Women in the Army: How to serve in Russia, the United States and Israel

In any equality dispute Sooner or later, “physical strength” and categorically “non-female” professions, occupations and workloads emerge as an argument. Military service was long considered something like this: given that states assigned women’s demographic mission, they were preferred to be kept in the rear whenever possible. But the situation is gradually changing: now women can serve in 34 countries from Sweden to Sri Lanka, in a number of them in military forces. We talked with three girls, who independently chose to serve in the army, about how she passes in three different countries: Russia, Israel and the USA.

After school, I decided to enroll in an English-speaking institute and even went to the New York Film Academy for directing, but there was no money for my studies. Then I decided to go to study in Israel, whose citizenship I have had since childhood, but for the beginning, go to serve in the army and learn the language. This is the main way to socialize for visitors at my age, besides after the service I get free education in any university. So after arriving, I immediately went to the recruiting office and said: I want to serve! They looked at me very strangely, but they did all the checks and promised to notify when the call would be made. The letter really came.

At first, I planned not to tell anyone that I went into the Israeli army, and so far I often speak only in general terms. Many do not really understand: girl, in the army - how is it at all? In Israel, the army is an ordinary part of life; people who came and went to serve there are very respected. Parents, by the way, perceived the army normally, grandma also says: yes, if I could at your age, I would definitely go to serve.

The main age of girls in the army is 18-21 years. If you really want to serve, they can take up to 23 years, but, most likely, they will shorten the term by a year or six months. Men take from 18 to 28 (although the draft age up to 24 years). Now I'm 19, I'll be in the army for two years. The first trimester is devoted to basic training, after which each soldier receives his specialty and everyone disperses to different locations. In essence, this is just a civil service. Some even plan to remain in the army for life: the soldiers in Israel have a very good salary.

I will continue to serve in the usual parts, although we have girls at the base who want to fight: they will serve not two years, but three and will retake the course of a young fighter - a special one, complicated like that of men. Each girl in the military troops signs a special paper, which says that if she has health problems in the future and she cannot have children, then she will have no complaints about the army. In general, in the army, girls are treated the same way as guys: no exceptions, you will plow like everyone else. There are no divisions by professions for men and women either.

We also have a male company on the base, we regularly see them, but we can’t talk too much. Although if we were at the break next to soldiers from a male company, then, of course, no one would forbid talking. Recently, for single soldiers they organized a “Yom Keif” - High Day, where there were both men and girls, more than a thousand people from all military bases. We were taken for the whole day to the water park, there were only soldiers in the whole building. Music, refrigerators crammed with ice cream, with whom you want, and communicate with that. From the male mouth for women differ mainly in the number of exercises. Where we wring out seven times, they wring out all twenty. I would say they are more chased. When I get a profession, I will serve in mixed divisions.

The entire first month, while the young fighter was on the course, we were not taught Hebrew at all. But this did not prevent the whole command from communicating with us and talking about weapons, first aid and gas masks exclusively in Hebrew. If you do not understand, you will be explained again. Once again did not understand - once again explain. But in Hebrew. In general, on the course of a young fighter, one of the tasks of the command is to make the soldier understand that he is nobody. What is not his personality is important here, but discipline and common work. Now, when classes in Hebrew began, we were divided into six groups according to the level of knowledge of the language. There are five French girls in my group, four Russians, a girl from Australia and from Los Angeles. In my company there are soldiers from all over the world, there are girls from the UK, Belgium and even Mexico. Especially many for some reason Frenchwoman.

We always walk with weapons - it has already become instead of my young man. It is with me both in the toilet and in the shower, and when I go to bed, I put it under the mattress - it cannot be left anywhere just like that. In his soul, he must be hung near the booth, so that he can always be seen. Washed, put on pajamas, on top of weapons - everything, you can go. But I can not imagine that I was shooting at someone. We are told: if a terrorist runs to you, immediately shoot. I don't know what I would do. We cannot say the name of the weapon, but it is rather old - it participated in the war in Vietnam, so, most likely, it was fired from during military operations. I already got used to it - there is no choice anyway. In general, weapons, of course, are not loved by everyone here. It is very heavy and huge, it just warps your back, and you are with it all the time: you walk and you stand, and when you eat, you also sit at the table with him.

