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A Brigadier General in the US Army has been charged with rape. Well, actually, Brig. General Jeffrey Sinclair has been charged with a veritable laundry list of offenses, as set forth in an Army press release, among them
forcible sodomy, wrongful sexual conduct, attempted violation of an order, violations of regulations by wrongfully engaging in inappropriate relationships and misusing a government travel charge card, violating general orders by possessing alcohol and pornography while deployed, maltreatment of subordinates, filing fraudulent claims, engaging in conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman and engaging in conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline, or of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces.
While details are still sketchy, the charges apparently involve misconduct with several female subordinates.
Over on The Spearhead, W.F. Price bravely takes on the real villain here: women. Apparently their mere presence in the Armed Forces is enough to provoke male soldiers and generals alike to rape them and, while they’re at it, to buy booze and porn, mistreat their subordinates and rack up unauthorized purchases on government issued charge cards. In a post with the title “How’s that Women in the Military Thing Going Now?” Price gets right to the heart of the matter:
I suspect that the more combat-oriented environment an environment is in the military, the more likely these problems with women are to come about. For one thing, fighting men are more passionate by nature, and then there’s the fact that these men also turn women on more.
Yes, because when male soldiers rape female soldiers, the problem lies with woman in uniform getting “turned on” by men in uniform.
A forward base in hostile territory is not likely to have the same atmosphere as an assignment stateside. The sense of danger actually tends to make people more sexually charged, or so I’ve heard from those who survived battles and sieges on the Eastern Front in WWII, where female-operated AA batteries behind the front lines became de-facto brothels.
Of course, male soldiers are also known to rape civilian women, so by Price’s logic women should neither serve in the military, nor not serve in the military. In times of war, they should just do all us dudes a favor and cease to exist at all.
If not, well, women just need to face up to the danger of “hanky panky” that their mere existence creates:
[O]ur personnel are serving in a remote Muslim country with no access to local females to speak of, and things are bound to happen. As to whether Sinclair “forced” anything on anybody, we don’t know at this point, and it seems unlikely, but it isn’t surprising at all that some forbidden hanky-panky may have occurred.
At this point, virtually all we know about the alleged crimes here is contained in that laundry list of charges I posted above. Yet someone Price is able to deduce that Sinclair is likely to be innocent here. Evidently Price is convinced that anyone who is a “real combat general” and who has “earned a number of awards related to combat arms and parachuting” is someone who is to be implicitly trusted.
In the comments, the Spearhead regulars offer their own unique takes on the issues of women in the military.
Keyster seems to dream of a day when women can not only be kicked out of the military but also out of pretty much everything else as well, except presumably the kitchen:
It’s not safe to work or serve with women.
The potential for trouble is way too high.
Once they invaded the workplace the last vestige of male only space was the military. Now even this is no longer true. I don’t know where men can go and work with other men without female interference anymore. Even if you own your own business, the government forces you to hire them…and invest in all manner of special female accommodations, like breast pumping stations and tampon dispensors.
Ironically the safest “male only” space is a Gay Bar. And even then curious women wander in to meddle and cause disruption.
Numnut drops some biotruths on us all:
Appears women are very horny once a month and will have sex with the most aggressive male available to them at that time.This re-enforces the “thinking with the vagina” theme that a women herself espoused.
Now that the lawz have given wymyn free pass to act out their base animals nature,no man is safe from the Whiplash regret post-sex.(ref to OT)
No doubt these milfem cursors were ovulating and thinking with the gash when they asked to be screwed.
The proper thing for the law to do is recognize this animal instinct and either regulate wymyns behaviors of legalize male sexuality again.
Women want it both ways,a rough man for sex,and prison for rough men.
Jean Valjean hopes that this case will help to expose women for being the filthy sluts they really are:
The question on my mind is will this man fight the charges and reveal the sexual nature of many women in the military or will he go meekly to his fate?
A commenter with the highly ironic name Reality offers up this bit of secondhand shitthatneverhappened.txt.
