Two Canadian Women Peacekeepers wounded

Hi Folks,

I found this newsstory in my Yahoo news headlines.

Thank god these women weren't wounded badly, or killed. Every day I read about more soldiers killed over in the war zones and its heartbreaking. ... Karmen

Mon Aug 15, 9:34 AM ET

AL-ARISH, Egypt (AFP) - Two Canadian women peacekeepers were wounded in a bomb blast in Egypt's Sinai peninsula that officials described as a terrorist attack.
ADVERTISEMENT

"Terrorists planted two gas canisters on the road and linked them to an electrical wire. They hid in nearby apricot groves and blew them up," North Sinai governor Ahmed Abdel Hamid told reporters.

The incident occurred on road about 25 kilometres (15 miles) west of the
Gaza Strip, where Israeli on Monday began its historic operation to pull out from the occupied territory.

Hamid said only one of the bombs exploded and that the other was being examined by ordnance experts, adding that two female Canadian peacekeepers from the Multinational Force and Observers were lightly wounded.

He added that several Bedouin in the area had been arrested. A senior Egyptian security official confirmed the circumstances of the attack.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

The Multinational Force and Observers is an independent peacekeeping force not related to the
United Nations, created as a result of the 1979 Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty and funded mainly by the two neighbors and the United States.

The MFO reported a blast at around 9:00 am (0600 GMT) about one kilometre (half a mile) west of the military airport of Al-Gurah, in the east of the Sinai peninsula.

But it could not immediately confirm the identity of the wounded, nor could the Canadian authorities.

Egyptian security sources had initially said that the explosion may have been caused by a landmine left over from one of the Egypt's wars with
Israel in the Sinai.

The approximately 2,000-strong international military force was set up in 1982, includes troops from 11 different countries, including a large US contingent, and is based in two camps in the Sinai.

When Gaza's 21 Jewish settlements are evacuated and Israeli troops have fully pulled out of the Strip, Palestinian forces will take over security responsibility for the flashpoint territory.

Egypt had played a key role in security arrangements linked to the pullout and has agreed with Israel to take responsibility for security at the border.

Israel fears that cross-border arms smugglers will increase their activity after its troops depart.

A senior Egyptian official had told AFP last week that "the idea of involving the MFO after the Gaza withdrawal is being explored".

I haven't seen these womens' names released yet ... whoever they are, I hope their wounds are as light as this story says ... and I hope their families know.

Karmen

Here is an excerpt from Canoe News article:

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/20...173928-ap.html

The Multinational Force and Observers was created to help implement the 1979 Camp David peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. It comprises 1,800 troops from 11 nations, including the United States, Canada, several European states and Australia and New Zealand. They act as a peace-monitoring force in the Sinai peninsula - the battlefield of three Arab-Israeli wars between 1956 and 1973.

Canada's contribution to the MFO is called Operation Calumet, a 29-member team ranging in rank from corporal to colonel, according to the Defence Department's website.

Canada originally sent a helicopter unit and 140 personnel to Egypt in 1986 but has since scaled back the mission.

All Canadians are based at the North Camp in el-Goura, Sinai. The Canadian roles include providing air traffic control, training and engineering services.

[Jon Skagfeld]

I'll throw this right back at you...

What the Hell are women doing in a combat area?...(with or without their Combat Bras).

This situation epitomizes the totally wrongful approach to "feminist equality".

There is no damn way that women should be "in the lines".

That goes against all that is intrinsically human behaviour...women are nurturers, men are hunters.

In a combat situation, where mission should come before self, if a mixed gender unit comes under fire, the natural reaction of a man, should a woman become a casualty, would be to offer succour to that woman.

There goes the mission!...failure, since the objectives were not achieved, due to a basic conflict of evolved conditioning vice political pandering to screeching harridans of the PC left.

Gimme a goddamn break!

Tell us how you REALLY feel Jon.

Yikes ... I didn't mean to start things going this way and upset you ... but I'm interested in your views and perspectives on this about women in the combat area.

Please keep this going Jon, and I hope you other folks will jump in and "speak as you really think and feel about this issue too", because I think it's vital for everyone, especially women and PC's to, if not open their minds to buy into your views, to at least open them enough to try and understand the very real concerns that fuel them, and just ponder those concerns.

Karmen and to you too

Meanwhile ... regards the women who were hurt ... I posted this because they're our guys/gals were hurt over there. I care about that a lot, male, female, who, how they came to be in harms way I don't civ-a-jit ... our Canadians over there on peace keeping duties because they want to serve were hurt, and I am glad they aren't dead. They could have been "male", but happened to be female in this instance.

Help me to understand your "real" concerns about women in the combat zone though?

Thanks,

Karmen

Originally posted by Jon Skagfeld
In a combat situation, where mission should come before self, if a mixed gender unit comes under fire, the natural reaction of a man, should a woman become a casualty, would be to offer succour to that woman.

There goes the mission!...failure, since the objectives were not achieved, due to a basic conflict of evolved conditioning vice political pandering to screeching harridans of the PC left.

