European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 28, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Quot it a a by Joseph Owen Stuttgart Bureau spec. Tara k. Blaine has noticed male soldiers staring at her lately for reasons that have nothing to do with physical appearance. Blaine 24, of Coeur d Alene Idaho is a Driver assigned to 2nd platoon cob 511th military intelligence in in ludwigs Burg Germany. But she wears a 2nd army Cav regt combat Patch on her uniform and that s what attracts the attention. The regiment is a combat unit and army regulations bar women from combat jobs. Her company was attached to the regiment during. Operation desert storm. They risked iraqi fire for four Days last february while collecting information that would help the regiment finish its work More quickly. Even then its women faced criticism from male soldiers who believed the s s s the debate goes on women did t belong where they were a at the front lines. The experience convinced them and. Their company commander however that women can work effectively under fire. As Congress stoked up the debate last month about whether to open combat jobs to women six female co b soldiers discussed their experiences in the combat zone and How it has shaped their views on Thise Issue. Quot i think the combat roles need to be More defined because what Are front line units nowadays the Battlefield has changed a lot since world War ii Quot said staff sgt. Marianne Nee 30, of Brownsville pa., an analysis Section team chief assigned to 2nd platoon. Tha battalions designation As a combat support unit suggests Little to the male company commander capt Daniel p. Murray 33, of Tucson ariz., about the relative safety of his troops. Quot As far As distance from the enemy it s been very difficult to chop up the Battlefield and say you can t go past a certain line Quot he said. The distinction Between combat jobs and combat support jobs also seemed irrelevant to 2nd it. Colleen m. Mcaleer after she watched a tank Battle at close Range and nearly was bombed in the ensuing air strike. Mcaleer 24, of Fairfax va., is the Leader of 4th platoon which is responsible for monitoring enemy radio a transmissions. On feb. 26, her platoon Headquarters and one of her squads were advancing in Iraq with 2nd army. Cav regt s l troop when they became involved in a tank Battle with iraqi t-55s and tt64s. Watching from about 300 Yards away Mcaleer heard the troop executive officer radio for air support. Two f-16s and two a-10s appeared overhead. The troop commander trying to figure out one of his platoon boundaries told the platoon Leader to release Green smoke to identify the Boundary. The platoons last tank burped up the Green Cloud within throwing distance of Mcaleer s tracked vehicle. The executive officer s frantic voice piped up on the command radio network immediately. He said the planes had been told Green smoke identifies enemy targets. With that announcement the m-1 tanks roared away in a Flash. Quot and Here we Are with All this Green smoke around us Quot a Mcaleer said. Quot so at that Point i tried to Tell All the eight other vehicles in my platoon that did no to hear this and just saw the m-1 tanks split. Now i get on the platoon net and in a just like a follow me we re getting out of Here a Quot she shrieked trying to recapture the sense of panic. Quot so we just left and within a minute that area was just  it was a War in which gunners often could t see their targets except As symbols on an instrument panel and that was enough to disquiet any Soldier female or male. Sgt. Jean m. Unkel 28, of Slayden tenn., is a squad Leader in 3rd platoon a radar jamming unit. She was with a team of soldiers in a tracked vehicle on the second Day of the ground assault when they became trapped in a Battle Between iraqi t-72 tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles. Quot that particular Day on the 25th, there was a horrendous sandstorm and you could barely see in front of you. We heard artillery and we could t move because we did t even know where it was coming Down because it was coming Down around us Quot Unkel said. The storm disoriented everybody she said. Her team heard on the radio that a track similar to hers one that later proved to be British had just exploded. Quot we were within the regimental boundaries but there were tanks getting through there All the time. Even our rss rear regimental support Squadron encountered tank fire a Unkel said. Quot if you were out there you were close to  Blaine said she and the lieutenant for whom she drives still disagree about whether . Or iraqi forces nearly hit them during a nighttime artillery attack. Quot it came in at 400 Yards on this Side then it would go around this Side at 400, then about 200 Here then about 200 on this Side and then it hit about 50, and your Bones Shook Quot she said. She believes the shells were american. Quot from what we could decipher from what they were saying Over the radio that for a second or a few moments they thought we were enemy Quot she said. The women in the company had worked 20-hour Days in preparation of the ground assault just like the men. They stood guard at night and watched As multiple launch rocket systems lit up the sky Over their Heads and yielded explosions on the horizon. They crossed the saudi berm with the regiments first penetration of iraqi territory on feb. 23. They participated in taking disarming and guarding Saff sgt. Marianne Nee says combat roles must be defined More clearly. A amps Joseph Owen iraqi prisoners. And they carried out missions that took a them through the flaming wreckage and charred corpses of freshly abandoned battlefields. Murray said most americans probably Aren t aware that some women were so involved in the  they talk about women who Are in combat support roles further Back women who were in Dhahran and Riyadh saudi Arabi and stuff like that. But they fail to look at the women in this Type of unit Quot Murray said. Quot the Public does not have a Good picture and does not clearly understand it.