General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Do women need to prove themselves equal to man on the battlefield? [View all]Puzzledtraveller
(5,937 posts)what a person is able to achieve quickly becomes an individual issue and less one of man or woman. I mean when you really are into it. I say this from the perspective as a firefighter in the USAF during Desert Storm. We had only one female in our ranks that was a "firefighter" we had a lieutenant but she was not a trained firefighter, I know it doesn't make sense but she was an engineer because fire protection was under civil engineering squad. Whether it was training or the real deal, a fire, a rescue operation. When I went in with our "female" firefighter, or if we were assigned to the same truck, or line in on a fire you quickly dismissed any concern over whether this "female" could cut it because she is a woman, but rather she is a "firefighter" and my life is in her hands and her life is in mine.
I never once doubted or questioned what she could do, there wasn't time. I needed her to be her best, as she needed me, and all of us to be our best. There are things you struggle with, things that most of the men had no problem with, but not maybe all the men. So then it didn't matter what she could do and prove or what she could not do and not prove except for the basic skills and knowledge needed to pass the fire protection specialist training. I remember in a situation where we got lost and I was quickly running out of air and near panic that she calmed me down and encouraged me to refocus and find our way out of building filled with so much smoke you could not see your hand infront of your face.