Women and Combat

I have had several very interesting conversations with women in the National Guard that have been deployed to Iraq. Not just once, but two or three times. They had read my book “Lost Survivor” and identified with the main character’s emotional experiences when he returned home from combat in Vietnam. The theme of the book is “what you give up to survive in combat is what you need live when you return home.” Surviving combat force you to thrown away the important things in your life. It is a well recognized fact that a man that experiences combat and has killed another human being becomes a different man. This is why men that have had to kill to survive combat have a more difficult time coming home and returning to the life they had before they left.

In my conversations with these women, all had served overseas in a combat zone and were experiencing problems returning to the life they had before they left. I understood their feelings of lost trying to fit in back home, but talking to them made me more aware of the changing nature of soldiers that serve in the military. There is a lot of talk about how technology is changing the nature of warfare. War is death and destruction to human beings no matter how it happens.

In today’s Nation Guard, women are soldiers, deployed overseas and serving in combat zones. In the Iraq war, like Vietnam, traditional front lines are virtually obliterated. Women are sent to fill lethal combat roles more routinely than in any conflict in U.S. history, the nation may be just beginning to see and feel the effects of such service.
Unlike previous conflicts, where women rarely were pulling the triggers or running the weaponry that left enemies dead on the battlefield, they routinely are doing so in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Thousands of women, like the male veterans of so many wars before, are returning home emotionally damaged by what they have seen and done. These female troops appear more prone to post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, than their male counterparts. They, like their male counterparts, are being constantly mortared and ambushed by a guerrilla insurgency. They are watching fellow troops go home grievously wounded or dead in numbers not seen since the war in Vietnam. Women have been shown to be at higher risk than men of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after traumatic events. It has been stated that 8 percent to 10 percent of active-duty and retired military women suffer from PTSD. Yet the women who most need counseling to help them deal with what they witnessed in Iraq and Afghanistan--like their male counterparts--are the most unlikely to seek it.

There is greater understand of the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and what is needed to treat it. Yet, a Defense Department study of combat troops returning from Iraq found that soldiers and Marines deeply suffering from PTSD and readjustment problems were not likely to seek help because of the stigma such an act might carry. In the study, 1 in 6 veterans acknowledged symptoms of severe depression and PTSD, but 6 in 10 of the same veterans feared their commanders and fellow troops would treat them differently and lose confidence in them if they sought treatment for their problems.

I have noticed during book signing for “Lost Survivor” more women buying the book than men. They are trying to understand what happen to their love ones that changed them so much from who they were before they left home. Men who return from combat do not talk to the women in their lives. Now think about a woman return from combat, who can she talk to? Not the women or men in her life unless they have had common experiences as she. Most people around her don’t. Who does she reach out to? Men who return from combat will tell their wives they are going out to have a drink with the boys and it is accepted as normal. A woman who has served with men in a combat zone will prefer to have a drink with them, many times, than the girls. However, her husband may find it difficult to understand her saying she wants to go out for a drink with the boys.

And then there are expected roles of women, especially if they have kids, no matter where they have been or done. They are expected to come back home and resume being the wife or mother that never left.

My Flight on a National Guard KC-135

April 18, 2008 I took a plane ride. Not the usual commercial flight from point A to point B. It was on a National Guard KC-135 a Stratotanker, whose principal mission is air refueling. It also provides aerial refueling support to Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps aircraft as well as aircraft of allied nations. It is a big plane, based on the same basic design for the commercial 707 passenger plane.

I was honored to be one of the community members invited to participate in this experience, a Diversity Orientation Flight put on by the Air National Guard’s 183rd Fighter Wing. We attended a morning presentation led by Colonel Michael Meyer, Commander of the Fighter Wing, about the 183rd roles and missions in the Air National Guard. After the morning presentation and a brief tour we boarded a KC-135 from the 126th Air Refueling Wing to observe F-16 Fighting Falcons refueling in the air.

The F-16 Fighting Falcon is a highly maneuverable, single pilot, compact, multi-role fighter aircraft used in air-to-air combat and air-to-surface attack. Seeing one take off, get a few feet off the ground, hit its afterburner and disappear into the sky is an amazing sight. We had the chance to see the cockpit and walk around some parked F-16s. It is an electronic marvel. Electrical wires relay commands, replacing the usual cables and linkage controls. A side stick controller is used instead of the conventional center-mounted stick. Hand pressure on the side stick controller sends electrical signals to actuators of flight control surfaces such as ailerons and rudder. It is a tight fit for pilots. It was clear to me that a seven foot person could not fit in the cockpit. Also, it took a lot of skill to listen to the radio, watch the various instruments in front of you and fly the plane.

The KC-135 four turbofans, mounted under 35-degree swept wings made a smooth take off and climbing to it operational altitude quickly. The KC-135 is equipped with a flying boom for fuel transfer. The boom operator lies on his stomach peering out of small windows operating the boom with small joy sticks. I shared the view, lying next to the boom operator. All I can say is what a ride, what a view watching the F-16 come up to the boom. The jets come up to about 10 feet to the underbelly of the KC-135 and boom is extended, connecting to the jet and the fuel transfer begins. The KC-135 pilots maintain a speed of about 535 miles per hour during the refueling.

Back on the ground we had a chance to fly in an F-16 simulator where you could crash a couple of times and walk away to try again. The whole day was a great and different experience and I thank the Air National Guard’s 183rd Fighter Wing for it. Though I am an old Vietnam Veteran, I felt a common bond with these young military men and women who are now serving their country.