Veteran’s Holidays

Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day have always been very special to me. As you know I grew up in a patriotic community and family. Over the years I’ve watched the sense of patriotism falter in our nation and that upsets me.

Just this week I happened to read "Dear Abby" and someone was complaining that businesses don’t honor Veterans Day. Well I have something to say about that. Businesses aren’t the only ones not honoring our Veterans.

My hometown always held parades on Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day, as well as Uncle Sam Day (Samuel Wilson was from my hometown) and Flag Day, and they still hold them. I marched in many of the parades both as a youngster and as a Veteran. I knew many of the local Vets and the Gold Star Mothers were always in attendance. I came to know them personally.

Now that I’ve been traveling around the country so much, I’m amazed to see that most communities don’t bother to do anything on either day to honor our men and women who served. To make matters worse, the military communities—those where bases or forts are located—are the biggest offenders.

Fort Hood, the largest military installation in the United States, and the surrounding communities do not have parades on either of those major holidays. However, they do bring in a circus for the kids—big deal!

Fort Bliss and El Paso, which has a population of over a half-million people, do not have parades on the appropriate holidays. However, they hold a parade the Saturday before the holiday. I was in El Paso the weekend of Veteran’s Day 1996. Yes there was a small parade on Saturday but on Veteran’s Day itself there was none. There was no ceremony on Fort Bliss and in a city of this size there was only one ceremony at the El Paso Veteran Center.

I had been invited to be the guest speaker that day. I was warned ahead of time that not many people would be there. I was amazed at what I saw. There were no active duty personnel there, no politicians, and surprisingly no Gold Star Mothers. A local Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JrROTC) group presented and retired the colors. There were less than 400 people in attendance. The Vets I met that day apologized for the small crowd—several of them said the community just didn’t support the military or the retirees in the area.

Pearl Harbor Day came with much anticipation. There was a small gathering (less than 100 people) at a VFW Post where I spoke briefly. There was also a luncheon of Pearl Harbor Survivor’s, who held a small ceremony at the cemetery on Fort Bliss first. Less than 20 people attended but I spoke there also.

I was back in El Paso over Memorial Day weekend 1997. Again there was no parade or ceremony. What a disappointment to me. I was beginning to feel Veteran withdrawal. I yearned for some place to have something to honor our women and men who served our country. I began to look forward to October and the dedication of the Women In Military Service to America (WIMSA) Memorial.

There was very little publicity about that dedication before hand. Not surprising—why should women Veterans receive publicity. But I’ll talk about this is in another article.

Veteran’s Day 1997 I found myself in Wichita. With a population of over three-hundred thousand this is called the Air Capital of the world (Boeing, Cessna, and Raytheon are there) and includes McConnell Air Force Base. The community has many Veteran retirees as well as the active duty personnel. I eagerly waited to see what this day would be like to compare it to what I experienced in El Paso.

Another disappointment. A small ceremony was held at the Veterans Administration (VA) Medical Center where a monument was being re-dedicated. No parade. No fanfare. Schools, closed on Labor Day, were open on this day we are suppose to honor our Veterans.

I kept a careful eye on what was happening in Washington, DC. Veterans Day was the 15th anniversary of The Wall. The Parks & Services Department had closed down the POW-MIA booths there. There was no parade. Few people except Vietnam Vets visited The Wall that special weekend.

Pearl Harbor Day came around once again. The local Pearl Harbor Survivors had raised their own money to have a memorial placed in Veteran’s Park along the Arkansas River. While I was unable to attend myself I hoped they would have a good turnout for the dedication ceremony.

A few days later there was a letter in the paper complaining about the lack of patriotism in the community. It seems that the politicians who were invited to attend the ceremony—didn’t. However they attended another non-Veteran related event in the city an hour later.

What is this country coming to? Where is our Patriotism? How are the students of today going to learn about our history if we don’t show them we honor our Veterans? So many more questions and yet few answers. I take every opportunity I have to tell people about our Veterans to help keep the issues alive. You should also. Let’s get our Veteran groups active once again and hold parades, ceremonies, etc. We need to keep the issues in the forefront and try to get our communities involved as well.

Integrated Training

First of all here are a few simple facts and dates for you to ponder:

• The United States Army (USA) was established on 14 June 1775.
• The Army Nurse Corps (ANC) was established on 2 February 1901.
• The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was established on 15 May 1942.
• The Women’s Army Corps (WAC) was established on 1 July 1943.
• The Women’s Medical Specialist Corps was established on 16 April 1947.
• The Women’s Armed Services Integration Act was established on 12 June 1948.
• Women were made eligible for General and Admiral Ranks on 8 November 1967.
• The first two women received their first star on 11 June 1970.
• The first woman to receive her second star was on 1 June 1973.
• The Women’s Army Corps (WAC) was disestablished on 20 October 1978.