Most of all in the army I was surprised by the money. I now have such a sum on the card that I have never had in my life. I do not know where to spend them: I spend all week at the base, on the bus, as a soldier, I ride for free. The army gave me an apartment where I can spend the weekend, a 10-minute walk from my grandmother. In this apartment there is always a full fridge of food, because twice a week a man comes from the army and fills it with food. All this for free. At the same time, I can say that I want to rent an apartment myself - and then the army will give me money for rent. The first six months, Israel pays me as a repatriate, the army pays twice the salary, because I'm a lone soldier, I have a 50% discount on water and electricity, plus money for some holidays all the time - well, I already confused, what money comes for. Recently, on the Rosh Hashanah holiday - the Jewish New Year - all lone soldiers were given special gifts from the army - T-shirts and certificates for purchases at the Mango, The Body Shop and other stores. Commanders constantly ask us: "Do you have a place to live? Have something to eat? If there is something, just say so!" Some come to the apartment and check if there is food there. It just amazes me.

The hardest was the schedule. We get up at four in the morning, and at five or even half past five we build. Built, went to clean, cleaned the room at 6:30 am breakfast. After that - classes: or drill, or Hebrew. And the whole day we go to different classes, a ten-minute break only happens after a meal and between lessons. Hang out at nine in the evening. And when you get up at four in the morning and until nine in the evening with something busy, it feels like four passes in one day. Some girls often cry and faint, but Russians are all strong, holding out. Fainting is most often due to the sun, if we are kept too long in the heat. There is very little time to do something just for yourself — to wash yourself, to talk to someone — only an hour in the evening. Weekends are Friday and Saturday. On Friday, we get up at three in the night, in the four building, at 5:30 am already released, at about 9 am I am at home. On Sunday, returning to base.

Life in the system can be tolerated, at the same time very much you begin to appreciate the time. You understand how much you can do in a day. During the day we are forbidden to use telephones, therefore you are constantly in real life, and not in social networks. I know how to adapt and understand that this is not forever and that everything is still very human. But sometimes you think that all this is some kind of madness - for example, when you stand on the night shift and guard a warehouse with weapons that people invented to kill each other. And the whole world is working on it.

I have been living in the USA for more than nine years. She came here from Sevastopol. I had to study for a long time, because in the USA they could not compare how identical the training programs in Sevastopol are here. In the US, the education system is different from ours - for admission to a university it is necessary that the total score earned at school is high enough. Due to the inability to convert the grades I received at the journalism department of the Moscow State University into local points (and I also needed points in chemistry, physics, and other subjects), I had to start my studies from college.

I have been serving in the US Army since 2013. At first I was going to go to medical school, but in college I met a man who worked as a doctor in the Air Force. He told me what he did, where he went. I was very interested in all this. Then I learned that at the university there is a cadet program that trains officers. But, in order to transfer to a university, I did not have enough medical classes, and I temporarily stayed on journalism. I began to look closely at the Air Force, but in the end I liked the army more, so I decided to join it. I liked that there are a lot of sports training there - I have been interested in sports since childhood.

Now I am a military intelligence officer. This is not entirely military intelligence, we are rather engaged in analytics, and we have so-called scouts for intelligence. The US Army is subdivided into many different branches: infantrymen, tankmen, signalmen, and so on. Marines and the Air Force are separate troops, they are not included in the army. After basic training, we are assessed - according to the results of education, sports training, leadership positions, as a man showed himself. Then the management counts the points and decides which unit you can go to. Many want infantry, military intelligence and military police. To get into these troops, you need to have a high score.

Women and men all serve together. Previously, women were not allowed into infantry and tank units, but recently it was decided that women could serve in combat troops. At the same time, the Ranger School for Women opened. The Ranger School is one of the most difficult US military training schools. As soon as this law was adopted, many men began to protest: they say, if a man does not even serve in the army, he is still a draft in the event of a big war. The men began to say that once women got the right to serve in the military forces, they also need to be conscripted. I wonder how it all ends.

