"The 10 Most Asinine Questions about Women in the Military," Answered in the Most Asinine Way • The Havok Journal

The book Ashley’s War is not representative of me. Many women paved the way for those girls and did the same job but without the extra training and the high-speed name. If you want to live vicariously through us, then read books by women who were there before. All of them.

You are correct, Ashley’s War is definitely not a representation of you. Ashley’s War is another event in history documented about brave Soldiers both Male and Female. A story about women that wanted to continue to break boundaries and prove themselves by the ability to do a job and do it correctly, not by running their mouths. I assume and correct me if I’m wrong, you have never read the book because if you had, you would be proud that there are women out there continuing to make history. And I guarantee you would not know who Kristoffer Domeij was or who Christopher Horns was. Books like these talk of valor of both men and women. Having any books written about events in the military is a win in my eyes.

How about we enlighten the public about what and who these stories are about. Ashley, Kristoffer, and Chris deserve to be talked about and remembered, just as everyone before them does, and every Soldier after. I would recommend all women and men read Ashley’s War and try to live up to a standard of selfless service and honor as they and every other Soldier that has sacrificed their lives for this country. It’s about continuing the legacy not bringing it down because you have a chip on your shoulder.

And as much as you want others to educate themselves on everything that happened before CST, please do the same yourself. You’d know the training was on the go, and CST was created as an identifier. Not some “cool guy” attention grabber.

We do not want physical standards (or any other standards) lowered. We want them raised.

Oh my God, everyone gets we want the standards to be the same, and that we can surpass them if given the opportunity. Please stop beating the same damn horse. Next….

Women want to serve and die for their country. Yes, we knew we might have to kill people. Yes, we knew we could get raped and even beheaded. Yes, we also like catching bad guys and blowing shit up. No way in hell we were sitting at home and letting the boys have all the fun.

Everyone that joins the service knows what may happen. They know the sacrifice. But it isn’t to say, if given the opportunity would you want to die? Be raped? Beheaded? Probably not. Being a Soldier has a much higher risk of death than other occupations, but do you want it to happen to you, no. It’s not an issue that should be so easily dismissed. You may think you know the consequences but if you are staring death in the face would you be so light-hearted saying “yeah but I knew this was going to happen when I signed up”. As for catching bad guys and blowing shit up. It’s necessary for mission success. Is it enjoyable? If the result is favorable, I’d agree. But there is a lot more to a mission than just “catching bad guys and blowing shit up”

I am a badass. Yes, I am intimidating. Yes, I am single by choice… or married to an amazingly supportive man. No, I will not have your babies. I only mate with alpha males and if you were one, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

I’d have to disagree with you, a badass is someone who doesn’t have to say they are a badass. A badass put their worth in their work and does not expect praise. A badass contributes to the platoon by personality and work ethic. A badass, Alpha or not, is a spouse waiting faithfully at home and raising the children as a single parent. A badass would not have written these ignorant statements pushing the arrow more towards why men don’t want to work with women.

I think the only thing correctly answered in the original article, is this is someone neither male nor female would want to work with. If I was so enraged by these questions to answer them as arrogantly as the previous author, I would take a minute and decide whether the military is a right fit for me, or if I should be out doing something solo rather than be a part of the best fighting force in the world.

Author’s note: All the statements above are my own, I was not coached, told, or persuaded to write these on someone else’s behalf.

This first appeared in The Havok Journal on November 11, 2015.