Mascara and a Rifle: Women in the Military (Guest Post by Dacia M. Arnold)

Hey everybody!  Sorry about the brief hiatus.  My schedule is...well, not really calm, but let's say less hectic.  In any case, I don't want to leave this blog to languish for too long ever again, so I called in some favors and managed to score a guest post for you all today.  So I'm pleased to introduce you to author and vet, Dacia M. Arnold.  Let's introduce her briefly and then jump right into the post.

About Dacia M. Arnold:

Dacia M Arnold is an author of dystopian fiction and dark/ horror short fiction. She is also a ten-year Army veteran and served two tours of combat as a medic. Dacia is now a mother and fulltime author in Denver, Colorado. Her debut novel, APPARENT POWER (Immortal Works Press), comes out in December 2018 as is the adult answer to DIVERGENT. Dacia M Arnold blogs at DaciaMArnold.com and you can support her on Patreon.

Guest Post:

One of the stipulations Stephen put on this guest post was that it had to be NOT boring. Here is my honest attempt.

First, I wanted to let every writer know one thing, because it seems like people forget: WOMEN SERVE IN THE MILITARY!!! In ALL branches and now, in all combat positions. And the women that serve(d) are not all tall skinny sexy-pots, undeniably butch, or incompetent.

There. I said it.

Also, there are no “Lady” combat loads. 210 rounds of ammunition weighs as much for a 6’3” 200-pound man as it does for a 5’2”, 117-pound woman. There is no “male small” and “female small” body armor. When the ruck requirement is 50 pounds, it’s 50 pounds for everyone. Women get all the same tactical and lethal combat training that men go through.

So why the vaginal omission from military fiction? If I were to guess, it would be the unfamiliarity of how females function in this capacity and how they change the dynamic of the element they belong to. Only 1% of the US population will serve in the armed forces (3.25 million people both serving or have served). That’s about how many people live in LA currently. So, for the majority, speculating on the experience with the addition of women might be difficult. Movies have gotten better at the incorporation; however, females do not often appear in serious leadership roles.

As much as I would like to think that the real-world incorporation of females in combat jobs did not affect the atmosphere of comradery, I do not assume the world, much less the military or the literary world, has ultimately reached gender equality.

“How do we do military women justice in fiction?”

Do you have a sister? THAT is the relationship most males and females within the ranks foster. Imagine a female gaming friend that is off limits, but even if there is an attraction, it’s understood that nothing outside of a plutonic relationship is acceptable. You can even write a motherly figure into an otherwise all male element. No doubt she can pull her weight, but she might also bring a nurturing dynamic. Do you work in an office with ladies? These, nonthreatening, nonsexual, fully coherent and competent female beings exist IN THE MILITARY.

Want to know something scary? Once a woman gets out of the military and takes on other jobs in society, maybe has a few kids… They become the single most capable and defensive human being to walk this planet. Imagine Wynona Ryder’s character on "Stranger Things," ripping a hole in her wall with her bare hands to reach her son… Now imagine if she had been combat trained. Here is a short story from my experiences at war.

I used to carry a hatchet, unsheathed, swinging by my side when I had to walk to the bathroom at night. There had been an increase in women being attacked on the way to go pee in a trailer that was anywhere from next door to a quarter mile away. Again, I carried a hatchet to the bathroom to protect myself from getting raped by a fellow service member. Someone I should have been able to trust with my life. This is just an example of how a woman functions in this atmosphere. No one ever attacked me on my way to the bathroom.

From the time I joined the Army at 19 until I got out at 29, I trained on ways to defend from people trying to kill me or rape me. I did not fear for my life when I carried that hatchet. I feared for the person that I might have to use it on. In a fight for my life, I might lose, but that MFer would not make it out in the same shape he went in. All 5’2” of fierce desperation still knows how to take a grown man down.

I hope I was able to shine enough light on this mythical creature to make writers more comfortable in incorporating females into their fictional defense of this country.

And before someone barks at me, yes, some writers are aware of such matters and DO incorporate strong females into military Sci-Fi. David Gerrold did it in the 80s with Elizabeth “Lizard” Tirelli, a chopper pilot. David Weber also with Honor Harrington.

I’m just a girl, reading this contemporary military fiction, wishing it didn’t miss the mark. CHEERS!