There was a guy who had been in the military who told me that in actual warfare when the bombs start dropping & the gunfire starts coming at them in an actual combat situation, women just throw down their guns and start running screaming like they would do any other situation.
We’re doomed. All so we can pretend ‘women are just the same as women’ [sic] – that’s more important to all these idiots that run this country & half the idiot population than the security of the country. It’s that way in any situation in life- this political correctness & diversity shit is becomes more important than success, life or death- you name it. In that sense it’s like drugs or alcohol addiction – you throw away your whole life for this one stupid, trivial thing.
Equality: Stupid and Trivial.
I learn new things every time I read The Spearhead.
For some actual facts on the epidemic of rape in the military see:
Leon Panetta: Military’s handling of rape is an “outrage.”
Naomi Wolf: A culture of coverup: rape in the ranks of the US military
Victims say military condones rape
Rape in the Military: America’s Dirty Little Secret
New military rape lawsuit filed
@emilygoddess
Then your vagina is awesome. The sixth season, excepting the “drugs are bad, mkay” part, was totally my favorite.
@Nepenthe lol, you’re probably the first person I’ve heard say that. It definitely has its good points, but mostly the fandom loves to trash it. (FTR, the addiction plot didn’t bother me as much as the gross, rapey Spuffy)
Maybe I should have claimed my vagina wrote season 4 of Angel? Even the show pretends that season never happened…
Brigadier Generals aren’t likely to be in a FOB. They are in charge of brigades, responsible for the operations of a unit of 3,000-5,000 people.
It’s not, in an army like the US’, a “lead from the front” sort of job.
Looking at the list of charges… some of them are the usual padding (the “good order and discipline” charge is Art. 134, which is the one which can be used in cases of adultery (which isn’t specifically prohibited, but I digress).
From my first hand experience, this is horseshit. Some of the troops I’d be most willing to go into firefights with are female. If I had to pick a squad (15 people, plus myself), about 1/3rd of the people I’d pick are female. Since women make up a smaller percentage of that in the Army, well you can draw your own conclusions.
Now I’ll see about catching up on comments.
My vagina is where the Old Ones reside (since it’s outside space and time). On the other hand, I’m wondering if perhaps I might use my vagina to create a time travel device, but the main problem is how to actually USE it. I am considering asking MRAs how they get their heads so far up their own asses, as this technique ought to help me.
Otis the Sweaty:
I was in Iraq. I don’t have any of those stories. I do have stories you won’t believe, of women who were doing all the things you’ve seen in John Wayne movies.
As to the Egypt/Israeli border story… citation.
Even it did happen, I can tell you stories of men who did the same thing. It’s human nature.
And, absent citation (and, ideally a look at the AAR), I’m not going to take your word for it. You weren’t there, and you are fucking clueless about how armies work, much less combat.
Kiwi girl: General Order Number One, prohibits all sex, and all alcohol. I’ve had it implemented in a few cases, and it’s standard practice these days in combat theaters.
The sex part has never been obeyed, and the drink part is, as often as not, widely ignored. For a general to not have liquor would surprise me more than not (and in Iraq, our primary source for alcohol was the locals. Never, as you love life, drink Armenian whisky).
drst: Doesn’t the military forbid relationships between individuals of different rank precisely because the rank can be used to coerce compliance from the subordinate? Which is known to those of us in the reality-based community as “force”?
Sort of.
Officers are not allowed to have a romantic relationship with non-officers.
No one is allowed to have a romantic relationship with anyone who is in their chain of command, or with whom a relationship might compromise the mission.
@emilygoddess
I’m aware of it’s downsides… but… Tara and Willow! And then Dark Willow!
I do have stories you won’t believe, of women who were doing all the things you’ve seen in John Wayne movies.
You’re right, I wouldn’t believe them. I can’t tell if you are a woman or a mangina but considering that the whole point of this article is that 1 out of 3 women are too weak to protect themselves from getting raped (and god only knows how much higher the rate is in combat zones) we can safely say that at least 1/3 of female soldiers are not to impressive, physically speaking.
