to hear what thoughts this sparks among the good folks on RallyPoint (where CPT Westley's name is not to be found on the member roster).
(edited to update the link -- Task and Purpose decided to categorize the article under "culture")
Still, I'd like to hear what thoughts this sparks among the good folks on RallyPoint (where CPT Westley's name is not to be found on the member roster).
(edited to update the link -- Task and Purpose decided to categorize the article under "culture")
Overpaid, Oversexed And Over The Military: A Review Of ‘War Virgin’
Posted from taskandpurpose.comPosted in these groups: 
Women in the Military
Sex
Sexual Harassment
Humor
Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)
Women in the Military Sex Sexual Harassment Humor Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)
Edited 1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
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I've never understood why we cow-toed our ideals and beliefs. They came to us. They asked us for aid. We were doing them a favor by being there. We damn sure shouldn't have put up with any "You are here to get shot at and killed for us, but here's a list of don'ts you need to follow that our own people don't even follow (except for the whole beating of women thing, because oh yes, that is such a manly thing to do), because we do not agree with your American pig-dog lifestyle." Fight your own f***ing battles, then.
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1LT William Clardy
Actuallyt, SSgt Ryan Sylvester, I seem to recall that we were very emphatic (and possibly a bit misleading) in convincing the House of Saud that Saddam Hussein was planning something more than erasing a multi-billion-dollar war debt which the Kuwaitis had arrogantly refused to renegotiate. General Order 1 was a conciliatory gesture by Stormin' Norman aimed at soothing the Saudis' feelings about having all those infidels stomping around so close to Mecca and Medina. When it was Tommy Franks' turn to take on the Iraqis, neither he nor any subsequent MNF commanders seemed to recognize the fact that few other Arab nations were as radically orthodox as the Saudi Arabia.
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SSgt Ryan Sylvester
If that's true, it's very different than the narrative that's been passed down (gee, surprise there, no really). Which was after Saddam invaded Kuwait, the Saudis panicked that he might come across their border and thus contacted us for support and defense. Makes further sense if Saddam never pushed into Saudi at all, and we aggressed first (even if in the name of liberating Kuwait).
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1LT William Clardy
I don't remember the sources, but I believe that there was some "confusion" in the intel we shared with the Saudis to alert them to the potential for Iraq continuing southward. Apparently some positions were inaccurately reported, and the overall assessment portrayed the Republican Guard in a much more offensive posture than really existed.
This is substantiated to some extent by the fact that the Iraqi Army did not exploit the window of opportunity which existed to roll into Saudi Arabia before any foreign reinforcements could be deployed, and even more so by Saddam Hussein's pre-invasion conversation with the Ambassador Glaspie, when he asked if the U.S. would side with the Kuwaitis in the dispute he was having with the Kuwaitis over repayment of the money they had paid/loaned to help the Iraqis keep the (Shiite) Islamic Republic of Iran contained. In that conversation, the dispute was consistently defined as being with the Kuwaits and the House of Saud was portrayed as a mediator.
This is substantiated to some extent by the fact that the Iraqi Army did not exploit the window of opportunity which existed to roll into Saudi Arabia before any foreign reinforcements could be deployed, and even more so by Saddam Hussein's pre-invasion conversation with the Ambassador Glaspie, when he asked if the U.S. would side with the Kuwaitis in the dispute he was having with the Kuwaitis over repayment of the money they had paid/loaned to help the Iraqis keep the (Shiite) Islamic Republic of Iran contained. In that conversation, the dispute was consistently defined as being with the Kuwaits and the House of Saud was portrayed as a mediator.
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I'm not sure how much of a war story this is versus another woe is me story. You know you are in trouble when one of the premises of the book is this:
Westley’s “War Virgin” underscores one of the great ironies of combat in the Middle East — that the US military’s prudish regulations towards sex, porn, and alcohol comically mirror those of the enemy.
Perhaps she lives on another planet but most of the major personnel issues in the armed forces involve alcohol, sex or both. The reason the military has to take such a hard line is the number of sex related issues they have in the ranks these days. Alcohol only enhances that problem. The modern military has more SHARP training than some units get weapons training. That should not be lost on us.
