Thank God Lisa Nowak, a Navy aviator and a captain, was not leading a squadron over Iraq.
You simply cannot argue with human nature in the recreational sense. The rule is... if you are going to throw men and Gyno-Americans together anytime, anyplace, this is what you get... and it ain't pretty.
You force women aboard ships, on the ole hook and ladder, into the service academies and the locker room, what do you get? Unlimited sexcapades, endless stories in the New York Times, Lifetime Channel movies, watered down standards, and hundreds of press conferences with women in sensible shoes and five o'clock shadows...
... And you get lawsuits.
Minneapolis finally first the nation's "first openly gay" fire chief, Bonnie Bleskachek, left, after a torrent of sexual harassment, gender bias and discrimination civil actions filed by male and female firefighters. The city determined that Bleskachek in 2005 and 2006 gave preferential treatment to females, especially lesbians, and had sexual relations with subordinates.
Last I read the settlements and investigations costs were pushing a half-mil.
Pushing the diversity agenda at all costs gives you this sort of gratitude: Lt. Brenda Berkman is a member of the New York City Fire Department. She was not among the 343 firemen who died on Sept. 11, but she wants the world to know she's a victim anyway. "What was most hurtful," she told the Associated Press, "was to be so invisible at the funerals and memorial services. The officials giving the eulogies would talk about 'firemen,' the 'brothers,' the 'men.' After 20 years, it was tough to take."
Number of women in FDNY... 28 of 11,400; number killed on 9/11... ZERO.
Nonetheless Army Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, right, of the 617th Military Police Company, a National Guard unit out of Richmond, KY, has all my respect. She was awarded the Silver Star, along with two other members of her unit, Staff Sgt. Timothy Nein and Spc. Jason Mike, for their actions during a 2005 enemy ambush on their Iraq convoy.
She locked and loaded, kept her head on a swivel and killed the bad guys who needed killing.
Twenty-seven terrorists had their tickets punched and Sgt. Hester personally sent three to Allah.
Outstanding, but she is the anomaly; the exception to the rule.
Contrast Hester with Jessica "Bronze Star" Lynch who refused the title "hero"; she said that when the Shinola hit the fan in Iraq she covered her head with her hands, started crying and prayed to God. Lynch was seriously injured when her military vehicle collided with another during the soldiers' attempt to escape the ambush.
Seven of Lynch's male comrades and a second female soldier were killed in the attack or executed by their captors.
Five other survivors of the ambush of the Army's 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company near Nasiriyah, including a third female soldier, were held prisoner for three weeks before being located by Marines with the help of Iraqi army deserters.
Lynch was rescued in a Hollywood-inspired mission featuring an all-star cast of SEALs, Delta Force, Rangers, Marines, and Air Force Pararescue Jumpers.
The military even filmed the operation with Lynch being given a folded American flag as she was placed on a chopper for evacuation.
Nothing close to such an effort has been successfully made on behalf of our male POWs in Iraq; they are all dead.
So what is the cost-to-benefit ratio of females being thrust into combat or dangerous, high-risk occupations just so the feminists have bragging rights?
If it's more chicks on the State University faculty, fine; one-third of them will be gone in 7.5 years to have children and then take 63 weeks of Family Leave Act vacation anyway.
The downside is sobering... dead female cops on the street overpowered and killed with their own service weapon; dead apartment building residents because Suzi the Firefighter cannot carry a 160-pound person out of the blazing building.
I don't know about you but I am not willing (as someone who weights a bit more than a buck-sixty) to die for a women's rights social science experiment.
It's a matter of the odds. I'll put my butt on the line with men, and the demonstrable odds are I'll come out a whole lot better than those who want to risk their very lives to a needless, co-ed, Utopian dream.
The unintended consequence of swimming pools is drowned children; likewise, the unintended consequence of a "patrolwoman" is a dead Gary Alexander. If I had a vote, and unfortunately I do not, I would say "No thank you."
Fortunately I live in a community that has no female cops or firefighters; I sleep better at night... or at least as well as I do sleep.
I'll tell you what though, a quick chilling effect has certainly settled over the NASA astronaut corps. All the "right stuff" males immediately reconsidered "dating" within the ranks... and have seen the good sense in hanging out in the nearest Holiday Inn bar instead.
"After all, they want to get back in the air lock... wouldn't you, Dave?"
