Download PDF of this full issue: v9n2.pdf (9.7 MB)

Fraggin'

By Bill Shunas

By Sp 5 Willy(Ret.)

The Army seems to have a new problem: Women! Actually, that's an old problem. Actually, women are not a problem at all for most people--just the Army. Recently more and more women have joined the military services and more have signed up. A woman now has command of a ship--a Coast Guard Cutter--and more are spread through the ranks. The Army can't get used to this. They're still back in the 5th century where the woman's duty was to service the troops before they went marching off to conquer the world.

A recent Army study showed--horror of horrors--a "creeping advance of sex fraternization throughout the Army." The Army wants a crack-down on these grim creepers. The report gave some examples of the intolerable, unholy fraternization. Some of the worst were "socialization, courting and marriage!"

The study even showed that some women actually "relished the attention heaped upon them." Things like this and the other "inappropriate relationships" mentioned can have a serious effect on the morale and discipline of the Army.

The report did make one pertinent point. It said that some supervisors "threaten women with non promotion for failure to yield to their social desires." This can be unfair to a woman. If her CO or NCO socially desires to drink a chocolate milk shake (two straws) with her, she should not be punished because she doesn't socially, desire to drink a milk shake.

The Army is especially worried that dating may occur between people of different ranks. Worst of all it may even occur between officers and enlisted people. There goes the discipline and morale out the boudoir window. Officers could even attract the germs off enlisted persons.

So the Army is cracking down on all these perverted fraternizers. The crackdown hit PFC Margarette Braman and PVT Tracy Toe Lathrop at Fort Sill. It seems that Braman got caught taking a shower in Lathrop's barracks. That was a no-no, so the Army got tough. In the interest of morale and discipline, Braman and Lathrop were put in jail the week of their honeymoon. Separate cells, of course.