Show WHAT IF Revisited Picture if you will a bleak and barren landscape in a far faraway faraway faraway away corner of Siberia There is a war going on and fighting in the trenches are bone- bone weary snow-caked snow soldiers They are hungry cold desol- desol tired of spirit and frightened They should be The Russian soldiers on home ground are well-fed well and well The American supply lines were severed during a bloody battle five days ago The Americans have been valiantly valiantly valiantly val val- holding their line but all can see that the end is near The battle which ensued was brutal The Russian Soldiers Soldiers Soldiers Sol Sol- diers were ruthless just as they had been when they invaded Berlin They savagely raped and they tore limb from limb the frail weakened bodies of the American fe female female female fe- fe male soldiers The American men had tried to assist the women but it was quite impossible impossible impossible im im- possible to defend themselves themselves themselves them them- selves their country and the women at the same time Those who survived were marched 75 miles to a prison camp In the prison the women were used as field whores They were persistently sexually sexually sexually sex sex- and coerced into trading sex for ledges The Russians also allowed allowed al allowed al- al lowed the American male POWs POW's to barter for the favors of their female counterparts They were humiliated and degraded in every way imagined imagined imagined ima ima- and unimagined WHAT IF the women had stayed behind the lines or at home in America You may ask yourself who is this s person writing this letter Allow me to tell you I Iam Iam Iam am a year old woman certainly in no danger of being being being be be- ing drafted I am also a Viet VietNam VietNam VietNam Nam Era veteran I served my country for three years at atWalter atWalter atWalter Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC D.C. and at the General Hospital Hospital Hospital Hos Hos- pital in Frankfurt West Vest Ger Ger- many As such I have seen the human remains of war I have also been on the receiving end of continual verbal harrass- harrass ment and sexual comment It is dehumanizing and demoralizing Subjecting our 19 and 20 year old coeds to that type of abuse is not in the interest of our National Defense I oppose oppose oppose op op- pose any politician who says that it is I do not want it for formy formy formy my daughter or for any other young woman via the draft It is my opinion that our women have the strength p e and courage necessary to serve our coun coun- try Serving is not synonymous synonymous synonymous with combat duty It doesn't even necessarily imply imply imply im im- ply military service There are many ways in which to serve I would be proud to have my daughter serve her country General Elizabeth Hoisington ton former director of the Women's Army Corps has said There is more to fear than being killed and not returning to your loved ones at home Washington Star 9 Jan Jail 1980 pp A Iff Ms T Trudi r u di Smith and anyone else who feels as she does need not wait to be drafted They are free to join Martha L. L Minnick |