I live on the base. It has everything: grocery stores, gyms, clothing stores. Every day I go to work. Collection is usually at 5:30, sometimes at 5 in the morning. Every morning we start with a workout, except for weekends. Some soldiers rent houses outside the base and just come every day.

The Army pays us housing allowance. Its size depends on how many people are in a family, and it also varies depending on the city: somewhere, real estate prices are higher, respectively, and the benefit is higher. Rank also matters: the higher the rank, the greater the benefit. Now I live in Arizona. Before that, she lived in California - there was more housing allowance, because real estate was more expensive. In Arizona, the benefit is much less - about $ 1,000 a month. The army also pays full medical insurance for the whole family. For the military there are many advantages. At the base there is a free school and various additional sections with minimal pay: ballet, art classes, gymnastics.

As a child I practiced karate, then Thai boxing. Now they have added jiu-jitsu. After university, I worked for a while as a recruiter in our cadet program. I saw that some girls can't even do one push-up correctly. For me, it was wild, because we have standards. Preparation for the army is a must: the push-ups, the press and the run 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) are constantly tested here. Note ed.). There are more advanced tests: 5 miles (just over 8 kilometers. - Note ed.) running, running sprints, bench press weighing 80% of body weight. I would not say that training is very difficult - we just have to do it regularly. In the evening I still train in addition.

The contract is signed for eight years: four years of them must be served in an active army, and the rest can either be in reserve, or in national guard, or remain in an active army. Of course, there are more men: in my squad there are about forty-something people, mostly men. Without conflicts between men and women in the army is complete. But we have a lot of programs to regulate relations - so that there is no violence, inequality, discrimination of some kind. Naturally, not without a wormy apple — there are people who do not understand any trainings and still do all kinds of nastiness that affect all others.

We have a SHARP (Sexual Harrasment / Assault Report and Prevention) program. It aims to ensure that people do not let out vulgar comments and so that they do not get to something more serious. There are programs of equality of labor, where men and women work in equal situations with the same positions. I personally do not care what they say to me there. I'm pretty pachyderm in this regard. Here, many people react sharply to everything: someone carelessly joked, all at once: "This is a SHARP, it is forbidden." No one has ever disrespected me personally, and I have not received any negative offensive comments either. And no one ever let me feel that I was superfluous here.

I speak with an accent, and they ask me where I'm from. But I like my accent - so I'm not going to get rid of it. To join the army of a certain country means that from now on you can only be faithful to it. And for me this is a very difficult question. But, on the other hand, I know that the United States will never have war with Russia, in which my relatives live, so I'm fine. I'm going to serve at least another ten years, maybe even twenty. In ten years I will be at the age when it will be too late to start another career. And if I stay in the army, I will be able to retire at fifty.

It's easy for me to make friends in the army. We are here all the time together - and we must answer for each other. Everyone should know where everyone else is, sometimes human life depends on it. We call each other even during the holidays. I like the army spirit. We have the so-called Soldier's Creed - every soldier must memorize it. It says that you should never leave a comrade in distress, that we must train and improve ourselves in order to be ready at any moment to go to the conflict zone and fight the enemy. The most important thing, when you are sent to war, is to support your comrade. It helps a lot psychologically. You can not be afraid, because next to you is the person for whom you must answer. True, while I was not sent to the conflict zone.

I studied at the Korolevsky College of Space Engineering and Technology with a degree in State Municipal Management. After college I went to work at the military enlistment office. For one and a half years of work in the military registration and enlistment office, I communicated with conscripts a lot, and probably only one out of ten wanted to join the army. I saw enough of how healthy and strong guys came up with a bunch of reasons and illnesses, just to get rid of the service. They brought in certificates, mothers came, who organized scandals with the words "Why my son was sent to the army, he had such poor health." Many people invented religious obstacles for themselves - that the guy of a certain faith, who forbids him to hold a weapon in his hands. I wondered what was so scary for young people in the army. I wanted to see for myself. In principle, this was my main reason to call. Without thinking twice, I turned to a conscription point for military service under a contract, where I began to look for a part.

