For Female Marines, Tea Comes With Bullets

[Jeffersons Ghost]

MARJA, Afghanistan — They expected tea, not firefights. But the three female Marines and their patrol were shot at late on a recent day, when a burst of Kalashnikov rifle fire came from a nearby compound. The group hit the ground, crawled into a ditch and aimed its guns across the fields of cotton and corn.

In their sights they could see the source of the blast: an Afghan man who had shot aimlessly from behind a mud wall, shielded by a half-dozen children. The women held their fire with the rest of the patrol so as not to hit a child, waited for the all-clear, then headed back to the base, survivors of yet another encounter with the enemy.

“You still get that same feeling, like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I’m getting shot at,’ ” said Lance Cpl. Stephanie Robertson, 20, speaking of the firefights that have become part of her life in Marja. “But you know what to do. You’re not, like, comfortable, because you’re just — ” She stopped, searching for how to describe her response to experiences that for many would be terrifying. “It’s like muscle memory.”

Six months ago, Lance Corporal Robertson arrived in Afghanistan with 39 other female Marines from Camp Pendleton, Calif., as part of an unusual experiment of the American military: sending full-time “female engagement teams” out with all-male infantry patrols in Helmand Province to try to win over the rural Afghan women who are culturally off limits to outside men.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/world/asia/03marines.html?ref=global-home

[Regret My New Name]

1. I don't see how it could be THAT shocking to them... It is a war zone after all.

Even if they were told otherwise, do they not read/watch the news or talk to others who have been there?

[MadHound]

5. Because while one knows that you're in a war and could be shot on an intellectual level

On an emotional, gut level, you are still surprised when the bullets come flying your way.

[11 Bravo]

9. Been in a lot of firefights, have you?

[Regret My New Name]

11. I kick ass in Call of Duty...

Just to make it clear what I meant. I mean that I don't see how they would be surprised that they would be in firefights, not surprised by how it would be for them...

[alphafemale]

2. They're better than me. I'd have shot back

His next shot might not miss.

[old mark]

3. Anyone of any gender who enslist in the Marines expecting TEA, is a moron...

I'm glad the USMC is teaching women real combat skills - "like a muscle memory" - because throughout its history, the primary job of EVERY MARINE is Rifleman...I guess rifleperson? LCPL Robertson I am sure is an outstanding Marine and would be highly pissed if she read this article making her seem somehow a lesser Marine than her male counterparts.
And I am SURE she never referred to her weapon as a "gun"...
And that she can shoot just as well as every other Marine.

I hope all of them come home safe and very soon.

mark :patriot:

rec

[Bigmack]

7. Thought exactly the same thing...

when I read that piece.

Maybe she was carrying some automatic weapon referred to as a "gun", but I think the writer just threw that in.

[11 Bravo]

10. This is my rifle, this is my gun. This is for killing, this is for fun.

Chanted with M-16 in one hand, and dick in the other.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

6. LOL

[Uncle Joe]

8. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Jeffersons Ghost.