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Women in the Military: Flirting With Disaster

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This book is OUTSTANDING! It shows how "political correctness" is bringing about the ruin of this country. It shows that women are NOT equal to men in all respects and that women cannot do all of the same jobs as men with equal effect. It shows that women will NEVER have the mindset necessary for combat. It shows how a few militant (but far from military) feminists, with the support of the liberals who caved in to their will, are bringing about the downfall of one of the greatest military powers that the world has ever seen. This book should be a wakeup call for all Americans but, with the liberal mindset currently in style (as well as in office), I'm afraid that it may be too late.

Brian Mitchell knows his subject. He's an Airborne Ranger qualified Infantry officer, which is something that none of the detractors on here can say. When I read this book, I was a young man headed off to West Point. I had vague notions about women in the military and was not in favor of women serving in combat. But I felt that the government couldn't restrict women's access to public institutions (this was just after the Citadel and VMI were forcibly opened). This book exploded those notions in my mind and drastically changed how I viewed the feminization of our Armed Forces. My subsequent experiences as a cadet and as an officer in both all-male and mixed gender units (in combat in Iraq and in garrison) underscored the basic truths of this book. All-male units are superior in every way to mixed gender units, which are absolute disasters of sexual tension and misconduct, poor discipline and wretched physical fitness. Many of us also mourn the loss of the great honor and traditions that were destroyed at the nation's Service Academies, leaving them a politically correct farce far from their glorious past.

Mitchell's book is a bit dated now. Many of his vignettes from the 1970's - 1980's are long forgotten or footnotes to the fact that women are serving overseas in the War on Terror. Regardless, this is an excellent primer for someone wanting the non-politically correct truth of how 35 years of feminist policies have had ruinous and pernicious effects on the military's cohesion, fitness, morale and readiness.

This book soldified my own personal (generally bad) experiences with women in the Navy. I knew it was not working, but now I know WHY it's not working. It finally brings the truth out about many of the lies that both the feminists and the government have been telling us. And some of the examples match what I have seen personally - no matter how poor their performance, women will get by where men will not. It also makes me wonder why so many in the pentagon are so gutless....

A book for the ages, telling us what we have all known from the start and/or experienced first hand in combat and garrison. And something that all those special interest groups and womens rights finatics have hidden, ignored or covered up for decades. The reason this book is so important is that many of us (myself included) who have served our country in the military already know what Mr. Brian Michell is writing about. The truth that he is trying to get out from under the stone that the feninist have successfully hidden it under. If the report says no...hide it, if the report says it degrades our readiness...obsure it. If the report says we can't or shouldn't try to make this work, throw out the report and start over. Find an ear that will ignore the truth. Even at the cost of our readiness, the lives of our sons and daughters, and a reduction in our preparedness. It is shamefully clear by Mitchell that our Presidents of the past have gone along with this farse for votes. Clearly unsatisfactory. It is a masterful job of telling the world what really happens when you mix men and women in trainning and in combat. Disaster. I have seen this in a 27 year United States Marine Corps Career. Enlisted, Warrant Officer and Commissioned Officer. Thank God that Brian Mitchelle has come along to vindicate our own cries for relieve from this disaster. And thank goodness that a company would even publish it. Lives are going to be lost, and the feminist are willing to sacrifice the many for just a few. Better yet to simply push their agenda, that is not wanted by real women in America. Perhaps Saving Private Ryan will give all women cause to rethink and understand why men are opposed to this idea. A must read for any man or women who is really serious about finding out the true effect an unprecedented increase in female participation in the military will cause.

What's more important when the two following goals are in conflict: Good of the military versus good of women in the military? Mitchell frames his argument explicitly supporting the former. As a current Air Force officer, I agree with Mitchell that, no matter where you stand with regard to women's contribution to military readiness, the military's needs MUST come first. One-armed-men are not allowed to enter Navy SEAL training. Why? Because they can not do the job given their physical limitations. Is this discrimination? You bet it is. Is it necessary to maintain efficiency of our military? You bet it is. Quotes Mitchell in his book, "there is no equal opportunity in war." Feminist proponents of "GI Jane" fantasies like to first pretend that women can do any job that men can do. Hit in the face that this is not the case, their fall back position is that most combat is now of the Nintendo, push-button-only variety. Hit in the face that this is not true either, they simply rest their case on the need for women's advancement, no matter the cost of readiness. To follow their chain of reasoning, one-armed-men deserve the opportunity to advance to the rank of general as much as women do, since being able to do the job is irrelevant. Mitchell makes a good case that we may be close to having feminists admit they feel this way (openly admitting that readiness should be secondary to careers of women in the military), if only because there is no other justification for the widely ranging roles women play in the military today. Other than opportunities for women, there is NO SINGLE SUPPORTABLE REASON for women to be permitted into jobs they are physically incapable of doing. This is why feminists NEVER frame their argument for the inclusion of women into combat positions "because it will help the service" because, no fools they, feminsts know the argument holds no water under a myriad of research studies showing the deleterious effect women have had on readiness. Mitchell shows the dearth of information available on the political left to substantiate a position justifying the need for women in combat, or in the military for that matter. Though he will no doubt be castigated as a misogynistic Nazi, he calmly asks questions that feminists and other far left leaning radicals would rather leave unasked. Bravo to Mister Mitchell; would that general officers in my service lived by one of our three Core Values (USAF)--"Service above self." If we had more, the dead silence regarding the harsh reduction in readiness caused by unthinking incorporation of women into almost all jobs in the military might have been broken, and the weakening of our national defense prevented.