�?�. Some commanders had ordered women in other units including one similar to the 511th, to withdraw As their male counterparts moved toward the Battlefront the women said. One male Soldier in co b said if that had happened to his unit it would have been the mental equivalent of a scud missile striking it during formation. The women Are an integral part of the company a efficiency and cohesiveness he said co b never underwent such a segregation but the women met Many soldiers who thought it should have. Quot the artillery unit was very shocked when they d seen us three females and my armoured personnel Carrier drive up Quot Nee said. Quot they asked us what we were doing there and we said what do you mean what Are we doing Here the same thing you re doing  and they could t understand it. They said no you re female you should be sent Back a because they had sent their females  Mcaleer said she got the same reaction when she approached a cavalry troop noncommissioned officer to coordinate Battlefield movements. Quot he just said a what the hell is a woman doing up Here and i said the same Damn thing a Many a doing up Here. Now will you help me out with this a so we went on from there Quot the lieutenant recalled. 1st sgt. Tamara l. Tenner 38, of Spokane wash., who also witnessed tank Battles said she has reservations about the possibility that women might be in the tanks or in other combat assignments. A mixed gender tank Crew would give Rise to several problems that Are not at Issue now she said. Quot i feel that to have a woman on a tank with me going out Forward firing sometimes May distract them in that they re thinking of this woman protecting her Quot she said adding later Quot i personally feel that we Don t need to be  the Lack of privacy for personal Hygiene also presents an obstacle Tenner said. Co b soldiers have worked together Long enough to overcome that but in combat units they would be less adaptable she said. Quot if you want to be honest the combat arms the infantry and the tankers Are a very male chauvinistic thing Quot she said. Quot a lot of them have a Point to prove and they feel that s where they can demonstrate their manhood. That a Fine and it la take them a Long time to get Over  training can mitigate their inhibitions about working with women Tenner said. Referring to tankers tendency to Shower naked in Bank of their tanks she said the army would have to make procedural changes for mixed gender combat units Quot so you lose your modesty but not your  Mcaleer advocated setting the same Job standards for both men and women and allowing women Access to any military Job if they qualify for it. She said she has applied to flight school and Hopes to Fly Apache helicopters if that Job opens to women. And while some men May tend to be protective of women properly trained commanders will be looking out for the welfare of All their troops. Quot when you re out there with a team you re concerned Quot about them whether they re Man woman Black or White Quot she said. A amps Joseph own sgt. Jean Unkel has served in Battle. Veteran 4  s whether women can go into combat with the armies of the United states has in a sense already been answered. Big boned Deborah Sampson an indentured servant and self taught schoolteacher disguised herself in a re tailored Brown suit and taking the $100 Bounty joined up As Robert Shurtleff of Uxbridge mass. She served in the 4th Massachusetts regiment of foot for 18 months in the waning Days of the revolution. The 4th marched to West Point to help in the fighting near new York City which despite the Victory at Yorktown was still in British hands. Miss Sampson was slashed in the head with a Saber in a skirmish with tory loyalists near the Tappan Zee in Westchester county. Her comrades said she acquitted herself Well firing and swinging her Musket when the two sides closed. Later in an ambush near new Rochelle she was shot in the thigh. She was left in a Field with other wounded but rather than let surgeons Cut away her pants she crawled off into a Woody Ravine and Lay there for several Days washing and bandaging her thigh which still had the Musket Ball in it. After fighting indians on the new York a a Frontier she was finally discovered when she was struck by Camp fever in Philadelphia where her unit was putting Down riots by unpaid soldiers. A Hospital doctor unable to find a pulse at her wrist reached into her shirt. At first he kept her secret and moved her to his House. But after first his Niece and then a More insistent woman from. Baltimore began calling on Quot or. Shurtleff Quot and proposing marriage and the Soldier explained Why she  marry the doctor went to her commander maj. Gen. John Paterson. That officer consulted George Washington who had discharge papers made out on oct. 23, 1783. Paterson who had an Odd sense of humor asked her to accompany him in a gown As he reviewed the 4th Massachusetts. None of her comrades in arms recognized her later in life her children grown but her farm failing Deborah Sampson went on the lecture circuit telling stories about army life after her death by a special act of Congress her husband was awarded the $80-a-year pension normally due the widow of a wounded Veteran . Times 2d it. Colleen m. Mcaleer Hopes to become an Apache helicopter Pilot. Joseph Owen Page 14 the stars and stripes wednesday August 28, 1990 the stars and stripes Page 15