Together We Rise, Or None Of Us Do, Part Two.

We're fighting bulls of the Buffaloes, Git a goin' – git a goin'
From Kansas' plains we'll hunt our foes;
A trottin' down the line.
Our range spreads west to Santa Fe, Git a goin' – git a goin'.
From Dakota down the Mexican way; A trottin' down the line.

Goin' to drill all day
Goin' to drill all night,
I got my money on the buffaloes,
Somebody bet on the fight.
~The Buffaloes, Regimental song of the 10th United States Cavalry Regiment, (First two stanzas.)

Yesterday, Republicans walked out of a hearing concerning the health of female veterans.

That's right, instead of doing their jobs, they simply walked out. Instead of even maintaining the most basic pretense of doing their jobs, they walked out, as one.

That kind of thing makes a statement. And that statement is "Fuck You."

You want to tell me again how Republicans love the military and support the troops?

Do it and I'm a laugh at you.

I know that is a crock of shit from what I've seen with my own eyes and from personal experience of dealing with this crap. And when Police officers start turning up with PTSD and shit they'll be abandoned too. Likewise when the next group Republicans decide to "Support" has a problem, the same will happen. If you're a Republican, everybody else is always expendable.

Fuck these motherfuckers.

One has to wonder, if these people would walk out on a hearing concerning the benefits of African American veterans, or Latino veterans, or LGBT or non-citizen veterans.

I think we know what the answer is to that.

A bit over a year ago, I wrote an article in response to a friend's emotional distress over a racist incident, it was concerning the contributions of Puerto Rican people to the common good, history, and success of the United States Of America.

Included in that article was this photo of 1st Lt. Olga Custodio, the first Latina to graduate from United States Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training. She became a T-38 Talon instructor pilot.

If you are a White person (especially a man) you may not get this, but things like representation are important.
Girls and young women seeing women in uniform may motivate them to do better, to possibly expand their horizons or possibly to seek a career in uniform themselves.

(Actually, you do intuitively understand this, my fellow white dudes...that's why historically so many people are so shitty toward People Of Color, LGBT people and Women in the military, and you goddamned well know it. Not only that, but I know you know it. Admitting you have a problem is the first step in correcting that problem.)

That's why even in developing countries like Afghanistan, when International Women's Day rolls around every year, the government tends to make sure that female government workers and military and police personnel are visible, in spiffed-up dress uniforms or whatever. Because even there, it's well understood that representation matters, this is true both in a modern society and one only aspiring to modernity.

And surely, we can do better than Afghanistan?

In this day and age, where a gender imbalance in Tech fields and a lack of women in various STEM specialties is clearly a problem it might help, to call attention to United States Navy Rear Admiral, and computer pioneer Grace Murray Hopper. AKA "Amazing Grace" and "Grandma COBOL." For fuck's sake, the Navy saw fit to name an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer after her, and the ship was ordered and presumably named in 1992, during the term of Republican President George H.W. Bush...and launched in 1996 and commissioned into the Fleet the following year.

So we can do better. Republicans are just currently choosing not to.

I'd be willing to bet you money that social media in particular would probably be improved by more women in Tech, women who could damn well be inspired by Grace Hopper's example.

Things like equal pay and benefits are important...for the simple reason that if somebody is doing the same job as everybody else...which by the nature of military service everybody in a given unit must put forth equal effort within the context of their duties or shit doesn't function properly and people can get killed...they should damned well get paid the same.

When the War Department decided to try to get away with paying Black troops less during the Civil War, several regiments fought without pay until the disparity was corrected....and there were plenty of those guys who didn't live to get a paycheck. But they understood the importance of people having an equal share in the promise of America enough to fight and die for it nevertheless.

And if you can't understand that, then I can't explain it to you.

In a changing world, a world that must change if our planet and species are to survive, privilege is the enemy of progress.

If you can't understand that women who served in the military deserve to have their concerns heard by our legislators...all of them...then fuck you. I can't help you, and you will never get it.

If your misogyny or your racism or your wealth is just that damned important to you, then you are part of the problem and as far as I'm concerned you need to be dealt with accordingly.

And I say that as a middle-aged white dude.

One who'd never have gotten to this point in life without women and people of color.

Together we rise, or none of us do.

And I say that as a former conservative and Republican.

The way the Republican Party is currently conducting itself is immoral, and you damned well know it.