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Medium Coffee
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Tuesday, February 11, 2003
NEWS
THE BATTALION
More U.S. women prepare for war
Women at war
After the Gulf War, restrictions were loosened on women’s role in
combat. While still excluded from ground combat positions, women
can assume many other duties, including piloting jets and helicopters.
Percentage of female enlisted members
By Siobhan McDonough
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Two months after
settling into her dream job at Langley Air
Force Base in Virginia, Nina Augustine got
her gun and shipped out.
She had thought she would be around
awhile with her husband and 2-year-old son,
guarding the general’s office. Then the call
came last month asking if her bags were
packed.
“I’m conflicted,” Augustine said.
“When you have a family, everything is
conflicted.” Yet she also thought, “Any
woman who feels she can go out there with
a big, heavy gun, the more power to her.”
And off she went as part of the U.S.
deployment against Iraq — the new face of
the female American soldier, this one carry
ing an M-16 rifle.
Launching Tomahawk missiles, piloting
F-18 fighter jets, returning fire if ambushed
— all are possible in a day’s work for
American servicewomen nudging their way
to the front lines if the United States invades
Iraq.
The war could expose many more
women to combat than previous conflicts,
despite restrictions on what they can do.
Women now can command combat mili
tary police companies, fly jets and Apache
helicopters, work as tactical intelligence
analysts and more. If called, female chemi
cal specialists will go to contaminated areas
and female helicopter pilots will land
infantry in combat areas, or evacuate them,
during assaults.
After the Gulf War, Congress eased rules
excluding women from combat, opening
thousands of new opportunities. Still, they
are not allowed into positions where they are
most likely to see ground combat —
infantry, armor, artillery and Special Forces
formations.
As women flowed into the civilian work
force and overcame other limits through the
generations, the arguments for holding them
Muslim
Continued from page 1
The national security alert level has been
raised to orange, the second highest level. An
orange security level requires the coordina
tion of necessary security efforts at all levels
and additional precautions at public events,
along with other security measures.
The University’s security level has not
changed with the orange status, but officers
have been alerted, said Bob Wiatt, Texas
A&M University Police Department director.
Wiatt said UPD has maintained a higher
alert status since the terrorist attacks of
Sept. 11.
“We have not reduced service to the
University since 9/11,” Wiatt said.
The local Bryan-College Station Islamic
community will celebrate Eid-Ul-Adha at 8
a.m. Feb. 11 with prayers at the Islamic
Center, Chaudhry said.
Eid-Ul-Adha marks the end of the Hajj
religious period, which is the pilgrimage to
holy sites in and around Mecca, Chaudhry
said.
The Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam,
and every Muslim is required to make a Hajj
if he is able to financially and physically,
Latheef said.
Latheef said Eid-Ul-Adha commemorates
the prophet Abraham’s willingness to sacri
fice his sons to obey God’s commands.
“The Hajj is designed to develop near
ness to God and (improve) spiritual uplift-
back in the armed forces
have largely endured: They
are physically weaker, they
might ruin the cohesion of
an all-male unit, Americans
just could not bear to see
women killed.
“In the Gulf War, they
thought if a woman came
back in a body bag, every
one would freak out,” said
Linda Grant DePauw, presi
dent of the Minerva Center
in Maryland that studies
women and war.
“But women are embed
ded in the functioning of the
entire military. You can’t
just pull people out on the
basis of gender anymore.
It’s a different way of think
ing about war.”
More v than 200,000
women serve in the active-
duty forces, about 15 per
cent of the total.
Despite combat limits, American women
have found themselves in plenty of firelights
and danger.
More than 400 died in World War II,
most of them nurses; in the 1989 invasion of
Panama, women flying choppers landed
infantry under heavy fire and women in mil
itary police units conducted infantry-style
missions to search neighborhoods for guer
rillas.
