WT Forums

<b>D-M's McSally stirs hat debate</b>

An Air Force pilot who sued the Pentagon for forcing female troops to wear Muslim garb overseas has sparked a new debate about gender differences in military dress.

Lt. Col. Martha McSally wore a men's flight cap - forbidden for women under U.S. Air Force rules - when she recently became the first active-duty woman to lead an Air Force fighter squadron.

News of the 38-year-old aviator's action, in a Tucson ceremony, traveled all the way to Washington, D.C., when the Air Force Times ran a photograph highlighting her choice of male headgear.

McSally made international headlines in 2002 when she sued the Defense Department for discrimination for forcing her to wear an abaya, a long, black cloak worn by Muslim women, when traveling off-base in Saudi Arabia. She won, and the policy was reversed.

Whether McSally intended to make a new point by wearing the men's flight cap isn't clear because she declined to be interviewed, according to officials at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, where she is stationed.

D-M's public affairs office issued a statement on her behalf last week that said she didn't break the rules and that the hat regulation "needs clarification."

But an Air Force official at the Pentagon said McSally's action was "<b><u>illegal</b></u>" under the service's dress regulations.

The Air Force Uniform Board, which oversees the service's 145-page dress code, <u>released updated rules in early July that specifically ban women from wearing the men's flight cap</u>, said Senior Master Sgt. Jacqueline Dean, board chief. <u>Two weeks later, McSally wore the forbidden headgear to her change-of-command ceremony at D-M.</u>

McSally hasn't faced discipline for her action, and it's not likely she will because dress code violations are rarely punished in the military unless they become a chronic problem, officials say.

Also, a D-M spokesman was quoted as saying...

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>McSally was focused on leading her squadron and didn't want to address peripheral issues like the cap<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>

<img src=newicons/anim_puke.gif border=0 align=middle><img src="http://kvoa.static.worldnow.com/images/2214586_BG1.jpg" border=0>

Cheers! M2

I heard through the grapevine..........actually I read it on the bathroom wall that she is changing her callsign to 'Butch.'
Seriously though and I mean this, does anyone know this officer personally or has anyone served under her ? Maybe give us all a wag as to whether or not you feel in your opinion that she a a good pilot and a good leader. I am just curious because I hate to shred her without reason.

By this time tomorrow I shall have gained either a pearage or Westminster Abbey........Nelson

Edited by - Hawg166 on Sep 09 2004 06:58 AM

_________________
YGBSM !

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
.... Maybe give us all a wag as to whether or not you feel in your opinion that she a a good pilot and a good leader. I am just curious because I hate to shred her without reason.

<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>

A good leader would be one who follows the rules and regs she/he is charged with enforcing. If she disagrees with something she should try to have it changed but, not openly disreguard it because she doesn't agree with it.

Ugly But Well Hung

Who keeps promoting this nit wit lady?

"Molon labe".
Leonidas, King of Sparta,
Thermopylae, 480 B.C.

I agree Dice in the strictest sense of the word, but lets be honest, the military as a whole while possesing the ability to change can sometimes be rather rigid in its attempt to do so. There are a lot of people that really hate to see a woman in a leadership role of this stature. There are people who could , and would, seek to slander a woman for no other good reason than that she is a woman and should be makin me corned beef hash and eggs instead of throttle jockeying. I just dont like to be totally judgemental when I really know nothing about her except what is passed along here. Even though I know with all my heart that everyone here is totally non self serving and unbiased in there opinions.

By this time tomorrow I shall have gained either a pearage or Westminster Abbey........Nelson

_________________
YGBSM !

No matter how smart or good she is, she has drawn attention to herself for all the wrong reasons. Had the whole abaya issue not gotten so overblown in the press, and if we all didn't have to endure such syrupy commentaries on how she is such a "crusader" and how she "has the guts to stand up for what's right," she would not have the reputation she has now. Personally I agreed with her, US policy wasn't right and needed to be changed, but the way she went about it was wrong. And no one here alienated her for being a woman, she did that herself.

I think at some point in our careers we have all encountered something in the military we feel isn't right and have made an effort to change it. The point is that we just don't go ignoring the rules because we disagree with them, and whereas I may have bent a few rules a little myself (such as my mustache while I was in Bosnia), I sure as hell would have made certain I was 100% perfect and in regs before accepting command of a fighter squadron. Was she ignorant of the rule against the wearing of men’s flight caps by women or did she blatantly ignore it? I don't know, but either way she was wrong no matter how "accepted" the practice may be, she is not a man and she should not have been wearing a man's hat at that well-publicized ceremony.

And speaking of which, the whole question of how she got that command in the first place comes into play. Last I heard she was heading to the Zoo, suddenly she gets command of an A-10 squadron. That smells worse than a Frenchman on Friday.

As for some of the cracks on this forum, I am sure some of the more extreme ones were made in jest. However, as I said, she put herself in the hot seat, and after knowingly wearing the wrong hat (if she didn't know beforehand, she sure as hell knew afterward) she still is lacking the guts to admit she was wrong by failing to admit her mistake. We all fuck up on occasion, for some of us it is almost a daily experience. The difference is most of us admit it and accept the consequences. She simply ignored hers. The word is integrity...she needs to get some.

I will now step off the soapbox...

Cheers! M2