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Old 05-28-2004, 12:59 PM
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Angry Baby Killers

I was reading the news today when I came across an article about ROTC members being called "baby killers". I did a google search on ROTC and baby killers and came up with this.

first 10 of 98

The Daily Beacon Online - Military veteran unsettled about 'baby ...
... baby killers" being written upon Army and Air Force ROTC paraphernalia ... profession
(particularly the latter) is associated with the term "baby killer." Not only ...
http://dailybeacon.utk.edu/article.php/8129 - 13k - similar pages

The Daily Beacon Online - War at home
... 21, 2002, guest columnist Daniel McInturff was walking along Pat Head Summitt Street
with other ROTC cadets when he was called a "baby-killer" by a fellow ...
http://dailybeacon.utk.edu/article.php/8687 - 13k - similar pages

Student Soldiers at Dartmouth | The Dartmouth Free Press
... extension, the ROTC program. The first regards the ?Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell?
policy. The second is that there is a stereotypical ?baby-killer? ethic ...
http://dfp.dartmouth.edu/index.php?a...&id=744&title= - 14k - similar pages

Oregon Daily Emerald - University of Oregon news and sports ...
... It can be interesting at times," sophomore ROTC cadet Shawn ... For example, Cooper
said he has been called a "baby killer" when walking on campus in uniform. ...
http://www.dailyemerald.com/vnews/di.../409a6f3af2642 - 26k - similar pages

NYC 9.11.01
... and it's...I mean, I was once, my freshman year, called a baby killer by an ... class
and stuff like that in, like, my other classes besides my ROTC class 'cause I ...
http://www.documentnewyork.com/story.php?primaryKey=99 - 10k - similar pages

Airwarriors - college programmer
... I don't know the details but I met some ROTC Ensigns down here from ... the occasional
ultra-liberal barking moonbat who think's you're a baby-killer-in-training. ...
http://www.airwarriors.com/forum/sho...astpost&t=6460 - 86k - similar pages

IS SOLDIERING AN ETHICAL DECISION
... attitude that prompted students in the late 1960s to yell "baby-killer" at fellow ... met
repeatedly during the past three years to discuss whether ROTC should be ...
http://www.usafa.af.mil/jscope/JSCOPE95/Kellogg95.html - 55k - similar pages

Montana Kaimin Online
... Ten of the 51 cadets in UM's ROTC are women. According to Mjr. ... I have never walked
across campus without being called a `baby killer' or `government-paid whore ...
http://www.kaimin.org/Feb2001/2-22-0...e_2-22-01.html - 38k - similar pages

Dope-smokin' HIPPIES!
... 9. He has a picture of himself with Angela Davis. 8. He requires ROTC students
to wear a sign on their chest that reads "Baby-Killer in Training.". ...
http://www.angelfire.com/tx4/busters...hippyprof.html - 4k - similar pages

It's a wonderful life on NMSU campus - The Round Up - Opinion
... as some kind of psycho "baby killer?" My only reference to college life was my own
petition-filled, cold war-era college days. My alma mater had no ROTC program ...
http://www.roundupnews.com/news/2003/03/11/Opinion/Its-
A.Wonderful.Life.On.Nmsu.Campus-631686.shtml - 45k - similar pages


I don't think I want to do a search on baby killers alone or with any other military words.

Excuse me now. I have to go somewhere and cry.

Joy
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Old 05-28-2004, 01:29 PM
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The women of the ROTC

Story by Trisha Miller
Photos by Michael Cohea

With the sun on her face, kneeling next to a tree, pack on back, M-16 within an arm's length to her left, Candice Griffith hears her operations order. She takes notes and relays the objectives to her team leaders. Before an operation to destroy the enemy, she demonstrates her mission to her squad on what is called a sand table, even though there is nothing sandy about the foot of snow the Grizzly Battalion is tromping through.






Mary Gennrich takes cover behind trees during practice exercises of the Grizzly Battalion held at Pattee Canyon.
The one-inch green, plastic soldiers are maneuvered on the sand table just as the real life cadets will in a few minutes.

Not quite a typical Tuesday afternoon, but for Griffith and five other women cadets in the University of Montana's Reserved Officers Training Corps it's "not really play time, but to go out into a field and be serious about something. A place to execute what we have been learning and see how it feels to run a squad," Griffith says.






Mary Gennrich walks in formation with other members of the Grizzly Battalion during practice exercises at Pattee Canyon.
"I want to execute with as much stealth without compromising our position," Griffith demands of her squad. "We will be moving in a wedge formation."

The group proceeds to rehearse its triangular positions; Griffith is in the middle so she can communicate with both the front and rear cadets.

As the squad approaches the enemy, it moves into position behind trees or lying flat on the ground, and a loud yell of "bang, bang, bang," echoes through Pattee Canyon. The enemy has been destroyed.

Griffith searches the enemy for maps, grids, codes _ anything that could be helpful in the art of warfare.

"Candice is one of the top two cadets in the whole Battalion," Sgt. First Class Rick Gaona, who is an instructor for Griffith's class of Military Science III, says.

Griffith, though proud, is humble.

