Military Facts
Next Entries »What Women Experience in the Military
Friday, February 15th, 2008Women often join the military to gain skills and break out of traditional roles. However, while the range of military work open to women has increased over the years, women are still limited in the positions open to them. And within those positions, they are often given traditional tasks: according to one government report, “many women report that they are not allowed to work at the jobs for which they were trained . . . [and] that they are routinely assigned clerical or administrative duties instead of being given the opportunity to work in the full range of their occupations” (GAO/NSIAD-99-27, 11/98). Sexual harassment and rape are a real threat to women in the military. In 1995, the armed forces surveyed female members and found that 52% reported sexual harassment.
The Easy Money for College Myth
Friday, February 15th, 2008Recruiters might promise you tens of thousands of free dollars for college, but it’s not free-you must work for it. And it’s not automatic. Unless you qualify for special jobs or sign up for an extra-long term, you’ll never see the higher amounts of money. To qualify for any college aid at all, you have to pay a $1200 non-refundable deposit to the military. If you receive a less-than-honorable discharge (as about one in four people do), leave the military in less than 3 years, (as one in three do), or later decide not to go to college, the military will keep your deposit and give you nothing.
Where are all the jobs?
Friday, February 15th, 2008BY CHERYL L. REED STAFF REPORTER, March 26, 2006
In two tours in Iraq as a Marine sergeant, Angelina Summerfield supervised up to 50 switchboard and radio operators whose job was to monitor U.S. spy planes and report sightings of roadside bombs.
Now back in civilian life and living in Blue Island, Summerfield, like thousands of other veterans returning home after serving in Iraq, is finding it tough to get a job despite her military experience.
Good Jobs for Vets?
Monday, February 11th, 2008Returning veterans get good jobs because of all the training they get in the military, right? Well, maybe not, check out the chart and see for yourself unemployment rates nearly double for vets as compared to non-vets.
You have probably heard that the military gives you job training. But if that’s true, why is it so hard for returning veterans to find jobs?
Racism in the military
Sunday, February 10th, 2008
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has received hundreds of complaints of racism in the military. Their report says discrimination haunts African-Americans, Latinos and women in the military. In 2000, 37.5% of the enlisted personnel were people of color, but only 16.2% of the officers were. Latinos in the Marine Corps, for example, made up 13.5% of the enlisted ranks, but only 5.8% of the officers. When the Los Angeles Times investigated the Ft. Leavenworth military prison in 1994, it found that 50% of all the inmates, and 83% of those under a military death sentence, were people of color.From an interview with a veteran, Aiden Delgado, published by blackcommentator.com
Army says soldiers can’t use own body armor
Sunday, February 10th, 2008Army Orders Soldiers to Shed Dragon Skin or Lose SGLI Death Benefits
By Nathaniel R. Helms
Soldiers for the Truth Saturday 14 January 2006
Two deploying soldiers and a concerned mother reported Friday afternoon that the US Army appears to be singling out soldiers who have purchased Pinnacle’s Dragon Skin Body Armor for special treatment. The soldiers, who are currently staging for combat operations from a secret location, reported that their commander told them if they were wearing Pinnacle Dragon Skin and were killed their beneficiaries might not receive the death benefits from their $400,000 SGLI life insurance policies. Read the rest of this entry »
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