The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, April 20, 1990, Page 5, Image 5

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    Soft, weak women, disappoi nting attitude focus of readers
Women suited
for kitchen duty,
not combat duty
Women should not be involved in
combat roles in the military. 1 feel
that they arc getting loo carried away
with this equal rights movement. Why
put a woman in a situation where her
presence will result in the deaths of
men that would not have otherwise
occurred? The American society has
built women into soft and often beau
tiful creatures that in no way could
handle the stress or trauma of combat.
True, some nations do have women in
combat, but that is the way it has
always been in those countries. Our
country has always viewed and treated
women as something less than men.
Due to this fact, women have always
been somewhat weaker and better
suited to domestic activity. Granted,
there arc exceptions, but for the vast
majority this is true.
Women arc unable to perform at
the same level as the men. You will
notice that all physical activities arc
modified for women in the armed
forces. This is not acceptable if women
want to be in combal. They must be
able to perform equally to the men in
unmodified physical activities, this
would only qualify them physically.
Women are not able to endure the
hardships of combal as well as men.
Just the thought ofcarrying 75 pounds
on her back, plus a rifle and Alice
gear, through 30 miles of snake and
Icech-inlested swamp is enough to
scare most women. Thai isn't even a
bad scenario. Women are much too
emotional for combat. What do you
think a woman would do if her friend
got caught and was being tortured by
the enemy where she could hear it?
I'll tell you what she would do. She
would either break dow n and give the
unit’s position away, or she would do
something foolish like trying to save
her friend and getting herself killed in
the process. The armed forces don’t
need that type of help.
A female in a company would also
provide a dangerous distraction for
the males in the company. Oh sure,
why in peace time it's no problem.
The troops can always go into tow n
and get a whore, but w hat about war
tin 'Picture this, a furious battle has
been raging for three months, the unit
has already been in a country for six
months, there is a break in the fight
ing one evening. The men start to
relax and think about their other needs
beside survival. Who happens to be
there but a few combat women. These
guys haven't had a women in nine
months and these ones arc looking
pretty good. Do you honestly think
that a handful of women arc going to
stop an entire unit of homy men from
pulling a few’ trains? I don’t. So while
the guys arc having their fun, the
enemy sneaks up and kills the entire
unit except for the w omen. They then
lake the women prisoner and have
the ir way with them. If the women are
lucky they will be killed. If not, they
will become the toys of the enemy.
That is a complexity that is unneces
sary in war.
Outside of those reasons, I would
like to point out a few more problems
with having women in combat. A
woman can only be considered com
bat ready three out of the lour weeks
every month. The war won’t slop just
because a woman is having her pe
riod. The irritability that comes with
this is a detriment to whatever, if any, j
fighting ability a woman may have. I
Females are naturally weaker than '
males which provides us with another |
problem; what happens when a unit
gels involved with hand to hand t
combat? There arc no substitutions 5
for strength and power which women 1
are obviously lacking. *
In conclusion, I would say that j
women should remain at home doing <
the things that they arc suited to doing. ;
Why should they be permitted to at- i
tempt to do something that they are I
incapable of coping with? Although, 1
I have no argument with letting women 1
do things such as cooking and office 1
work in the military. <
1
Joe M. Davis
sophomore
criminal justice
Vote empowers
AS UN senators
to voice opinion
Douglas J. Shonka displays a dis
appointing attitude when he states,
“Now, 1 sec the AS UN senators for
the self-important resume stuffers that
they are(DN, April 18). I was shocked
and outraged alter discovering that
the ASUN Senate passed a resolution
condemning the military for exclud
ing homosexuals from military serv
ice.”
Shonka then asks what qualifies
student senators to ex press an opinion
on this issue. Doug, your vote, if you
voted, qualifies last year’s student
senate to take this position. The ASUN
is empowered by the University of
Ncbraska-Lincoln’s bylaws to recog
nize and regulate other student or
ganizations and activities. A majority
of your elected representatives felt
that the ROTC’s policy toward homo
sexuals is discriminating and they
protested this current U.S. military
policy.
Doug, you have every right to
disagree with the action that the 1989
90 ASUN undertook. That is your
r ight, and I encourage you to continue
to voice your opinion — that is how
our system of government remains
representative.
But your criticism of ASUN for
taking a position is foolhardy at best.
ASUN chose to take a stand on a
controversial issue that has become
prevalent on many U.S. campuses.
Your student government was designed
to do just that, and your input is wel
comed. Discussion, debate and criti
cism arc the foundation of demo
cratic government. Criticize ASUN
lor its decision — that is your right -
but questioning the legitimacy of
ASUN only when you disagree is a
knee-jerk response that I hope you’ll
rethink.
Phil Gosch
ASUN president
Reader suggests
Thompson should
stop reading ads
In Fran Thompson’s letter (DN,
April 18), she referred to people who
want to adopt a child as “vultures,
scavengers, carpetbaggers’’ just be
cause they want an unwanted child
or a child that may not have the op
Only Robinson Crusoe got
everything done by Friday.
Remember your secretary.
Professional Secretaries Week April 22-28.
^ -3*. i
University Floral 118 N. 14th 474-3792
►ortunilies that they could give it.
?ran, you have a very small mind,
fou have no idea how loving these
►eople might actually be.
Reading these ads, I realize some
>f the working could be mistaken for
omcone who was terribly insensi
ivc, but they aren’t. If these people
ay they arc Christians, wanting to
;ivc a child a loving home, don’t
loubt them. They aren’t out to take a
'oung woman’s child away, “leav
ng her alone with the grief of such a
oss.” They arc people like you and
nc, except they can’t have children
lalurally and want to adopt. And,
norc than likely, they want to find
>ut about the natural mother and want
ler to know what kind of family her
Ask about our special
rates for students!
baby will have.
Chances are, too, that the only
people that even read these ads arc
the young, pregnant women who are
considering giving their babies up for
adoption, and you. If a young woman
has no intention of giving her baby
up, she won’tevenread the ads,and if
she docs, they won’tchangehermind.
She has decided to keep her baby.
OR, she may be going to have an
abortion, which is fine and dandy in
some people’s eyes. But these people
placing the ads want to appeal to her
better judgment and let her know that
if she goes through the nine months of
bloating, pain, discomfort, etc., that
there is someone in the world who is
willing to raise her child, because
abortion is NOT a form of birth con
trol.
These people don’t want orphans,
they want newborns that they can
raise their way. The child won’t al
ready have someone clse’s values.
They don’t “wish to separate a living
mother and her wanted baby.” if the
mother wants to give up her baby, and
reads these ads, that baby is definitely
NOT wanted.
So, Fran (and those of you like
her), please, cither open your mind
and shut you mouth, or don’t read ihe
ads.
Tammy Osborne
junior
undeclared
ATTtnVTTOlM • Sophomore & Junior
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