When Fox news was showing the 82nd coming home this AM they showed at LEAST two women.  One clearly had the 82nd insignia on her shoulder.

I thought women were precluded from combat infantry?

Advise....

Somebody has to wash the clothes!

J/K! Please don't stone me [:)]

the 82nd is not just infantry.

There is a HUGE support section. They are probably clerks and quartermasters, and cooks, and mechanics, and blah, and blah, and blah, and... Well you get the idea.

There are a great deal of Airborne Honeys (Yeah, I had one too) out there who are now in the support element of Combat Arms divisions.

Well shit....guess I should have checked her MOS....[lol]

There are something like 9 Airborne Infantry BNs, 3 FA BNs, 3 Enigineer BNs and 1 Cav Squadron in the 82d that will be all male.

There will also be an Aviation Brigade (3 BNs +), 3 or 4 Supply/maintenance BNs, a Signal BN, an MI BN, a Chemical BN and a Divisional HQ, along with many, many other companies, detachments and other support units that are not male only. I would bet that probably half the 15,000 or so slots in the 82d Airborne Division (and any other US Army Division, for that matter) are open to females, just not poisitions in Combat Arms BNs and lower echelons thereof. I think females are even allowed at manuever Brigade HQs, now. Now, most of those slots are probably still filled by males, and I would guess that the 82d has a higher percentage of males than other AD Divisions, but that is probably a function of fewer females volunteeering for Airborne and jump status (although not all of the folks in the 82d are jump-qualified).

Exactly.  

I remember when I got my Jump Wings back in '85 being all hyped up and then on the way home from Ft. Benning seeing a VERY pregnant female on her way home from Bragg, in uniform with the Maroon beret.  Never felt exactly the same about the 82nd Airborne after that.

On another note, one of my ROTC classmates (and little sister from my fraternity) went to a signal unit in the 82nd, and ended up with more high speed merit badges than most of my infantry buds.  

They sent her to Jumpmaster, Parachute Rigger, Air Assault, Air Mobile Training and I think even Pathfinder (I could be wrong about that one).

I know it pissed off her husband who was in my stick at Airborne School.

well as long as they fell good about themselves.
i wish we would get into a real fight and clean the pussies out!

I officially have no opinion on the topic of women in combat units   [:D]

A friend of mine (almost glamour model material) was a parachute rigger in the 82d.  Although part of the outfit and jump qualified, she naturally had no direct combat role.