Courtney+S

Discrimination. It’s a problem that we know all females face in the real world. Men have no respect for women and they think they can treat women however they want. Not only do women face hardships in the real world, but they also face troubles overseas. Most of the harm done to women is sexual. Men are cruel and nasty to the female soldiers, and for what reason? Is their mind set so strongly against women being soldiers that they think they have the right to sexually abuse other women? Men never have the right to do that to any person, female soldier or not. No one realizes how hard a day in the life of a woman soldier can be. Women have to be twice as tough as men with three times the dedication. The females in the war have to be committed to being a soldier in Iraq. There are so many difficulties that women have to face that men do not. No man has to deal with worrying about getting raped while walking to the latrines at night. Women do not go anywhere without another female by their side, [|they always stick together]. Rape attacks are getting more and more common. Some women have died and others were seriously injured. The worst part of women getting attacked sexually is that they do not want to tell anyone because they will be considered a snitch. Females do not want the war to be any harder than it already is. Men need to grasp the concept that women are overseas for the same reasons that they are; they have to work hard in order to achieve freedom for our country. They are not there to satisfy men’s sexual desires. Some men have a false notion that women will never be anything more than stay at home mothers, or objects of sexual pleasures. Overseas, men can not be with their wives or girlfriends for a long time and female soldiers state that they get "lonely" and use the women soldiers for their own disgusting desires. This gives America a bad reputation. If I were a foreigner and knew this information, I would be totally against some of the male soldiers and how they treat the females who are going to Iraq for the good of our country. Of course, not all men are bad. But the ones who are bad ruin the reputation for the good guys that are still out there. There are [|many different jobs that women can have] in the military. Some are nurses and some have desk jobs, but there are not many fighters. There is a law that prohibits women from fighting on the front lines. It is for their own safety. But even though this law says women should not fight, they still do. Women do this for all the people back in the United States and for our freedom. Those soldiers would not be over in Iraq fighting if they did not care about freedom and want the best for all of us. That is not just female soldiers, but male as well. Even though women don not fight as often as men do, they still have very dangerous jobs. It is not a joke the tasks they perform. Being a nurse is tremendously dangerous! They have to help all the injured Iraqi’s who are their enemies. Soldiers have to look past the hatred Iraqis have for Americans and help them out. This is what America is really about, helping all our neighbors. What kind of a place would the world be if we only helped certain people out? The world would be filled with people who do not know the real meaning of being helped. The soldiers, especially the women, show the Iraqi’s how it feels to be helped in a time of need. Not only can women be nurses and other such things, but also are now being used as spies to obtain information. This is called Operation DESERT STORM. This plan shows how having women in the war can be a very beneficial thing. Having a coed military is better because males and females have certain abilities that the other gender does not have. Women can do things men cannot do and the same goes for men. Often, women feel under appreciated for the tasks they undertake and the sacrifices that they have to make. Bad criticism can affect people in a tremendous way. It will change how you do your job. If you are never going to receive the credit you deserve, why should you perform your job to the your fullest ability? Yet, they dig deep down inside and realize this is why I signed up and this is why I’m here. I need a challenge and the world just presented me with one, so take it and run. Give it everything you’ve got! Women wake up at the crack of dawn, work all day and all night while being criticized and have fear for their safety. These ladies are strong and make what they do look easy. I applaud them in their contribution to our society. Female soldiers in the war are true heroes to many young girls and to me as well. It’s taken our society a long time to finally give women the honor and respect we deserve. Now that we finally have the majority of everyone’s respect, we need to fight to keep it. I cannot imagine going back to a time where women were thought of as little more than slaves, merely housewives, no more no less. Women soldiers must be strong and set an example for all of us back in America. Without them, I don’t know where we would be in the world today.

Works Cited Female Soldiers in Iraq. 6 May 2008 .

Kidwell, Deborah. "Role of Women in Operations DESERT SHIELD/DESERT STORM: Middle East Wars." __United States at War: Understanding Conflict and Society__. 2008. ABC-CLIO. 25 Apr. 2008 [|http://www.usatwar.abc-clio.com] "Many Lines of Fire: Women at War." __Greener Magazine__. 28 May 2007. 7 May 2008 code .

"The Private War of Women." __Salon__. 18 Dec. 2007. 7 May 2008 .

"Women on the Front Lines." __Alternet__ 22. Mar. 2005. May 7 2008 http://alternet.org/waroniraq/21557/__.__

"Wounded in the War: The Women Serving in Iraq." __NPR__. 14 Mar. 2005. 7 May 2008 code <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4534450