Vets talk treatment of women in military

From tea to tanks, the roles of women in the military have seen a steady change over the past 50 years.

Proper grooming techniques and etiquette training are not things many people would associate with the basic training for today’s modern soldier, But for Gini Geffert of Mentor that was part of her basic training regimen.

Geffert, who served in the U.S. Army from 1976 to 1980, equates the beauty school training she went through in basic training to just about the same thing that was portrayed in the movie “A League of Their Own” where they were taught to sit, sip their tea and apply their make up properly.

“We actually had to do all that. It was kind of hilarious actually,” she said.

Geffert, who is originally from Western New York, had two brothers in the Air Force and decided to enlist because it looked to her like they were having a pretty good time. She also wanted money for college.

She was just out of high school when she left for basic training at Fort Jackson in South Carolina.

During her time of service, male and female soldiers were still segregated in both housing and physical training but that would change.

It was during her basic training in 1976 when the Army started combining of men and women during physical training.

During Geffert’s basic training, women soldiers had a different set of physical training standards than the men. She said that she always wondered if she would have made it through basic if the requirements had been the same.

Women were only required to run half a mile while the men had a much further distance to go and a time limit with which they had to run it.

“We had less push-ups and less sit-ups,” Geffert said.

Geffert did her eight weeks of training and then went to administration school.

“At that point in time there were still a lot of fields that weren’t open to women. Now there are so many jobs that they can do that women didn’t do back then,” Geffert said. “I think it was when I was in that they were just starting to have women in the Military Police. That was relatively new at that time.

“It’s a whole different ball game for women now than what it was for me.”

Also at that time, women were not permitted on the front lines unless they were nurses.

“Now the women are assigned to units that are

up on the front lines, you would have never seen that back in my day,” Geffert said. “You would have never seen a female truck driver out traveling around in hostile territory. They might have been truck drivers, but they would have been assigned back in the rear and only in support positions.”

For Jami Abel who served as a member of the U.S. Navy at Tinker Air Force Base from 1995 to 1999, things were a little different.

Abel, a former aircraft mechanic, didn’t have to attend beauty and etiquette training. Make up was something the women put on only after completing boot camp and if they found the time to apply it.

Instead of learning how to style their hair, female soldiers were now required to have their hair cut in boot camp so it was off the shoulders.

Although more job choices opened up by this time, women soldiers were still limited on their options.

Abel recalled when she was in career training and going in to take a test. She remembered being told that many job positions were open all over the world, and the one who scored the highest on the test would get their choice of which one they wanted.

The excitement Abel felt when she was able to choose turned into disappointment when she was told her choice of locale, Italy, was an option not available for women.

Instead, she was sent to Oklahoma where she performed the same work that she would have done in Italy. Also during this time frame, men and women still lived in separate housing.

For physical training, the women would start in their barracks but then integrate with the men. At this point, women had to meet the same physical training standards as the men.

For Kayla Novello, a 22-year-old soldier from Chardon currently stationed at Fort Hood in Texas, the Army is slightly different.

Novello, who enlisted in 2014, does hydraulic repairs on aircraft such as Chinooks, Black Hawks and Apache helicopters.

While aviation and mechanics is still a male-dominated field, according to Novello there are more females getting into it.

In her company of 100 soldiers, there are approximately five to six women.

While they no longer have to cut their hair, they do have to keep it neatly pinned up off the shoulders.

Also, men and women are integrated in just about everything.

“Females are expected to be on the same level as males during the basic combat training and advanced individual training and meet all the same physical training standards.

Housing standards are a little less lax. While male and females do not share rooms or living units in the barracks, they are integrated into the same barracks at some locations.

Women also are now reaching the ranks of commanding officers.

Novello notes that she has a drill sergeant who preside over approximately 100 men who is not only female but pregnant.

Women are now allowed to be artillery members and serve on the front lines. The process to allow females in combat only began in 2013.

“Females can now be Special Forces and they can no be infantry,” Novello said. “There is no more ‘females can’t do this’ or ‘females can’t do that.’ It’s basically the same all the way across the board.”

Novello feels that is fair and that if a woman can do the same amount of work as a man then they should be allowed to.

“The way I look at is if a 120-pound small male can be infantry and on the front line, then so can a 180-pound built female who can still do the same amount of work or more,” Novello said.

SUBMITTED Gini Geffert served in the U.S. Army from 1976-1980. During her enlistment, she was deployed to Germany.

SUBMITTED Kayla Novello enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2014 and is currently serving. During a deployment to Germany, she trained with the German Army.

SUBMITTED Jami Abel served in the U.S. Navy as an aircraft mechanic from 1995-1999.