Brian Mitchell's book deserves but, probably won't get the serious attention it deserves, due to its politically incorrect theme. Nevertheless, this book is a compelling and well-written study of a controversial policy which needs to be reviewed top-to-bottom. Once congress required the military to apply civilian "equal protection" standards to jobs in the military, the foundation was laid for an "Allice-in-Wonderland" transformation which got "curiouser and curiouser" the more it was enforced. Mitchell minces no words, and backs up what he says with enough detailed information to convince all but the most hardened that America's incomprehensible move toward androgyny is a mistake of fatal proportions. Highly recommended. A fast and troubling read.

For those of you who see the military services as a corporation of employees pursuing "equality" for women in their careers, then this book is "anti-feminist". If you see the services as a separate entity with its own culture from that of the civilian sector (by its very nature which is prepared to kill people and break things), this book is dead on. Some years ago Mitchell wrote the book's predecessor "Weak Link - The Feminization of the American Military". It has been propetic. In that book he addresses the expensive, logistical problems of women in the service. Recently, the services had to develop and will house cockpits for aircraft because women flyers cannot fit comfortably in the current planes - in essense "his and hers" aircraft. As Mitchell points out, we are the only MAJOR military power that employs women in record numbers. I have been in the army for over 20 years and have seen the changes. I served in Bosnia and worked with some women who were professional and cared for the service. However, I question the survivablity of women I see in the field literally wearing "hair-do's", makeup, and painted nails, while wearing their battle gear and carrying their M16s. Mitchell's books are NOT against women in the service but rather points out the "push" from Washington with the silence from the brass (they will not jeopardize their careers) to fully integrate women in the combat arms.

As someone who was once one of those who was brain-washed by the media and liberal politics into believing women could serve in the armed forces, I can say this book was enlightening. Mitchell has not just blown holes in the feminist theory that women can serve, he throws it into the depths of oblivion. Mitchell has done all his homework on the issue with cold hard facts that shoot down every argument that can be made for women in the military and then some. Particularly good is the chapters on the decimation of the academies, due to the uncanny parallels that I witnessed at The Citadel. I have in fact offered to loan my copy to a couple of staunch feminists I know. They have refused to even read the inside flap. Could they be afraid that their argument for women in the services will evaporate into thin air right before their very eyes? Mitchell leaves no ground for the liberals to stand on the issue of women in the military. A thousand praises for Brian Mitchell!

It takes a great deal of courage to address such a politically sensitive issue as Women in the Military, but that is exactly what Brian Mitchell does in this book.

In it he narrates, among other things, the true story behind the sensational Tailhook Scandal and how Paula Coughlin was anything but innocent. And also the tragic death of Kara Hultgreen (the first women F-14 Pilot) which could have been prevented if those in charge would have just recognized her inability to safely handle such an aircraft.

The most frustrating part of the book are the stories of some good men who were pure and simply sacrificed on the altar of political correctness. Men such as Maj. Jeffrey Ecker, a Top Gun Navy flight instructor, who was "removed from flight status and reassigned to nonexistent maintenance jobs," merely because he told the truth about the poor flight performance of one Jacquelyn S. Parker; a performance so pathetic that she nearly got herself killed.

Even more appalling was the story of Admiral Stan Arthur. In spite of the fact that he had flown over 500 combat missions in Vietnam and "commanded the largest naval armada since World War II", during the Gulf War, he was forced into early retirement. Why? Because he simply "approved a report upholding a decision to wash out a female officer (Rebecca Hansen) from flight school."

This is an excellent book for those wanting to know the disastrous consequences of allowing women in the military.
Norman Fulkerson
Author An American Knight: The Life of Colonel John W. Ripley, USMC

Brian Mitchell's "Women in the Military: Flirting with Disaster" tells the chilling story of the damage that has been wrought by feminist mad scientists who have used our nation's defense forces as their laboratory. Very few people who have been around the military in the last few years can deny the rampant double-standards and pervasive p.c. that exist. A few years ago, an Intelligence Officer briefed our squadron on how all Soviet units had a "political officer" whose job was to enforce ideological purity in the ranks. We scoffed then, but that "political officer" is alive and well in the armed forces of the United States of America today. Brian Mitchell deserves high praise for having the courage to stand up and tell this appalling story. We can only hope that the American people, whose national security is being decimated, will sit up and listen. I'm not holding my breath.