When did you serve (husband serve)? How long? What branch of the military? What did you do?

My father is a 77 yr old 20yr retiree of the USAF, Ret Mstr Sgt Wesley John Albert. He enlisted in the Army during WWII and was on the troop ship on its way to Italy when the allies took Italy. He served there as part of the occupying force. Afterward, he returned home to his family farm in Caribou, Maine where he worked the farm and at the Doctors Pharmcy in town, many miles away. It was then that he realized that what he wanted to do with his life was not plowing and planting, but serving, so he re-enlisted, this time with the newly founded USAF. He was one of the first to wear the Air Force Blue.

He did well, worked hard, and ended up at Bacalar AFB outside of Columbus, Indiana. This was where he met his wife of 49 yrs, Hazel Claire Dake, a civil service worker who had worked at Camp Atterbury during the time when it served as a POW camp for both German and Italian POWs. Before they were married, his Major transferred to Mitchel AFB in New York, taking my Dad with him. Shortly after that, he returned for her, married her, and whisked her off to a life of short checks, base housing, and little reward. And being a depression era small farm girl, she thrived in it.

While stationed at Mitchell, both my younger brother and I were born, and during his next assignment at Hickham AFB, my younger sister was born. From there we were stationed at Dover AFB and in Santa Monica, California. He retired in 1968 after 20 years so that he would not have to leave us to deploy to Viet Nam, forgoing a pending promotion to Sr. Mstr. Sgt.

My husband served in Germany right after high school in 1972 and is proud to be able to claim the title of a Marne Man. He served one enlistment, leaving after dealing with a Captain with few people skills and less street smarts than most of the enlisteds.

You perspective on females in the military in general? What about on the front lines?

*perpares to step on toes now, put on your steeltoed boots please* I am a natural shot, faring better on the range than most of the trained shooters I know, even military and police shooters. I'm smart, think outside the box, and would have thrived in the discipline and structure of military life, having been raised in it and knowing what it entails. But I also realize that I have absolutely no business in a combat unit under any but an all female unit.

Men and women are not hardwired the same. Our Fight/Flight responses are flight first, fight second. To put the majority of women into a combat unit invites disaster. Also, men are hardwired to protect the female, even a scuffed up, battle weary, hard core woman with no socially redeming qualities, and that puts not only him but his entire unit in danger. It is unacceptable to place an entire unit in danger because of the way the primative brain in us all reacts to harm or threat.

Also, if a woman feels she should be considered for front line units, she should have to meet every requirement that the men in her unit does. No diferences. Period.

You perspective on the military in general?

Over worked, under serviced, under appreciated, and under paid. I believe that all of us should serve, even those who cannot under combat conditions, and that it is time for the return of the auxiliaries. Older, experienced people who can do support and training jobs should be allowed to enlist for that purpose to work stateside. I believe there should be incentives not only to join, but to stay. And I believe that an appreciation for the military should be started at a very young age. The thought that anti-mil teachers are in charge of the classrooms just sickens me.