The U.S. military is a massive institution, and its policies on
sex, gender, and sexuality have shaped the experiences of tens of
millions of Americans, sometimes in life-altering fashion. The
essays ...in Managing Sex in the U.S. Military examine
historical and contemporary military policies and offer different
perspectives on the broad question: "How does the U.S. military
attempt to manage sex?" This collection focuses on the U.S.
military's historical and contemporary attempts to manage sex-a
term that is, in practice, slippery and indefinite, encompassing
gender and gender identity, sexuality and sexual orientation, and
sexual behaviors and practices, along with their outcomes. In each
chapter, the authors analyze the military's evolving definitions of
sex, sexuality, and gender, and the significance of those
definitions to both the military and American society.
At the end of the First World War, countries across Europe participated in an unprecedented ritual in which a single, anonymous body was buried to symbolize the overwhelming trauma of the ...battlefields; The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier explores the creation and reception of this symbolic national burial as an emblem for modern mourning.
Anchors Aweigh! The History of Women Surgeons at Sea Hernandez, Amy A; Sobocinski, André B; Tadlock, Matthew D
Journal of the American College of Surgeons,
2024-May-01, 2024-05-00, 20240501, Volume:
238, Issue:
5
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Throughout history, the maritime nations of the world have employed surgeons in sea-going service. The history of women in surgery and the military is well described, but no previous report exists ...describing the gender breakdown of past and current sea-going US Navy general surgeons. Using literature review, primary sources, personal interviews, and correspondence with Navy Medicine administrative leaders, this historical review describes the evolution of women providing surgical care at sea. During the 1800s and early 1900s, some of the earliest women surgeons in England, America, and Russia began their surgical careers in military service or providing combat casualty care. Women at sea served unpaid nursing roles in the 1700s and provided informal medical care in the 1800s. In 1913 and 1941, 2 different women held medical leadership roles aboard sea-going vessels. Four years after Congress allowed women to serve aboard combatant vessels, Dr Beth Jaklic became the first woman to serve as Ship's Surgeon aboard a US Navy warship in 1997. From 1997 to 2020, 19% of surgeons serving on aircraft carriers were women and one-half of the 20 general surgeons assigned to maritime surgical billets were women in 2022. War and the military environment historically have offered opportunities for women to break boundaries in the world of surgery. Navy Medicine's experience with women surgeons at sea serves as a positive example to the broader surgical community, especially "austere" practices and subspecialties with limited female representation.
A pressing question in military suicide prevention research is whether deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom relates to suicide risk. Prior smaller studies ...report differing results and often have not included suicides that occurred after separation from military service.
To examine the association between deployment and suicide among all 3.9 million US military personnel who served during Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom, including suicides that occurred after separation.
This retrospective cohort design used administrative data to identify dates of deployment for all service members (October 7, 2001, to December 31, 2007) and suicide data (October 7, 2001, to December 31, 2009) to estimate rates of suicide-specific mortality. Hazard ratios were estimated from time-dependent Cox proportional hazards regression models to compare deployed service members with those who did not deploy.
Suicide mortality from the Department of Defense Medical Mortality Registry and the National Death Index.
Deployment was not associated with the rate of suicide (hazard ratio, 0.96; 99% CI, 0.87-1.05). There was an increased rate of suicide associated with separation from military service (hazard ratio, 1.63; 99% CI, 1.50-1.77), regardless of whether service members had deployed or not. Rates of suicide were also elevated for service members who separated with less than 4 years of military service or who did not separate with an honorable discharge.
Findings do not support an association between deployment and suicide mortality in this cohort. Early military separation (<4 years) and discharge that is not honorable were suicide risk factors.
For decades, military assistance in southern Somalia focused on building up a central state army. This reflects standard patterns of Western assistance worldwide. Yet the nature of Somali society and ...clan, greatly affected by the winnowing process of more than 30 years of conflict, means that most sub-clan groupings are more militarily effective than centralised forces deployed to unfamiliar areas. The centralised Somali National Army remains riven by clan itself, thoroughly politicised, and ineffective (with the exception of the Danab special forces). Based on fieldwork and interviews with military personnel who work in Somalia, Colin D Robinson and Jahara Matisek argue that these locally appropriate forces deserve assistance, albeit with some caveats, in the continuing struggle against Al-Shabaab.◼
When the First Crusade ended with the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, jubilant crusaders returned home to Europe bringing with them stories, sacred relics, and other memorabilia, including banners, ...jewelry, and weapons. In the ensuing decades, the memory of the crusaders' bravery and pious sacrifice was invoked widely among the noble families of western Christendom. Popes preaching future crusades would count on these very same families for financing, leadership, and for the willing warriors who would lay down their lives on the battlefield. Despite the great risks and financial hardships associated with crusading, descendants of those who suffered and died on crusade would continue to take the cross, in some cases over several generations. Indeed, as Nicholas L. Paul reveals inTo Follow in Their Footsteps, crusading was very much a family affair.
Scholars of the crusades have long pointed to the importance of dynastic tradition and ties of kinship in the crusading movement but have failed to address more fundamental questions about the operation of these social processes. What is a "family tradition"? How are such traditions constructed and maintained, and by whom? How did crusading families confront the loss of their kin in distant lands? Making creative use of Latin dynastic narratives as well as vernacular literature, personal possessions and art objects, and architecture from across western Europe, Paul shows how traditions of crusading were established and reinforced in the collective memories of noble families throughout the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Even rulers who never fulfilled crusading vows found their political lives dominated and, in some ways, directed by the memory of their crusading ancestors. Filled with unique insights and careful analysis,To Follow in Their Footstepsreveals the lasting impact of the crusades, beyond the expeditions themselves, on the formation of dynastic identity and the culture of the medieval European nobility.
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