Long before the ANC, WAAC, or WAC was established women were serving our country. Many of them helped defend their homes and land. Some donned men’s clothing and used alias’s aboard ships or on the battlefield. One woman was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Once "officially" established the women began making names for themselves as well as setting a place in history. Although most of them started as stateside support personnel, except for the medical people, the various wars soon had them all placed in harm’s way. AND yet, they were not authorized to have weapons training until the late-1970s.

When I went to BT at Fort McClellan, it was an all female battalion of recruits, drill sergeants, and commanders. I recall my weapons class during BT. My company sat on bleachers looking at large mock weapons several yards in front of us. Male drill sergeants talked us through the major visual parts of each weapon as they pointed to the models. A male soldier fired each weapon so that we could see how they worked but none of us could get close enough to actually make out what he was doing.

The six years I was with a medical unit I never once stripped a weapon. It was hard enough getting the opportunity to fire an M-16 rifle for our annual familiarization requirement at the weapons range. The men had to qualify every year while the women only had to be familiarized with the M-16. Although every person was assigned a weapon, my unit would only take twenty rifles to the range. Everyone (there were about 500 in the unit) used the same rifles over and over. Naturally the sights kept getting changed and afterwards the armorer had to clean all the weapons.

When I changed units I finally received some personalized weapons training. I learned to fire, strip, and clean my own M-16. As the company supply sergeant I made sure the armorer had everyone fire and clean their own assigned weapon. I then received training and fired the M-1911 pistol. I learned all about the M-60 machine guns, Light Anti-tank Weapons (LAW), grenades, and claymores. My competence grew as I mastered each weapon. I learned to set booby traps, camouflage myself, and took part in many field exercises. I knew I could defend myself, my buddy, section, unit, and country.

Women who went through BT after I did began receiving weapons training just like the men. In the late 1970s BT became co-ed and changed to Basic Combat Training (BCT). I, for one, was glad to see that happen. The women I spoke to who received that format of training said the men helped them as much as they helped the men. Integration of the sexes was working. BUT politicians said it wasn’t and stopped it. In the early 1990s co-ed training began again after changes were made to the physical training requirements.

Men and women trainees got along. But the Army kept saying that women couldn’t be in combat units. They couldn’t fight by their male counterparts sides. As more and more MOSs opened up to women, they gladly applied for them. They showed everyone that they were wrong—women could do what men do. BUT they were still unauthorized in combat units.

Women were sent into Panama and Haiti along side their male counterparts. They crossed the Atlantic and served during the Gulf War, Somalia, and are now in Bosnia. They have proven to be most capable of their duties and performances. So why is there now talk about splitting the training again, going back to all female and all male groups?

Some say it is because of the sexual harassment cases that have been so publicized the past few years. Others say it is because of the actions of the former Command Sergeant Major of the Army (SMA). While others say women don’t belong integrated in the services or in the military at all. What do I have to say about it?

First of all, there have been no problems among the recruits during BCT. The problems have come from their NCOs and the way they are treated. Both sexes have been harassed. The women have been assaulted or raped by the people in charge of them—not by their own buddies. That shows me that leadership is lacking.

My first few AT’s I worked in various hospital Emergency Rooms. I saw assault and rape victims come through the doors almost nightly. When I began to be responsible for troops below me, I told them all if they couldn’t control their sexual desires for two weeks they had no business being there. What would they do if they had to go to war together?

Desert Storm answered that question for me. Men and women went side by side to the Gulf region. These were not trainees. For the most part they all did their jobs perfectly. One male first sergeant was accused of raping one of the women in his group. How dare he think he could get away with it?

Between 1996 and 1997, several drill sergeants and the SMA were accused of similar activities. The drill sergeants at several bases were in charge of recruits while the SMA was in charge of all enlisted personnel around the world. Not once, that has been made public, has there been a problem among the recruits themselves. All the accusations have been against people who are suppose to train and lead them. These NCOs have been abusing their power and failing in their leadership.

As for not being integrated—why not? In the civilian work force men and women train and work together. They start as children in nursery school, then grammar school, high school, and college. They learn to play, study, and work together. It should be no different in the military. Train and learn to work together as recruits and they should be able to serve side by side throughout their military careers.

While women are still not allowed in front line units, even those at the rear come under attack. I remember being told, "You’re in a Combat Support and Service (CSS) unit, you’ll be at the rear and never see any action." Tell that to the men and women from the Pennsylvania Army Reserve unit who were hit by a scud missile while in their own building in Saudi Arabia quite a distance from the frontlines.

I have to say that I do agree with some of the recommendations of the Federal Advisory Committee on Gender-Integrated Training led by former Senator Nancy Kassebaum Baker. However, the suggestion to separate the men from the women at the beginning of their careers is ridiculous. Have we not learned anything in the past? Do the dinosaurs at the top want to set us back more than 200 years? Is the American public going to let that happen? I certainly hope not! Don’t let our progress become just another part of history!

Copyright 1998-2008 by Noonie Fortin. All rights reserved.