Two colonels leave jobs over the “pretty women” email
I picked this up at Bring the heat, bring the stupid, the Military Times is reporting that two full birds have left their jobs over the email that we discussed earlier in the week about using more “plain-looking” women in public affairs pictures;
“In order to protect the integrity of the ongoing work on gender integration in the Army, Col. Lynette Arnhart agreed to step down as the gender integration study director,” Army spokesman George Wright said in a statement to Army Times on Nov. 22. “Gen. [Robert] Cone, Commander of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, accepted this change in study leadership. Concurrently, TRADOC suspended [Col. Christian] Kubik from his position as the Public Affairs Officer pending the outcome of an investigation.”
It was poor lack of judgement that Arnhart sent the email in the first place, and her stepping down is totally useless, because she’s just going to be replaced by someone who thinks the same way, they’ll just be smart enough to not put it in writing. And, it’s going to be hard to convince any female soldiers that they’re being photographed not because they look plain.
The Army doesn’t need to have an investigation of anyone. It was a stupid email it’s not urinating on Taliban corpses or anything.
Category: Big Army
“Gender integration study director”
Wow… a prime example of money well spent!
How many rounds does an 11C student get to fire in AIT with the cutbacks?
@1 Answer: Zero rounds.
See, I understand the original intent. Anyone that’s ever had a PAO visit knows that they never take pics of the dirty ugly Soldier getting shit done. PAO always goes for the best looking Soldier in the group. As an example, we had PAO come do a story about my old Cav troop back in Korea. They came by and took pics of some crews (mine included) doing services and pulling the pack from a Bradley. Did we get a picture of 4 Joes covered in grease, pulling the power pack from a Bradley? No, we got a pic of the SCOs driver in starched BDUs holding a TM and standing next to his humvee. Saw the same thing in 1AD. PAO came by our motorpool and took some pics of female Soldiers working. Did they post a pic of the dirty female mechanic working or a female soldiers under the hood? Nope, they published a pic of the pretty female PLL clerk sitting at her desk and makeup wearing.
What the LTC should have written was that we need more ‘real’ pics showing Soldiers and not as many ‘posed’ pictures showing the best looking Soldier on the scene, ignoring the contribution done by the ‘average’ looking female in the background.
Fox News is covering this story @ 0922 EST.
BREAK:
IMO the director was fired because SHE is as ugly as a bucket full of mortal sins.
Second, she is as dumb as the offspring of a monkey and a goat.
How many recruiting TV commercials have you seen over the years? And, of them, how many showed actual combat footage or the aftermath of a fierce fight? How many have you seen in which the narrator says, at the end, “Of course, the increasingly limited benefits of honorable military service that are depicted in this commercial may not be available to you. However, you will be entitled to a burial plot and a flag.” My point is that the colonel took shit because ugly doesn’t sell any better than the truth. And if someone wants to tell me that it’s obvious that military people sometimes die in service, then I will say that it is equally obvious that not all female (or male) soldiers are likely to be mistaken for models.
I see recruiting photos of sharp looking and nice looking men and women in their shiny dress uniforms and starched BDUs. I can see it now, a photojournalist in the field comes up and goes “hey you, good looking girl…could you move over and yea you, no you…chubbier, plain girl, yea you, could you stand next to the Bradley and let me get a shot of you! No wait, wipe that makeup off first”. “And you guy…yea with the big ears and stripy things on your sleeve. You stand next to her. Wait take your partial plate out first and smile”. It is not going to be a pretty Army…but we will still be ready. Yes kids in high school, we want you ugly people too. An Army of One. One Ugly Person.
Sorry I am just laughing to myself.
I don’t know why this is something new. In the 1960s, when the Marines were trying to recruit women, there was an ad in women’s magazines of a very pretty (not model pretty, but photogenic) female Marine Corps officer putting on her makeup, with the caption ‘The Lieutenant is all woman.’
I almost transferred talked myself into transferring to the Marines because of that. I could wear makeup and look nice, and nobody cared if I got grungy doing my job.
But then, I figured the Marine Corps wouldn’t understand my affinity for horses and jumping big fences.
Any time the military is involved in anything that is the least bit controversial, their answer is to conduct an investigation. Usually followed by additional training. WAFWOT.
Jane Fonda was Miss Army recruiter back in 1962. Well have we come full circles in 50 years!
Will the approach called ‘plain old common sense’ ever be used?
Dumb as a monkey and a goat? ROFLAMO! Just made my night, Master Chief! Only a sailor could come up with that one!
Master Chief–ever wonder why the PAO types never went down into the hole (or the engine room on a nuke) and took pictures of that PO3 or FN diving the bilge, instead of Chief Schmuckatelli living up the good life on the bridge watch?
No, of course you don’t…silly me.
Ex-PH2: when it comes to publicity/public affairs, has the “plain old common-sense” approach ever been used?