The GT in front of my "yawn" cut out a paragraph. Previous post should have read as follows:

In fact, this prison had been subjected to mortar, rifle, and RPG attacks, and during this time period there had been a serious riot.

I was not aware of this, but then it doesn't matter. For instence, how many were actually hit in these attacks? Were they day after day attacks, or were they sporadic, with often weeks of silence?

Sounds petty, I know, but it does make a world of difference. And to say not one U.S troop was ever hit equals a communal-feeling of invulnerability. But then to say some were hit, and others were not, equals a different communal-feeling of invulnerability, but still invulnerability nonetheless.

It's a war zone mentality. You have to walk the line a dodge the bullets to truly know, where your next step might truly be your last, and you think about this with every single step you take -- and I would wish that experience upon nobody.

And that apathy I mentioned above is still there, Tom, walking right along with them. It lives and breeds in the minds of (I say again) backwater troops with the slightest idle time on their hands.

That, and dealing with the prisoners. Not exactly a stint at Ford Ord.

That would be Fort Ord, I take it? ;^)

Dunno. I was never stationed at Ord. And stateside units are a lot of things, Tom, but backwater in a war zone is not one of them. Conditions are incredibly different, right down to ready access to family and lifelong friends when you’re actually working at a stateside posting.

Things change dramatically once you enter the hazard zone. You hear the shots on the very near horizon -- possibly in a building next door -- and you eventually come to the conclusion that these shooters are hunting for you. They hate you. They want to kill you. And they’ll stop at nothing to get to you.

And then you become one of the many walking dead, living by the nanosecond, and literally taking life as it comes -- and hating life, because it keeps you one of the walking dead. You live life as a pop-up target, never knowing when it’ll hit you, or whether that hit will kill you, blow off an arm, a leg, rip out an eye -- or hopefully take down the guy sharing a canteen cup of coffee with you that morning.

It is here that command is tried to its limits, and when that command fails, so do the troops.

But you were hoping for a simple answer...

Yes, women change battlefield conditions, but not necessarily in a negative manner. It is mostly positive, supplying a fast response to emergency situations, and the delivery of added firepower when needed.

-- As it stands, just my personal input on the matter.

Well, regardless -- if the charges are true, there can be no excuses. And considering the nature of the charges, the unit chain of command should be quaking in its collective boots, for they would be at least as guilty as the individual perpetrators.

-yawn-

G'nite, all,
Dan