Click here or on the above image to view an enlarged version of this infographic from ColumnFive Media.
They say that knowledge of the past is a key to understanding the present. I have a degree in history, so you’d think I’d have a better grasp than most on the contemporary, but unfortunately, I just read a lot of books, wrote a lot of papers and took a lot of tests. I wish it were different, but the truth is, most of the present I have lived through has completely escaped me.
Generation X Women and War
For example, during the years I worked for the Air Force, I did not understand that every day I was working beside Generation X women who were making history. I even interviewed the first female flight commander at Tinker Air Force Base, but because my knowledge of the past was so transient, I could not fully appreciate all that it meant.
Nevertheless, I memorized their service ribbons and the way they clasped their regulation hats in the palms of their hands. I always liked Wednesdays because the entire base was decked out in BDUs. That’s Battle Dress Uniform for all you civilians. We went to lunch often, and oncein awhile, I met them at night at the Officer’s Club. But, you know, I never once asked any of them — Generation X military personnel — what it was like in the desert. I’m sure it was more boring than grim, but I still wish we’d talked about it.It didn’t occur to me until today, when I saw this infographic from ColumnFive Media that Generation X women were paramount to the largest single deployment of U.S. military women in history. The median age for women serving in the Gulf War was 37. In 1990, the oldest Gen Xer was 29.
All this reminds me of those times I showed up to the offices of colonels and generals with my steno pad and pen to write spit-shined retirement stories. I’d say, tell me a word to describe every permanent change of station you’ve had over the last 35 years, and other questions, all asinine to me now. In all these times, I never asked about the bodies in the river Drang. I regret it, because in those moments, sitting across the desk from all that brass, one thing about the present I completely understood was my own inadequacy in telling stories about people who’d been to war.
What’s your opinion on women and war?
I have often regretted not joining, too. I had so many opportunities to do so, including when the Army came in high school. They pulled me out of my senior English to talk to me about becoming a linguist. That recruiter was so disappointed. I didn’t even tell my parents for fear someone would make m wear that tight uniform jacket. So shallow. I don’t have many regrets, but I think if I had to live my life over, I would definitely join the military. I probably wouldn’t have been career, but it was a path that woudl have been right for me. Instead, I spent the 90s shopping at the mall. Lord, forgive me!! There was some talk a year or so ago about a law that somehow gives recruiters access to the parents of high school students. I’m not sure how it works, but I wish that law had been in place in 1985. Anyway, I’m rambling. It’s true, about being able to ask about WWII and not Vietnam. Indeed, sad!
Your life experiences never cease to amaze me. I wish we could meet. Maybe one day we will.
37 wow! Very interesting.
Jen, I worked for the AirForce as a civilian during the Vietnam War. I also performed evenings and Saturdays as a Red Cross volunteer at the local base hospital, the largest in the USAF! Reading to soldiers missing half a face and most of their limbs told me way more than I asked for about what it is like in battle! I still work to this day to get church people to fully accept visually disabled individuals, whether from battle or civilian life. And I NEVER will have patience with complaints of bad body odors since going a few times with co-workers to meet incoming body bags! Much of these experiences is finding its way into my current adult fairytale series. Many segments of this series appears at my blog, http://granbee.wordpress.com.
Yes, it is amazing that Gen Xer’s make up such a hugh portion of women in American military uniform today!
I used to regret not joining the armed forces, but it was not meant to be. My great aunts were army nurses during WW2 and I found out that I had a cousin who was a nurse at Pearl Harbor and saw all the action, a little lady from Henryetta. I have worked with a few veterans in the past. I knew I could ask a little bit about WW2 but nothing about Vietnam. So sad.