"I am not letting it go to my head. I know I have worked very hard to know where I am at. It's an accomplishment, a situation that I take very seriously. I have never been at the top of anything in my life. I am proud of myself knowing I am able to do it," Griffith, the only Montana native of the bunch, says.

As a third-year student in UM's military science classes, Griffith has the heart, determination and motivation to be all she can be, Gaona says. Griffith and another cadet spent their three day weekend working with Gaona on sand tables, preparing for situational training exercises at Pattee Canyon. "That's how dedicated they are; they give their free time up," Gaona says.






Krisha Andrews shares a lighthearted moment during briefing with a fellow member of the Grizzly Battalion.
Ten of the 51 cadets in UM's ROTC are women. According to Mjr. Steve Webster "you see a soldier," not a woman or man. And soldiers are required to be up long before the Montana sun, at six a.m., three days a week for physical training. This includes long distance runs, sit-ups and push-ups. Every Tuesday holds a requirement of wearing full uniforms and a three to four hour situational training in full gear and weapons in the woods.


"It takes a lot of strength to participate in the program, being man or woman. I feel more women should step up and take on the duty to serve their country, because they will soon realize once being a part of it they will have strength like they never had before," Mary Gennrich, a military science II student, says.

Sometimes, the strength can come from experiences not on the battle field, but from interactions with civilians.






The enemy is searched for information by a member of the ambush team during practice drills of the Grizzly Battalion.
"I have never walked across campus without being called a `baby killer' or `government-paid whore.' I am protecting their constitution and the constitution gives them the right, the freedom of speech to say that," Niki Meyer, who will graduate in the spring, says.

Last year, a man followed Meyer home from school every Tuesday, shouting obscenities and insults at her, but the army way is not to react unless it is in self defense, Meyer says. "There are so many awful things I wanted to react to, but I can't. I feel pride in my uniform, but I don't want to deal with those insults either."






Niki Meyer stands with her AK-47, which is made of plastic. Most cadets carry "rubber duckies," which are 8 to 9 pound replica M-16s made of plastic to simulate a real gun.
"It makes me feel sorry for those who don't understand what it means to be in the military. They don't have any worries like people in other countries do, about the choices they have like to attend a higher learning institute, growing up in a safe neighborhood, walking around with free ideas and abilities to express them without persecution. It all rests on the people who have served for the military in the past," Gennrich says.

For the rest of the week, the uniform is hanging in the closet and it is up to the women to offer the information of their ROTC involvement. Reactions are mostly of shock, they say, followed by positive comments or a quick joke about being a "buff army chick."

"Most people take a step back. They automatically think I am tough and want to beat them up," Gennrich says.

"I am not this burly military girl that doesn't know how to have fun," military science II student, Krisha Andrews says, who is a member of the Alpha Phi sorority as well. "They are totally two different worlds; I wouldn't give up one for the other."

The ROTC women are not quite sorority sisters, but have a solid support system among themselves, the other male cadets and their instructors and leaders.

The cadets of military science II status are working with the MS III and IV during situational training for the first time this year.

"I am learning and watching and shadowing them. Next year we will have a heads up. They really want to help you and are willing to explain if you are willing to get help and speak up," Andrews said.

Meyer admits the thing that intimidates her the most also pushes her to do her best. "I get intimidated by the physical stuff. When we go out to the field to do the mission I can hold my own. But I'm tired and the men are not and it gets embarrassing at times. The guys are very supportive. Even though they are the people who intimidate me, they are the ones who are supportive," Meyer says.

Griffith shares Meyer's sentiments.

"The guys definitely push you to see where your limit is and to see if you can exceed it," Griffith says. "There is always going to be that element of jealousy _ their structure makes them more able to do some of the physical stuff better _ but we are right there next to each other. We don't let structures get in the way of how we can accomplish things."

Now imagine one of the supporting cadets of the opposite sex is your boyfriend. Both Gennrich and Meyer are dating within the Grizzly Battalion. If he was a higher rank than you, it is possible it could cause some problems, Meyer said. Her boyfriend was a level IV, and it was only her third week of classes; she did not understand the procedure and was too embarrassed to ask. Consequently, Meyer came to pre-combat inspection with out any combat gear. It was her boyfriend who was in charge and had to do the disciplining.






Julie Stock walks along a path on her way to the next exercise during the training of the Grizzly Battalion cadets at Pattee Canyon.
"I was reamed for about an hour. I had to separate the fact that he was a higher ranking officer and not my boyfriend at that time. After that he was never able to evaluate me. But now I will be graduating before him, so I will out-rank him," she says.

Within days of receiving their bachelor's degree in the major of their choice, the women will earn their commission and become lieutenants. After that they have a wide range of choices from military police to army communication for a military career, if they choose.

What have they gained from being in ROTC? Other than being able to do more than 50 push-ups in two minutes, these four women discovered dedication, a backbone and two votes for confidence.

"I feel better about myself. Being in ROTC has cultured me. In doing this makes you feel like you're important. I believe everyone on this earth has a purpose and mine is to be in the army," Andrews says .
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Old 05-28-2004, 02:25 PM
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Stationed in San Francisco '68-'69 I think "baby-killer"was probably the NICEST thing I was ever called.
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