The question of how Americans would
react to large-scale deaths of women has not
been tested since the ban was loosened. In
the Gulf War, 13 U.S. servicewomen died in
the theater, from causes including Scud
attack, mines and crashes and two were
taken prisoners of war.
In recent years, the Navy and Air Force
have begun allowing women to fly fighters
and bombers.
Except for submarines, Navy women can
be assigned to all combat vessels, including
aircraft carriers, destroyers and frigates.
ment,” he said.
Latheef said people who make a Hajj to
Saudi Arabia wear simple seamless white gar
ments that symbolize equality and unity
before God. For many, Latheef said, the Hajj
is a life-changing experience. He said it elim
inates social and economic barriers that peo
ple put amongst themselves, and creates a
world where people are all equal before God.
“Malcolm X was a part of a racist (sect of
Islam) until he made his Hajj and saw people
with blond hair and blue eyes praying next to
dark-skinned and red-skinned people,” he
said. “When he came back (to the U.S.), he
had converted to mainstream Islam.”
The Islamic community in Bryan-College
Station, made up of about 500 people, will
meet Tuesday morning with prayers and
spend the remainder of the day visiting
friends and relatives, Chaudhry said. More
than 300 people are expected to attend morn
ing prayers, he said.
UPD has been going out on more patrols
since Sept. 11 and will continue to do so,
Wiatt said. It is in constant communication
with local police departments, he said, and is
on teletype alert with officials throughout the
country.
“We will know if something is going on
that could affect Texas A&M,” Wiatt said.
“The main thing is if students see anything
suspicious or unusual, they need to let some
one know,” he said.
Wiatt said the UPD or local police depart
ments will investigate student reports to
determine their validity.
They can fly all aircraft.
“It’s a level playing field because now
any service officer can do the same job, can
compete,” Storum said. “Whoever is best
will rise to the top, be promoted and do
well.”
“There are not many fields that women
can’t be in,” says Augustine, a senior airman
who guards military bases and planes.
“It’s kind of exciting and a little scary
being my first time,” said Air Force Capt.
Kimberly Purdon, 26, a weapons system
officer based at Ellsworth Air Force Base in
South Dakota. She has trained aboard the
supersonic B-l bomber for two years. By
first time, she meant being prepared for
going to war. She was preparing for deploy
ment.
“A lot of us are in the same boat,” she
said. “There is no distinction between men
and women. We feel the same way about
wanting to go over there and serve.”
Bonfire
Continued from page 1
last week.
“I can’t comment on whether it is
supposed to replace Bonfire —1 don’t
know,” Reynolds said.
Faculty and student leaders will
meet again at the end of this weekto
evaluate the TABS proposal.
Tim Dosch, student senator and
chairman of the TABS Student Senate
committee, said Bonfire was not a part
of the TABS proposal they will submit
at the next meeting.
“We will not submit anything that
has to do with Bonfire,” Dosch said.
Dosch discussed the TABS propos
al on Jan. 31 with Gates, who said the
proposal merited attention.
“This is the kind of student input
I’ve been hoping for,” Gates said,
“and 1 will certainly be looking into
it.”
Marc Barringer, chairman of the
Bonfire Coalition committee, said the
Coalition will present the results of a
research project on Tuesday, Feb. 11.
The committee, which is not an official
University-sponsored organization, has
conducted a study on bonfires through
out Texas and other military schools.
“We want to present Dr. Gates with
options for a bonfire that could become
uniquely Aggie,” Barringer said, “even
if it doesn’t start out that way.”
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LOCAL BUSINESS or INTERNATIONAL
TOURIST DESTINATION?
Germans. Japanese. Koreans. Every year, we get all sorts of foreign visitors who aren’t
interested in the products we sell. They’re interested in learning
how we keep our customers so happy. After years of serving
this relatively small community, people the world over have taken
notice of our philosophy. That philosophy? When you take care
of your customers, the bottom line takes care of itself.
Come visit us at the Business Career Fair, all majors welcome.
SEWELL
OBSESSED WITH SERVICE SINCE 1911
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