Joined: 26 Mar 2006 Posts: 707 Location: Toronto,Canada (biggest Canadian city)
The Hour of the Female Warrior (Israel's female soldiers)
The war in Lebanon in the last month was the first conflict in which women served in operational combat roles. They fought shoulder to shoulder and back to back with the men, taking a full and equal part in the fight after steps by IDF to integrate women into its fighting forces. And now, at the moment of truth, the women's sacrifices to the defense of the State of Israel is evident. In the war in Lebanon women filled a wide range of assignments - as regular conscripts, career soldiers, and reservists.
Women serve combat assignments as: Artillerists, anti-aircraft personnel, search-and-rescue personnel, combat pilots, helicopter pilots, sailors, mortar NCOs, and search-and-rescue NCOs.
?in technical assignments as: Mechanics, aircraft mechanics, electricians, and armament officers.
?in field assignments as: Operations officers and sergeants, intelligence officers, look-outs, radio operators, flight controllers, naval command centers, paramedics, and doctors.
?in other assignments connected to the current conflict as: Teachers and counselors in times of emergency on the home front, operators at Homefront Command's telephone center, triage officers, military police with various capacities, and communications officers and NCOs.
"Today it?s a completely legitimate thing"
Staff Sergeant Orna Lachiani, 21, is an example of the integration of women in IDF's array of fighters. "I've commanded launchers for one and a half years," she says. "During the fighting I had command of my [launcher] for a period of about a month. We were in all sorts of places in the north and I can say that they put us to sufficiently broad use. We had more than a few successes. We hit firing points of [Hezbollah] launchers, the launchers themselves, and more."
"What's more exciting," adds Corporal Denise Yifrach, 19, a member of Lachiani's crew, "the crew was all-girl. We conducted a lot of fire missions. It was very satisfying; we felt like we had power in our hands."
"I really love my assignment, it's simply fun. I feel that I'm effective and that I do my duty in the best way. When I told my parents what I'm doing they said that they worry terribly about me, but today they're really happy that I'm content and they support me 100-percent. They're really supportive of me, like everyone who knows me. I'm the only female soldier among my friends who went to combat service and it's really good to know you have behind you people who understand what you're doing and support it."
"Everyone's always coming and asking me, 'how, what and who?'" says Staff Sergeant Lachiani when asked how she feels being a female combat soldier in IDF. "I've already gotten used to it, because it's happened since I enlisted, nearly two and a half years ago. Women don't get easier or different treatment. I think it's the most legitimate and normal thing in the world that we all get equal treatment?. Are there difficulties? The younger of the female soldiers might sometimes complain about things like showers, hygiene, and things like that. I've already gotten used to it."
"We and the boys are equal in everything," approves Corporal Yifrach. "We do everything together, precisely the same missions. They've always pushed us to do the same things the guys do. Whether it's lifting heavy objects or anything else, they've made us feel that we are warriors in every respect."
"Awareness of the integration of women into the army is much higher these days," agrees Staff Sergeant Lachiani. "Today it?s a completely legitimate thing, to the point where even the guys see the girls in equally. There are some who still make a big deal out of it, but those are the minority. Today it's quite accepted."
Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 8400 Location: Fingerlakes - NY usa
The movie Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS touched on this topic. When playing paintball as part of a military training excersize; I was walking off the field toward my own team after being taken out. The woman on the team had the nerve to try to shoot me in the nuts for the fun of it. Maybe they would make better killing machines and be more resilient under torture. Maybe they should be drafted instead of us men
