There is still a debate about whether women belong in combat. It's been more than a year since Defense Secretary Ash Carter ordered all branches of the military in 2015 to allow women on to the front lines of combat and generations since women silently fought alongside men in the Civil War.
Donald Trump defended this tweet from 2013 at last week's Commander-In-Chief Forum: "26,000 unreported sexual assaults in the military-only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?" He went on to say the solution was greater accountability for the perpetrators.
That is true. Yet, it doesn't begin to address the ethos of brotherhood and masculinity in the American military that accepts and perpetuates the perception of women as psychologically and physically frail. If male leaders don't believe they can do it, they won't give women opportunities to prove they can.
Two former soldiers join T.D. Mitchell, playwright for the current Hartford Stage production, Queens for a Year, the story of four generations of female warriors.
GUESTS:
- T.D. Mitchell - Playwright, screenwriter, writer for several seasons of Army Wives on Lifetime, and creator of Queens for a Year, which runs at Hartford Stage through October 2
- Kate Germano - Retired Lt. Colonel from the United States Marine Corp and currently the Chief Operating Officer for the Service Women's Action Network
- Wendy Barranco - Former medic for the U.S. Army, who served nine months in Tikrit, Iraq
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Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show.