Alcohol has always been an issue. When I was in there were very few WM's around so if you were having any sex it was likely with a civilian. They, as a rule, didn't file sexual harassment and/or assault charges (whether they were real or not) and you never had the favoritism or other issues in the unit.
The military is trying to stop the natural from occurring (sex) because it leads to far too many issues such as harassment, assault, hostility, favoritism, pregnancy (and therefore readiness), SHARP training out the wazoo etc. etc. etc. It really isn't that hard to follow.
Westley’s “War Virgin” underscores one of the great ironies of combat in the Middle East — that the US military’s prudish regulations towards sex, porn, and alcohol comically mirror those of the enemy.
Perhaps she lives on another planet but most of the major personnel issues in the armed forces involve alcohol, sex or both. The reason the military has to take such a hard line is the number of sex related issues they have in the ranks these days. Alcohol only enhances that problem. The modern military has more SHARP training than some units get weapons training. That should not be lost on us.
Alcohol has always been an issue. When I was in there were very few WM's around so if you were having any sex it was likely with a civilian. They, as a rule, didn't file sexual harassment and/or assault charges (whether they were real or not) and you never had the favoritism or other issues in the unit.
The military is trying to stop the natural from occurring (sex) because it leads to far too many issues such as harassment, assault, hostility, favoritism, pregnancy (and therefore readiness), SHARP training out the wazoo etc. etc. etc. It really isn't that hard to follow.
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1LT William Clardy
Then "no one" should not be commanding a brigade in a combat environment, CW5 (Join to see), because they are practicing risk-aversion instead of actually assessing, and mitigating where appropriate, the relevant risks to their troops (not the perceived risks to their careers).
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CW5 (Join to see)
Wow, when was the last time you went to war? We've been risk adverse for a great many years of GWOT. I've certainly noticed it in my 22 years so far. There are many articles regarding it in the professional journals and mainstream periodicals.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/opinion/20moyar.html
https://warontherocks.com/2016/09/six-ways-to-fix-the-armys-culture/
Even in Glassdoor!
https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-US-Army-RVW7911844.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/opinion/20moyar.html
https://warontherocks.com/2016/09/six-ways-to-fix-the-armys-culture/
Even in Glassdoor!
https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-US-Army-RVW7911844.htm
Opinion | An Officer and a Creative Man
A survey of Army and Marine officers showed that junior officers feel their initiative is being stifled by those at higher ranks through micromanagement and policies to reduce risk.
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SGT (Join to see)
1LT William Clardy - Ever stationed in a place and wondered if an alert was called at 2am on a Saturday or Sunday morning other than yourself would there be anyone else sober enough to make a decision.
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1LT William Clardy
Who needs 0200, SGT (Join to see)?
Try having someone get their wires crossed and sending out a alert order at 1730 in the afternoon instead of 0530 -- while everyone was still heavily lubricated from celebrating Squadron Day. The timing had everyone convinced that it had to be a Real Deal, because the practice alerts are always sent out while everyone's in their bunks. Duffel bags were going out second- and third-floor windows, airborne express down to the sidewalk. One tank took out a chunk of chain-link fence while traversing the turret en route to the front gate, and another lanced the guard shack at the front gate with its main gun.
And somehow, we still managed to move out and take up a credible perimeters at our staging area, and moved uneventfully back to the kaserne when we got the recall.
Try having someone get their wires crossed and sending out a alert order at 1730 in the afternoon instead of 0530 -- while everyone was still heavily lubricated from celebrating Squadron Day. The timing had everyone convinced that it had to be a Real Deal, because the practice alerts are always sent out while everyone's in their bunks. Duffel bags were going out second- and third-floor windows, airborne express down to the sidewalk. One tank took out a chunk of chain-link fence while traversing the turret en route to the front gate, and another lanced the guard shack at the front gate with its main gun.
And somehow, we still managed to move out and take up a credible perimeters at our staging area, and moved uneventfully back to the kaserne when we got the recall.
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1LT William Clardy
Unless I know a reviewer personally, if there are sharply varying opinions on a book, article, movie or whatever, my first instinct is that I will have to at least take a look to decide for myself, SFC George Smith.
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SGT (Join to see)
1LT William Clardy - Ahh the clock watchers like paratroopers moving to the door to jump as the second hand makes it 1700hrs.
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