Army lets soldiers take ‘I do’ to Iraq war zone

[RamboLiberal]

Source: MSNBC/AP

When American soldiers get off duty in Iraq, the men usually return to their quarters, the women to theirs. But Staff Sgt. Marvin Frazier gets to go back to a small trailer with two pushed-together single beds that he shares with his wife.

In a historic but little-noticed change in policy, the Army is allowing scores of husband-and-wife soldiers to live and sleep together in the war zone — a move aimed at preserving marriages, boosting morale and perhaps bolstering re-enlistment rates at a time when the military is struggling to fill its ranks five years into the fighting.

“It makes a lot of things easier,” said Frazier, 33, a helicopter maintenance supervisor in the 3rd Infantry Division. “It really adds a lot of stress, being separated. Now you can sit face-to-face and try to work out things and comfort each other.”

Long-standing Army rules barred soldiers of the opposite sex from sharing sleeping quarters in war zones. Even married troops lived only in all-male or all-female quarters and had no private living space.

But in May 2006, Army commanders in Iraq, with little fanfare, decided that it is in the military’s interest to promote wedded bliss. In other words: What God has joined together, let no manual put asunder.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23884819/

[RC]

1. Another effort for Stop Loss"?

Yeah, I can see this as helping to keep your mind on survival when your S.O. in under fire. :sarcasm:

[sce56]

2. Maybe it will help some from having this happen to them

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x349610
babylonsister
Rep. Jane Harman: Rapists in the ranks

Rapists in the ranks
Sexual assaults are frequent, and frequently ignored, in the armed services.
By Jane Harman
March 31, 2008


The stories are shocking in their simplicity and brutality: A female military recruit is pinned down at knifepoint and raped repeatedly in her own barracks. Her attackers hid their faces but she identified them by their uniforms; they were her fellow soldiers. During a routine gynecological exam, a female soldier is attacked and raped by her military physician. Yet another young soldier, still adapting to life in a war zone, is raped by her commanding officer. Afraid for her standing in her unit, she feels she has nowhere to turn.

These are true stories, and, sadly, not isolated incidents. Women serving in the U.S. military are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire in Iraq.

The scope of the problem was brought into acute focus for me during a visit to the West Los Angeles VA Healthcare Center, where I met with female veterans and their doctors. My jaw dropped when the doctors told me that 41% of female veterans seen at the clinic say they were victims of sexual assault while in the military, and 29% report being raped during their military service. They spoke of their continued terror, feelings of helplessness and the downward spirals many of their lives have since taken.

[MindPilot]

4. and it is not just the women

the incidents of male on male rape in the military may exceede that which occurs in prison.

[sce56]

5. That reminds me of the story I heard after Desert Storm of the Ether Bunny

It was a gross supposedly true story!

[MindPilot]

3. man that's a far cry from when I was in...

"SAILOR, IF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT WANTED YOU TO HAVE A WIFE YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN ISSUED ONE IN BOOT CAMP!"