A Blog Honoring All Women In The Military
When discussing women in combat, one might think of Joan of Arc who in 1429, at age 17, successfully led French troops into battle against the English. Hundreds of women disguised themselves as men to fight in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. Beginning in 1942, separate military services for women were established, but women did not gain professional military status until 1948 when President Truman signed the Women's Armed Services Integration Act which limited their number to 2 percent of the total military. In 1991, the restriction of women from flying combat aircraft was repealed, but the 1948 law still bans women from serving on naval combat vessels (Minerva Spring 1994).
Despite various roles in the armies of past societies, the role of women in the military, particularly in combat, is controversial and it is only recently that women have begun to be given a more prominent role in contemporary armed forces. As increasing numbers of countries begin to expand the role of women in their militaries, the debate continues.
Can U.S. troops be rewired to be impervious to trauma?
November 13th, 2009 | 
Author: 
“How am I going to get people to focus not on tragedy, but on resilience?” Brigadier General Rhonda Cornum asks rhetorically as we sit in her Pentagon office. The question is now Gen. Cornum’s mission: She is charged with teaching the Army’s warriors—even in the wake of the homegrown tragedy at Fort Hood—to persevere in the face of any crisis.
Cornum’s program represents a historic shift in the Army’s training philosophy. Instead of lavishing resources on those warriors who have succumbed to post-traumatic stress, depression, drug dependency, DUI, or sought the ultimate escape of suicide, the Army this week began training its “healthy” soldiers in emotional and spiritual fitness.
Read more of Gen Cornum’s story by clicking here …
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U.S. alleges company laundered money for Iran
The federal government is seeking forfeiture of properties belonging to the Alavi Foundation and Assa Corp. — accused of transferring money to a bank owned by the Iranian government — including a Manhattan skyscraper and at least three mosques.
Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced Thursday’s filing of an amended civil complaint seeking forfeiture of the Alavi Foundation’s interest in the 36-story office tower located on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan.
The building is owned by 650 Fifth Avenue Company, a partnership between the Alavi Foundation and Assa Corp., the Justice Department said in a news release. The amended complaint alleges that the Alavi Foundation provided services to the Iranian government and transferred money from 650 Fifth Avenue Company to Bank Melli, which is owned and controlled by the government of Iran.
For more from CNN, click here …
The Fort Hood Killer: Terrified … or Terrorist?
What a surprise it must have been when Major Nidal Malik Hasan woke up from his coma to find himself not in paradise but in Brooke Army Medical Center, deep in the heart of Texas, under security so tight that there were armed guards patrolling both the intensive-care unit and checkpoints at the nearest freeway off-ramp. This was not the finalé he had scripted when he gave away all his earthly goods — his desk lamp and air mattress, his frozen broccoli and spinach, his copies of the Koran. He had told his imam he was planning to visit his parents before deploying to Afghanistan. He did not mention that his parents had been dead for nearly 10 years.
Read more: click here …