I think I have met like one woman who was as strong as a a man in my entire life. Any guy who’s ever fought a girl can tell you how frail they are.
All you ladies here who apparently think you are as strong as men: can any of you even do a single pullup? Just one.
Women are so bad at pullups the Marine Corps had to get rid of it as part of the PT test for female marines. Even female marines who’ve survived Paris Island suck at pullups. Considering that 99 percent of untrained men and much heavier bodyweights can do several, that’s really pathetic.
Apparently there are some women who enter basic training not even able to do a push up. A push up! Women are to strength as pigs are to cleanliness.
Pecunium, I wish you’d been here Saturday night. Otis would have exploded.
Or maybe not – he did display a tendency to ignore anything that was actually based on facts.
Ooh, I am making popcorn and sitting back to enjoy the show.
Oh, and I talked to my husband. I got the numbers wrong in earlier post about the male:female ratios of his last unit. It was 70:30 male/female. And when I asked him if anyone ever had a feminine meltdown at the sound of RPG’s, he asked me if I was fucking kidding, then said “of course not.”
So another anecdotal “women in a combat zone can manage to function as actual soldiers” story for the file.
Otis, do you have an alert set up for mentions of yourself? You are so sad.
I can do a pull-up! But maybe I’m a bad example, because I’m pretty skinny. There’s not that much to pull up.
Why are pull ups considered so vital to the mission? Are marines not allowed to use their legs when going over walls? How often do you have to actually pull yourself up solely by your arms with no gear?
Otis, how many pullups can your sweaty self do?
@ emily & Nepenthe- I think we can all agree someone’s vagina had a hand in season 4
@Otis your obsession with physical strength as the ONLY measure of worth was bizzare enough, but that you think it’s the only thing that matters in modern combat is…wow. Are you under the impression that we challenged the Taliban to a pull-up contest or something?
@Nepenthe I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to belabor the point about season 6. I think we can all agree that Willow/Tara is the best ship and Once More, With Feeling will never get old.
Otis, how many pullups can your sweaty self do?
A bunch, but anybody (well, any man) can do a lot of pullups if they train for it. The question is how many I could do untrained. Probably about 3. That’s at 160. My 105 lbs sister can do zero. My brother’s fiance can do zero. In 4 years of highschool gym, all the girls in my class could do zero. Scarlett Johannson who can’t weigh over 105 was unable to do one even after working with a Hollywood personal trainer for months.
Otis your obsession with physical strength as the ONLY measure of worth was bizzare enough
Men are superior to women in many ways, not just physical strength, but that happens to be what this debate is about. The consensus here seems to be that there is no difference in average physical strength between men and women and I am saying that that is false.
I can do about 5 pull-ups!
Otis: I’m wondering, Otis, when and where you’ve served?
You take me for some kind of backwoods rube? No, sorry I didn’t sign up to get shot at by 3rd worlder’s and ocean away.
Ah… so I’m a backwoods rube? Right. How many languages do you speak (I speak four)? How many countries, apart from the US, have you spent extended periods of time in (I’ve done it in six)? How many states of the US have you lived in (I’ve lived in seven)?
Your classist ignorance is showing, even more.
To clarify, I did a career. I was enlisted. I was 25 when I joined. I was living in a major urban area (as I’d done all my life). I enlisted because I wanted to. I knew that getting shot at was possible when I enlisted (1993). I’ve been assigned to Combat Arms units, and Close Combat Support Units, as well as being attached to Staff/Headquarters units (divisional level, with some Corps level exercises). I’ve done protocol at international exercises, and been selected for international exchanges.
All in all, I’d say you are more rube than I am.
So are you a mangina or a woman? I can’t tell.
I’m sorry, I don’t see where anyone has said that, let alone all of us. Are you confusing us with the straw-feminists in your head? It’s a surprisingly common mistake.
Oh shit, it’s almost as though human genders aren’t so cartoonishly different as to be instantly and universally distinguishable through conversation. SOMEONE ALERT SCIENCE