At first, the family reacted calmly, but as it turned out later, in fact, no one believed me. Then, when they realized that I was really going to join the army, they began to worry and tried to dissuade. They said: "Are you out of your mind? Are you still a girl." But I said that it is always possible to leave, I signed the contract for three years - I will endure three years (the contract is obligatory for women who have joined the army, otherwise I will not sign up). And I really wanted to try. At first I didn’t tell my friends, they only found out in half a year, when I first disappeared and put my photo in shape in social networks - a comic selfie I took in a barracks toilet on a pink phone. Friends were shocked, they also did not believe - they had to show a military ID.

At first it was very difficult. There was fear, "what if I can't?" On arrival, I was sent to the fields for a month. That's where I just felt all the "charms" of the army. She took off her shoes and put on heavy berets. The tense month was probably lasting forever. We didn’t have any special conditions - we bathed in the river, cooked on a fire, constant physical exertion, we got up at 6 am, set up at 6-10, ran a certain number of kilometers, went in for sports, then had breakfast. Then the classes began: we studied military science. After lunch, before dinner, we again had exercise. So it went all day. At first I really wanted to run away home. But I thought, "What am I, weakling? Why can someone, but I can't?"

I had an incentive to stay to prove that I can. There were 94 people in our company, of which about 30 were women. Жили все вместе, так что условия для всех были одинаковые. Мужчины смеялись сначала над женщинами, а потом начали с нами общаться и помогать. Мне в шутку сначала говорили: "Ты такая девочка маленькая, что ты вообще тут забыла?" Я была там самая младшая. Я и сейчас в своей части самая младшая. Мужчины в армии будут относиться к девушке так, как она себя поставит с самого начала. У меня очень хорошие отношения в коллективе, и домогательств со стороны солдат из моей части никогда не было.

At the training camp I met the same girls as me, but from other parts, but, alas, there was no friendship: everyone was for himself. Now in my unit I found a girl from whom I can wait for help. There is friendship in the army, but it is quite rare: I personally found only one friend in my three years of service. But I have many comrades who help me in the service and help me out. At first, I was very embarrassed by the army discipline: I thought it was there for some uncle who gave me orders. Then I was correctly explained that I took the oath and must obey orders, and I began to get used to it. Now for me it is in the order of things.

Initially, I was called up to the Airborne Forces, but there was some strange team there, and I did not succeed. After that, I got into the Air Force. Recently, I was promoted to the title of corporal. I am the head of the shift of the telegraph platoon - I have several soldiers and contract servicemen under my command. Soon I will move to another part of the Military Space Forces with a further increase - I signed a new contract for five years. By the way, before the army I did not know how the telegraph works: I was taught everything here. It turned out, this is not easy at all.

The social package for women and men is the same: insurance, free medicine, free meals on duty and the provision of housing - I, however, have not yet been given. Salary depends on position, rank and allowances. Sergeant staff receives from 23 to 35 thousand, ensigns - from 35 to 50 thousand. Calculate is so difficult, because the percentages go for long service, secrecy, and so on.

Physical training in the army is very important, because even when entering the military service it is already necessary to pass standards. I pulled, then, of course, started to engage and improve the results. In general, I am very thin: now I weigh 46 kg. At first I began to lose weight, and then strengthened - we are running for speed, pushups. According to the standards, even up to the highest level. I did not know how to shoot before the army: at the training camp, we first went through a theoretical course, and then we learned how to practice.

I have daily duty - I can live at the base and at home. When we have constant alarms, they close us there and do not let us out. But this is how I live at home. I can't say about any specific changes in my life. Probably, I started to value time more. If I used to run to a club with friends after work in the evening, now I try to spend my free time with my family, because I actually have very few of them - I haven’t seen friends for months.

Sometimes I get thoughts of why I am involved in all of this. But at the same time, I cannot imagine myself in another place, for example, in some office. The most difficult thing for me in the army is to hem a turn-off, I still do crookedly. If you need to go to the war zone - I will go. Scary, of course, but I chose this profession for myself.

Watch the video: दनय क सबस खतरनक और खबसरत महल फज. World's Most Beautiful Women Army (December 2024).