Les Femmes Au Combat

Author : Kristal L. M. Alfonso, Kristal LMAlfonso Lieutenant , USAF
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781467934299
Total Pages : 136 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (342 download)

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Download or read book Femme Fatale written by Kristal L. M. Alfonso, Kristal LMAlfonso Lieutenant , USAF and published by . This book was released on 2008-11-03 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Women have always participated in armed conflict, most often as active supporters of the armies they have followed. Some women, usually the wives of soldiers, served as nurses, laundresses, cooks, and seamstresses. Other women chose active participation in battle, including the famed Molly Pitcher. Mary Hays McCauly earned this moniker during the Battle of Monmouth in 1778 when she provided pitchers of water and medical care to members of the Continental Army fighting the British. After shrapnel struck her husband, McCauly took up his position as a cannoneer so that the artillery crew could continue to fight. Gen George Washington rewarded her bravery by making her a noncommissioned officer.* The story of Molly Pitcher symbolizes the realities of women and war. War has always affected women to some capacity despite civilized society's best attempts to protect the gentler sex from war's brutality. Yet, despite Molly Pitcher's successes on the battlefield, which included picking up an injured soldier to save him from charging British soldiers, American culture has traditionally deprecated female participation in war. In most cultures, even today, a woman engaged in combat operations represented an anathema, such as the reactions to Jeanne d'Arc by political and religious leaders. History, therefore, has either completely dismissed female contributions and participation in armed conflicts or relegated their participation to scandalous supporting roles, such as prostitutes or pillow-friendly spies. The reality is women have made significant contributions in military conflicts, and their role continues to expand in the modern era. This paper reviews four case studies that demonstrate the variety of ways women have participated in modern armed conflict and explores whether current US laws and policies excluding women from combat remain valid or need to be amended. Each case study examines three principal facets of female participation in combat: context, motivations and inspirations, and the actual contributions made by these women in combat operations. Two case studies, one on World War II Soviet pilots and the other on modern Americans, follow the more traditional explanation of armed conflict and focus on women integrated into military organizations involved in wars. The other two case studies, including one on female resistance fighters in World War II Europe and another on female terrorists and insurgents, represent the asymmetric aspects female participation often provides during conflicts. The first case study examines the women involved in resistance operations throughout Nazi-occupied Europe. Contextually, many of the women presented in this case study had experienced or had close family to live through World War I. That experience evoked strong emotional motivations for many of the women profiled and often resulted in intense hatred of their enemies, the German Nazis. Due to the loss of family members and friends and with the emotions provoked by the occupation, many women believed that they had no other choice but to resist. In their minds resistance represented defense of their families, friends, culture, and nations. While most of these women began their resistance activities as lookouts and messengers, many went on to conduct insurgent paramilitary operations against the Nazi occupying forces.