Gawker 
Enter your username and password.
New York, 7:33 PM
Tue Nov 24
54 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip Your Editors:
tips@gawker.com
Tipline: 646-214-8138
Editor-in-Chief:
Gabriel Snyder | Email
West Coast Editor:
Richard Rushfield | Email
Contributing Editors:
Valleywag:
Ryan Tate | Email
Media:
Hamilton Nolan | Email
Politics:
Alex Pareene | Email
Investigations:
John Cook | Email
Entertainment:
Brian Moylan | Email
Nights:
Adrian Chen | Email
Azaria Jagger | Email
Ravi Somaiya | Email
Weekends:
Foster Kamer | Email
Video Editor:
Richard Blakeley | Email
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
11/06/09
McKinley of the Times from Killeen: "Sergeant Munley, who is 34, is an expert in firearms and a member of the SWAT team for the civilian police department on the base, officials said.
She received two wounds in each thigh and one to her right wrist. The base’s fire chief applied torniquets to stop her bleeding, and she was taken to a hospital that the officials did not identify, where she was reported in stable condition on Tuesday."
This woman is the poster child for female heroes. She will be embraced, rightly so, by women's advocates everywhere.
I hope for her speed recovery, ney-sayers of New Gonzo Drifter. #forthood
11/07/09
I know this is incomprehensible to you right now, because you are handicapped by the social attitudes and way of thinking about the world that you were born into - that's not your fault. But it is your fault if you refuse to consider the possibility that you may be in the wrong here and don't do anything about it.
Another commenter posted a link to this: [www.derailingfordummies.com] If you want to understand why your comments are so offensive, I strongly urge you to read it all, and then think about it and examine your attitude and responses. Believe it or not, I'm trying to do you a favor here and open your mind. I'm not going to get drawn into any more conversation about this with you and I won't be responding to any other comments on the subject. #forthood
11/08/09
Bollocks.
You are blinded -- blind ... and so oozing with raging Feminist idealogue and indirect, first-hand experience that I'm not sure you even know what it is I am talking about when I assert my position on American women serving in direct combat roles in our nation's armed forces.
I did read the derailingfordummies bit ... I know the story. It is a great story.
So, what? Now because of that I'm supposed to reverse what I think is right, but you think is wrong.
Nope.
My post above was in genuine respect for Ms. Munley and her actions. She is a fu**ing police officer, and a damn good one at that. She's not in a fu**ing U.S. Army infantry unit serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. There's a monumental difference.
Lastly, to try and negate my authentic wish that Ms. Munley recover from her gunshot wounds is particularly venomous and ill placed.
Have fun being all full of piss and vinegar. I on the other hand, am attending to grown up stuff.
Why don't you go look up how you can get into the Earth Liberation Front, or something militant-y like that, cause sounds like you still have something to prove TO YOURSELF, not me.
Hooah. Cheers. #forthood
11/08/09
11/08/09
11/06/09
11/06/09
11/06/09
That is courage under fire. And nothing can be countered on that point.
Right? #forthood
11/06/09
Thanks lefty crazies.
Signed,
Moderate-to-left New Gonzo Drifter, nutter of the highest order! #forthood
11/06/09
As read the 'discussion' between New Gonzo Drifter and everyone else, I just have this picture of a generic fight scene in Street Fighter where there's a whole market place that's just cheering on. Oh and I imagine one of the fighters is Guy #forthood
11/06/09
11/06/09
11/06/09
11/06/09
But because some stud-chick cop stopped this guy, this should not be taken as an indicator that women should be allowed in the infantry (the people who do nothing but carry M-16s and shoot/stab people for a living, which is what most people think when you hear the word "combat").
Most women are not going to keep up with me on a 20 mile hump across the boonies loaded down with 70 pounds of ammo and other "kill 'em dead" goodies. Infantry is more than shooting people. It is door kicking, hand to hand combat, putting up with miserable conditions in unsanitary surroundings, and being bored 70% of the time.
Are there some women who can do that? Heck yes, I think that was proven by the VC in Vietnam and the Russkies in WW2. But those were desperate times for both groups and only by necessity were the made into trigger pullers.
