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GeorgiaTransplant, Yeah I mean I kind of figured it wasn't going to be along the lines of being in Special Forces.
Also since you mentioned it, what can you tell me about Psyop and Civil Affairs?
For the first-again, I was only addressing SFGs-1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, etc..from the perspective of someone who was actually a support soldier within this kind of formation. Other kinds of special operations units might be *completely* different.
For Psyops/Civil Affairs, my understanding (never having actually been in one of these units) the deal is this: the mission is to influence populations, period (the manuasl and websites go into a lot greater detail). They're persuading the targeted population, not engaging the enemy.
Pysops does it by deploying small teams which know the target population, culture, and language, and produce products-print, broadcast, etc.-that put what the US is doing in a favorable light.
Civil Affairs does it mostly by deploying small teams that know the target population, culture, and language, and do regional construction, small stuff-like digging wells, building schools, that in a more tangential way make the local combat forces seem like they are contributing with the local government.
For those who like it, it is apparently just the most fun stuff in the world, and it does involve a lot of training and specialized knowledge. But it shouldn't be confused with the combat and direct training mission of many (most?) special operations units.
As for 528th, let me point out something from the wikipedia website: "The Brigade Troops Battalion includes a wide variety of military occupation specialists: riggers, drivers, medics, mechanics, engineers, fuelers, cooks, etc."
Look familiar? It should.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GeorgiaTransplant
The support troops did the fairly mundane day to day work-packing parachutes, cooking food, processing TDY vouchers, setting up routers and switches, purchasing things with a credit card, shredding files, driving trucks, and often simply pulling guard duty-thus freeing up actual, selected, trained 18 series soldiers to do the special operations planning, staff actions, deployments, and field work.
Ive been told that the cloest a female can serve to combat is as a medic or in the Army and Marines Military Police/Navy Master at Arms/AF Security Forces.
I do believe that females will eventually be allowed into combat arms within my lifetime (I am 23), possibly much sooner then many people think.
Something I do not quite understand. For someone that wants the hardcore experience, why didn't she just join the Marines? I was a Marine - Intel. Not all that exciting but definitely a different experience than say the admin Marines. Hubby was a grunt and yes, he definitely did some "cooler" things. He was in the combat motorcycle unit for a while (I laugh everytime I say this!), he did plenty of floats, and then finally moved over as an instructor as SOI (School of Infantry). Conversely, I did spend a LOT more time in training, where I learned some very interesting skills but my active time was spent in an office like atmosphere, give or take.
Shoot, nowadays you can see action if you just drive a truck, so it should be about picking an MOS that interests her vice where she can see action. Hubby wasn't all that riled up about the "action" he saw, but then again he's one of those people that never get riled up - always very very calm. His only comment on it? He hated having to sleep in the cold. LOL!
Does anyone know about what's going on in the following link? Would these female cultural support teams possibly be a part of the Spec Ops support that the guy came to brief us on?
To Southbel, I didn't like that the Marines couldn't promise a specific job in the contract like the Army could. No offense but the intel side doesn't really appeal to me (outside of the intel jobs where you actually go outside the wire to collect the info and that sort of job couldn't be guaranteed with the Marines) and I was afraid I'd be stuck with an admin type job. I mean you did admit that your job was spent in more of an office atmosphere whereas your husband, a male obviously, got to do the more "active, outdoor" stuff so to speak. All the females I know who did join the Marines and who wanted to go outside the wire have told me they regretted it because they were either stuck with admin or some other type of desk job or they were more often than not stuck on the FOB. I'm not saying it's regrettable to choose being a Marine over being a Soldier but for someone looking for jobs that will specifically offer more opportunities to go outside the wire, it doesn't really help any or offer any more of a "hardcore" experience.
