The Kinder, Gentler Military: Can America's Gender-Neutral Fighting Force Still Win Wars (Lisa Drew Books)

The Kinder, Gentler Military is a devastating critique of how and why the military—the most tradition-bound, masculine institution in the United States—spent the 1990s in a tortured attempt to reform its time-proven warrior culture in favor of a new, politically correct value system, a system that is decimating morale in our armed forces. "Our armed forces are deeply mired in an expensive, resource-draining, time-consuming, morale-flattening project, one that has nothing to do with military readiness and everything to do with politically correct politics," charges Stephanie Gutmann. "That project . . . has used quotas, double standards, and coercive policies to recruit greater numbers of women, promote them faster, and put them closer to combat with little thought to the fact that this is, in effect, an attempt to meld two dissimilar populations—men and women—in an institution that requires sameness, interchangeability, standard issues, known quantities." In The Kinder, Gentler Military, Gutmann scouts the field—the bases, the boot camps, the ships, and the flight lines—to observe what is often called the "New Military." She then shows why the complete integration of women into the military is physically and sociologically impossible and how the pursuit of this unrealistic ideal is profoundly demoralizing to soldiers of both sexes and a sure setup for battlefield disaster. While the politically correct stance on this hot topic is pro-integration, Gutmann's fresh and informative take on the practical and political inner workings of the nation's military will command national attention. Unflinching, compassionate, and balanced, The Kinder, Gentler Military is a persuasive argument in a compelling public debate. The Kinder, Gentler Military is a devastating critique of how and why the military--the most tradition-bound, masculine institution in the United States--spent the 1990s in a tortured attempt to reform its time-proven warrior culture in favor of a new, politically correct value system, a system that is decimating morale in our armed forces. In The Kinder, Gentler Military, Gutmann scouts the field--the bases, the boot camps, the ships, and the flight lines--to observe what is often called the "New Military." She then shows why the complete integration of women into the military is physically and sociologically impossible and how the pursuit of this unrealistic ideal is profoundly demoralizing to soldiers of both sexes and a sure setup for battlefield disaster. While the politically correct stance on this hot topic is pro-integration, Gutmann's fresh and informative take on the practical and political inner workings of the nation's military will command national attention.--Book jacket The Kinder, Gentler Military is a powerful critique of how and why the military spent the last decade in a tortured attempt to adopt a new, politically correct value system that is undermining morale in our armed forces.Stephanie Gutmann traveled to bases, boot camps, and ships to understand the "New Military" -- a military, she discovered, that had begun to discredit and eradicate aggression, competition, respect for authority and other qualities traditionally associated with a "warrior culture." Among the elements of this ongoing cultural overhaul is a new urgency about achieving "full" integration of women, and Gutmann's case study reveals the degree to which leadership has been willing to neglect combat readiness in favor of a more sensitive and caring, less "masculinist" and more "gender equal" force.Unflinching yet compassionate, balanced yet forthright, The Kinder, Gentler Military has changed the terms of the debate about a compelling public issue. The sun is just beginning to rise as Fort Jackson's "War Dogs" Platoonpart of Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 61st Infantry Regimentis herded into formation beneath the Victory Tower, a hulking edifice of wood planks, ladders, nets, and ropes surrounded by a pen of sawdust and big squishy vinyl-covered air mattresses, like the kind one sees children bounding around on at amusement parks. Introduction 11 1. Postcard from Fort Jackson, an Army Base, Columbia, South Carolina, March 1998 21 2. The Kinder, Gentler Boot Camp 44 3. At Sea with the "New Navy" 80 4. How Did We Get Here? 114 5. "Sex and Lies and Aircraft Carriers and Bosnia and ..." 189 6. Women in Infantry? 244 Conclusion 216 Sources Consulted 281 Index 289 Postcard from Fort Jackson, an army base, Columbia, South Carolina, March 1998 Kinder, gentler boot camp At sea with the "New Navy" How did we get hHere? "Sex and lies and aircraft carriers and Bosnia and ..." Women in infantry? Conclusion Sources consulted.