Do I wish we were advanced enough to have QUALIFIED women and open gays in the infantry. Yeah. But then again I am from the bay area. Most people in the military are not from the left coast like me. I am firmly of the opinion that if we have a military that is composed of rednecks (and IMO we sort of do), but it is EFFECTIVE (as it unquestionably is), then we will have to take it slow with who we let in. National defense is too important to play PC games with. #forthood
11/06/09
"I am firmly of the opinion that if we have a military that is composed of rednecks (and IMO we sort of do), but it is EFFECTIVE (as it unquestionably is), then we will have to take it slow with who we let in. "
So, Truman was wrong to desegregate the military in 1948? Because if we left it up to the "rednecks" (as you called them), it still wouldn't have happened. Sometimes you need to kick people in the pants. #forthood
11/06/09
11/06/09
I get the idea that the average American female has less upper body strength than the average male, and are therefore... on average... less likely to be suited to the combat arms. I absolutely do not advocate lowering physical standards for women to allow them to serve in combat- that would be ridiculous.
Why don't we just set one physical standard and be done with it then? 18 year old females, 50 year old males, if you wanna be a lifetaker and heartbreaker for Uncle Sugar, you gotta be able to lift/run the same as everybody else. That'd weed out the physically unfit women everybody's so worried about, and allow the badass chicks who can smoke every guy in the platoon the chance to serve their country to their fullest capacity.
Why don't we do it? Because the physical fitness thing is a smokescreen. It's just like the notion in the '40s that "negroes" in the combat arms would be bad for morale, and that no white man would ever take an order from a black NCO or, god forbid, officer. It was simply racism, and the notion of african americans being unfit for combat service today seems laughable. It's the exact same mindset that now exists about women. #forthood
11/06/09
11/06/09
Racism and sexism are just different forms of prejudice, both equally wrong.
Even if no woman in the army can outperform the top guys in your average unit (and I have no doubt that some exist who can), why should they have to be better than the "average" men who qualify? Why not have a single standard, meet it or don't? Black, white, Asian, Hispanic, Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, male, female, gay, straight (oh shit, opened up a can of worms there...)? #forthood
11/06/09
11/06/09
11/06/09
11/06/09
It gets page views, clearly. So, good job, I guess.
But it seems like an odd time for...whatever this is. Pride? Journalistic relevance? A Gawker spin on why something must always fucking mean something else?
The reasoning here stinks, and the timing is awful.
11/06/09
Ones who are not, will not.
I dunno, that's just me. #forthood
11/06/09
11/06/09
11/06/09
11/07/09
11/06/09
Women serving with men in combat and a cop/woman with a gun who shoots idiots killing people in a hospital isn't comparable.
They both involve risk and danger, but that isn't the same thing. There is risk and danger in sky diving, doesn't mean you're fit to be serving the country. #forthood
11/06/09
People on an individual level may or may not be psychologically fit for combat. Drawing the divide down gender lines is remains pretty backward. #forthood
11/06/09
11/09/09
So, my name is "Katastic" and i take what i want to believe you're saying and get offended.
Nothing about what I said discounts women's service. I'm proud of those women.
And no, i'm not.
The TITLE of the article and the content of it is misleading.
And making sweeping statements because of one individuals actions make no sense.
Read next time before you break out your attitude. #forthood
11/06/09
11/06/09
11/06/09
11/06/09
11/06/09
...Because she was the only one with a FUCKING GUN! If all those soldiers had guns as well, I can promise that Maj. Hasan would have been turned to ground-fuckin-beef.
This has nothing to do with the gender issue and provides no evidence to allowing women to hold combat arms positions. None whatsoever. Besides, working an 8-hour security guard shift then going home for a nice meal and a shower has nothing to do with going out on a two week recon-mission living on top of a 14thousand foot peak watching enemy movements or gaining the respect of indigenous friendly-forces so as to mount a more effective counter-insurgency.
Learn something about the rigors ACTUAL combat arms positions before you say anything from behind your nice, safe computer. Combat isn't just shooting a gun. It's a way of life.
11/06/09
11/06/09
It is well known amongst military trainers that men in ferocious combat situations do not fight for nobility of the cause - they fight for each other. An important part of preparing soldiers for combat is to build unit cohesiveness. And the military uses misogyny as one of their tools to build that cohesiveness.
Just look at New Gonzo Drifter's comments below. How he blames the women he trained with for the fact that some of the soldiers he was training with had sex - with each other. As if the male soldiers had nothing to do with. They were consumed by the female soldier's voracious sexual appetites. And of course the female's voracious sexual appetite weakens the cohesiveness of the unit and its potential combat effectiveness. #forthood
11/06/09
It really does remind me of the attitudes towards black soldiers in the '40s and '50s. The only way to overcome those prejudices was to force the military to confront them head on. 60 years later, I think success speaks for itself. #forthood
11/06/09
11/06/09