Well, I think I agree with Skags.
We too have girlies throughout the British Army and in many tasks they prove the equal or better of the average Tommy Atkins although the selection process does weed out a large proportion of the applicants.

The problem arises with those serving as ordinary soldiers, no matter how hard they train or try, the female frame in general is designed to be less powerful than the equivalent male; rather than equality, the girlie grunts in the British Army are necessarily fitter than their male counterparts and so do more work proportionally to maintain that, but for less gain, and that's unfair.

The army has also identified that a mixed platoon under fire will tend to protect the females no matter what, as it is written into our basic human programming, and as Skags says, there goes the mission.

This last bit is worrying; I have no problem with the equality bit and if females want to serve in the front lines with a fair chance of getting shot or bits of them blown off, that's fine; the very effect of their known presence, through no fault of their own and the nature of human programming is the problem.

Its interesting that, AFAIK, the US has found that diminutive females can make very good single-seat fighter pilots, especially that the smaller frame can withstand G forces more easily than larger and so heavier males, however, the RAF steadfastly refuses to even contemplate girlies in this role but has some excellent helicopter and transport pilots.

Whenever has life been fair? I guess I have looked at a lot of people and fundamentally blokes and girlies have always been different (thank Heavens) and not equal, not even constructed equally; both sides need to recognise that.

Seems to me that a 1/2" combination spanner does a specific job whilst a 9/16" open-ender does something different and both have their place albeit both are just "spanners". (You continental N. Americans can insert "wrench" where appropriate.)

Now, you could just have an adjustable spanner, but when there's a tough nut to crack the end result is usually just rounded corners, the object hasn't been achieved and the problem is now worse.

R.

Well, I believe that I'm coming to understand your concerns, Jon, Richard, and those of you who agree with them.

A thought flashed though my mind (shush Grandpa!!! ) as I read your posts ..... and it's this:

"The moments for war do not wait for equality of the sexes to be fully in place, therefore we must do what's most effective for the time of war."

... In other words, to be effective, we need to be realistic and try to do away with every risk of potential failure possible ... the mission, and lives, depend on it. Until ALL men and women of a mission see each other NOT as men and women, but as individuals with tasks to perform (missions and lives depend on success) then yes, I can see that any mission with mixed genders can be blown by viceral responses like ... "ignoring the mission to save and protect the woman". Or a woman, nurturer that she is, might knee-jerk sacrifice a mission by rushing to the side of a hurting or scared soldier rather than doing what needs to be done to save the mission.

Yes ... sad but true I fear. We are not equal yet ... not until we, as men and women, can view each other and treat each other objectively, especially in crucial moments. Then we can work together and not fail our team-goals because of gender conditioning.

Having said all that, I wish we were gender-blind now ... but we aren't. We must accept the realities of what actually works within the context of what we're actually capable of, for what is actually necessary.

If I'm a woman soldier on the front lines with you man-soldier, and you see me as a woman first ... I fear for all of us.

Bummer

PS: Perhaps if men and women aren't grouped together to do a specific job/mission, that might work? Segregation

PPS: and BTW ... this same gender conditioning is the root of much conflict and failures in realtionships between the sexes too, from what I've seen and heard. Many women don't want to be known as women "first" ...

[Tony Smith]

Originally posted by Vets Dottir
If I'm a woman soldier on the front lines with you man-soldier, and you see me as a woman first ... I fear for all of us.

Bummer

The Russians saw no problems with using female soldiers in the Great Patriotic War as the need was urgent and overcame this natural conditioning by breeding spectacularly ugly women.

The Australian Army is currently debating wether to allow female soldiers in combat roles, but the debate is being driven not by equality issues but rather falling recruiting numbers! This seems to me to be looking at the problem the wrong way, ie if you can't get the soldier you want, alter (or lower) your standards to get the numbers you need.

Originally posted by Tony Smith
The Australian Army is currently debating wether to allow female soldiers in combat roles, but the debate is being driven not by equality issues but rather falling recruiting numbers! This seems to me to be looking at the problem the wrong way, ie if you can't get the soldier you want, alter (or lower) your standards to get the numbers you need.

I guess that when combat soldiers are needed and there are not enough "men" to fill the bill, then it's time to use what resources are actually available. In this case it would be a case of the real needs for combat units outweighing the perfectionistic ideals of having perfect combat units (ie all male) .... Necessity doesn't wait for idealism. Reality calls for combat units. Priorities must be suited to realities.

If all men were drafted and there were not enough numbers but there were ablebodied and capable women able to fill the need ... then mixed gender units would have to work together, and in so doing, perhaps this would go a long way to teaching the individuals, both genders, to overcome their own conditioning and just do the job as necessary?

I've never had the chance to talk with women in the miltary to hear their views and thoughts about this ... I can only imagine how frustrating and hard life in the military can be sometimes for the women when gender comes between her and her service abilities and wanting to do her duty.

Karmen