Yes, the Marines have the Lioness program but the Army has Female Engagement teams. Basically the same thing. Yes, the Marines go outside the wire plenty and I'm sure they have females with them at times...but so does the Army. I liked the opportunities that the Army offered for "schools" like Airborne, Air Assault, etc too. I don't really see the Marine experience as more hardcore than the Army or really offering that any more opportunities for females in particular to get into combat. I could just as easily be stuck behind a desk as a Marine and as far as I know female Marines aren't allowed to have a combat arms MOS (or whatever jobs are called with them) any more than the Army does so I have just as much of a chance to get outside of the wire with the Army than the Marines. More-so of one actually because I was able to pick my job with the Army so I stood more of a chance of getting one more likely to offer opportunities to get outside the wire than if I went with the Marines, such as me picking medic which the Marines don't even have since they use the Navy for that.
GeorgiaTransplant, thanks for the info on Civil Affairs and Psyop. Yeah, Civil Affairs seems to offer more opportunities to go outside the wire for females since females can't be on Psyop tactical teams. I know they aren't supposed to be used as direct combat but that going outside the wire so much can put them in that position more often than sticking around on the FOB all the time. But I guess I'll keep the info about both in mind for awhile since I won't be able to even try for them for another 2-3 years. Who knows what may/may not change with female roles in that time. I've just been thinking ahead while I'm home on leave. Once I get off leave, I have to concentrate on our deployment that we have coming up late spring/early summer. It'll be my first so I guess I'll see what I experience as a medic in Afghanistan this next year and then go from there.
Just an aside, it's not true that the Marines can't guarantee you a job. It's just that Marine Corps rcecruiters put less of an emphasis on jobs and you don't get your job guarantee until AFTER you swear in and are in the delayed entry program. This day in age no one goes to boot camp with an open contract unless they want to. Also, if you don't get the job you won't, you don't have to go to boot camp. We also have jobs that guarante seats in those same Army schools, a young lady just left by office, matter of fact, who chose this MOS which guarantees Airborne school ( Marine Corps Enlisted Job Descriptions -- 0451 -- Airborne and Air Delivery Specialist) . I do agree that the Army has the number one capability of guaranteeing you a specific job that YOU want to do, but the Marine Corps is second to them in that regard. Just wanted to clear that up.
All the females I know who did join the Marines and who wanted to go outside the wire
...for someone looking for jobs that will specifically offer more opportunities to go outside the wire, ...
...offering that any more opportunities for females in particular to get into combat.
...a chance to get outside of the wire
...aren't supposed to be used as direct combat
...going outside the wire so much can put them in that position more often than sticking around on the FOB all the time
Once I get off leave, I have to concentrate on our deployment
...
It'll be my first
Just a suggestion: maybe you should get an actual deployment under your belt and see what the reality (vs. what is sold at the recruiters) before you start trying to go special operations/direct combat. Just thinking out loud here...
I'm the friend logging on again. Found out I'll be going to one of the line units after all (armor). I'll be one of only 2 females assigned to them for the deployment. According to the Ssg I talked to, we'll be medics over there so we'll be sometimes working the aid station (just like the guys will have to do) and sometimes going out on patrols to be regular line medics for our unit alongside the males as well as when we go into the villages because we'll be there to be medics to Afghan women too.
Our other purpose is to be a Female Engagement Team so again we'll be going out on patrols and talking with the Afghan women to find out any information we can learn that they wouldn't tell any of our male Soldiers. We'll also be used to search them if we have to. Our Sgt wants us two to learn some basics of the language even though we'll also be working with a translator. Also I figure with what we'll be doing, we may end up working alongside Civil Affairs and Psyop (or maybe not just because we're with a FET but because I know they sometimes go out with line units). So maybe I'll get some firsthand knowledge of what they do and how I'd like it (will to an extent anyway because I know they're about conversing with the Afghans to find out what they need and I'll be doing the same in the FET).
Anyway, I heard the Army hasn't been doing the female engagement teams as long as the Marines. I did already get the speech about how I'll have to be thick-skinned to be only 1 of 2 females around all those guys over there and how living conditions are likely going to suck. Does anyone have experience with them outside of the video on the first page? Any advice?
DM message your gov email, if you have one. I'll see if I can get in contact with some of these females. 3 of which were the only females on an outpost with 269 males.
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