meems wrote:
That documentary made me so grateful I didn't join the Air Force when I was 18. So grateful.
Dear Meems,
Tell me about it! I cursed myself for years because I never went. I figured I could get a free education from it. (1970's) Two people talked me out of it and I had this sort of attitude toward them - like they were just being pretentious because I was female. Circumstances at the moment got in my way of going. I AM grateful now!! The first guy was my friend's father. He was in the Army. He told me that the only girl who could survive in the military was either a whore or an ex-junkie. To be blunt, he said that the dykes would be the VERY least of my worries and that the men would surely hurt me. His bluntness stopped there. His face alone scared me half to death. He was almost outraged when I said I wanted to enlist.
His eyes alone were VERY persuasive. The second was a young guy in the navy. I used to live near the Philadelphia Naval Base and would meet lots of these young guys at a local park. He said I must be crazy to even think of such a thing. He called my attention to the difference between him and his friends and some of the other rather morally filthy sailors that hung at at that park. It made sense. He advised me to stay away from that park as well. But as time went buy, my girlish fantasies took over. I still didn't enlist but always had that longing until that documentary. I feel a tremendous compassion for these brave women but the documentary set me free from the torturous "could'ves, should'ves, and would'ves". I probably "would've" been me in that documentary. How unfortunate. As a young teen, I remember seeing three or more enlisted females and feeling like they had something to say when I would ask them questions, but yet something inside them silenced them - it was shame/fear. Another thing, a while back the "center city rapist" (Philadelphia) was in the news. He was caught after enlisting in the Army. Horrible things have happened to women that were
near soldiers/military bases. And worse to those that were living
on military bases.
Last edited by RightGalaxy on 16 May 2013, 10:42 am, edited 1 time in total.