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I just couldn't let this pass.
I came across this earlier today, a four point boiler plate 'academic' vaporing (originally in Spanish) on "islamofauxbia". It constitutes purified simplistic drivel supporting a radical leftist (Muslim Brotherhood) narrative, but unfortunately, simplistic drivel is what the ruling mediocrity are feeding upon these days.
NOTE: I parsed (Fisked) the paper in order to provide an example on how the left promotes a bowdlerized view of a dangerous ideology, in order to protect a pet project by demonizing those with legitimate concerns. In fact, it's flat out lies laced with ambiguities and disingenuous blatherings. Feel free to leave your own observations in the comment section.
Islamophobia: Some Commonplaces
çngeles Ram'rez, anthropologist, activist and co-author of
La alteridad imaginada. El p‡nicomoral y la construcci—n de lo musulm‡n en Espa–a y Francia
Originally published in Spanish in Diagonal (https://www.diagonalperiodico.net/tags-autores/angeles-ramirez)Translated by Pamela J. Lalonde
Just as male chauvinism does not only consist of women being killed by their partners and contemporary racism is not solely defined by attacks on minorities, Islamophobia cannot be reduced to violence against mosques or Muslims.
[TT: I wonder if the Spanish leftist anthropologist (and islamo-apologist) would condemn attacks on neo-nazi/fascist headquarters as examples of "xenophobia", or just the criminal activity of upset people taking the law into their own hands?]
To invoke an old analogy: only the Nazis implemented the extermination of the Jewish population in Europe as a state policy, but the idea that the Jewish race was a foreign and corrupt one that was exploiting the Germans and deserved to be excluded was widely shared by the German population of the time. The idea determined the action. In the case of Islam, while only a few right-wingers may be out on the streets spearheading the violent opposition to a mosque opening, for example, that action is premised by stereotypes about Islam, assumptions that are shared by most people, regardless of political affiliation: the religion is linked to violence; Muslims are potential fanatics; Islam deprives women of rights. This is Islamophobia, understood as racism against Muslims.
[TT: A classic example of the mixing of apples and oranges. Jews in Germany (and elsewhere in Europe during WW II) were deemed negatively, ostracized, then hunted down and eventually murdered, regardless of their political, social status and religious affiliation. Muslim apostates, Muslim secularists or those who just do not follow their belief system in its entirety (Islam 101) are not deemed a threat.
Their numbers however, and the ability of a small cadre of Islam 101'ers to turn huge portions of relatively secularized Muslims into public sharia abiding Muslims, is indeed a worry, with serious historical ramifications. Jews/Judaism is not a proselytizing faith, Islam however, is, and with a manifest destiny attached to it. This is something that Angelis Rameriz is completely ignorant about, or just being a hardened ideologue.
Islam is in fact highly anti-female, very fanatical when taken to its most basic level and is highly dangerous to the non-Muslim. One only needs to take a look around the M.E., Maghreb and elsewhere in the world to see that is the case.]
The right and extreme right, the usual leaders of Islamophobic public discourse, drag the left into it. The left, in turn, fears the resulting loss of votes if the electorate perceives a half-hearted response to an issue that media propaganda is increasingly representing as the true spectre haunting Europe:Islam. Islamophobia is based on four commonplaces. This text counters each one of them.
[TT: "The Left" that she is referring to, are those who take a traditional dim view on all religions, and view (correctly) that Islam is being much more of a significant problem than the Baptists, Mormons, Hindus and Buddhists. They have rejected the meme that Islam is a religion of piece, and want to secure their hard won freedoms and rights from an ever increasing threat from the followers of that ideology.]
1. "Muslims are…"
There are around 1,570 million Muslims in the world (Pew Research, 2009),distributed among 200 countries and, like the Christian population, extremely heterogeneous from a national and ethnic point of view (only 20% are Arab).Internally, there is significant diversity, not only the major split between Sunnis and Shiites, but also other divisions that correspond to various cultural, jurisprudential, doctrinal and religious traditions, such as those that differentiate Tunisian (10 million adherents) from Chinese Islam (20 million). The heterogeneity of real Muslims clashes with and overrides Islamophobic reductionisms, which claim that the entire Muslim population shares a set of negative characteristics. In short, the object of Islamophobia is quite poorly defined, given the heterogeneity of Muslims. This is the argument to invalidate the first of the bases of Islamophobia.
[TT: German national socialism, Italian fascism, Spanish fascism, Japanese imperial shintosim (which had strong fascistic properties) Islamic canonical Jew hatred (Mufti of J'lem, Hajj Amin al-Husseini) were very diverse, but all contained shared destructive elements. The moment these groups dropped those elements which were very central to their way of being, (Islam never has dropped it) the danger ceased. Jack asses like spuedo scientists in the anthropology departments throughout the West, like Rameriz, are just unable to conceptualize these simple truths.]
2. "Islam leads to violence. Muslims blindly follow religious precepts."
After the attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo, only the mayor of the mid-sized city of Badalona (Spain) openly referred to Islam's purported predisposition to kill, but many people share the opinion that Islam is bellicose. This idea is unsubstantiated. The Quran and the other sacred texts are loose ethical codes that can either advocate brotherhood or the exact opposite according to how they are interpreted. By analogy, the Bible contains a number of incitements to violence, but it is not commonly claimed that Christianity is intrinsically violent.
[TT: There are plenty of scholars of Islamic history and of Islamic texts that prove Islam is intrinsically anti-non-Muslim, especially anti-Jew and at times when opportunity presents itself, (like today) very very violent towards the non-Muslim. The koran is an open ended book (prescriptive) of incitement and murder of the Jew and the non-Muslim and towards anyone who falls astray from core Islamic beliefs. Hence the 1400 year Sunni-Shiite feud.
The Jewish Torah on the other hand, stories dealing with certain peoples, is descriptive, a historical record telling of Children of Israel. In no way does it command future generations of Jews to seek out the unbeliever and slay them wherever they're found.]
Furthermore, the idea that the Quran is essential to the lives of Muslim men and women has its origin in colonialism and the Orientalist industry. The concept of the Muslim fanatic clinging to his atavistic customs fed colonial fantasies and domination: the colonialists were fighting a monster that had to be domesticated. This is racism. The relationships between Muslims and their religion are diverse, precisely because of the heterogeneity of interpretations and traditions. Moreover, many people counted among Muslims do not even practice the religion.
[TT: Here Rameriz sets up strawmen in order to strike them down. No one I know of insists that all Muslims follow the koran and other islamic texts to the letter, as Islam expert Robert Spencer tells us repeatedly, all faiths have followers with different levels of religiosity and fervor. Here her (Rameriz) leftist credentials come out like the unfurling of a flag.
Most European forays abroad during the medieval period and in the early 1500's (and from that time forward) were due to Islamic expansionism (imperialism). If Muslims needed to be domesticated, it was due to their clinging to a violent, supremacist ideology. The Turkish empire was forged upon the proper reading of Islamic texts, conquering new lands for Islam and submitting the unbelievers to the sharia. Being a Spaniard, Rameriz has a stark historical deficit to remedy, Andalus is still a rallying cry for every Islamic supremacist (jihadi) alive today.]
3: "Islam violates the rights of women".
Muslim doctrinal sources contain statements that can be interpreted and used to oppress women. This is not specific to Islam, however; the same holds true for the Bible and the dominant tradition of the Church Fathers, which is strongly misogynistic and patriarchal.
[TT: More mixing of apples with oranges. Islamic misogyny is codified into Islamic law with clear koranic references as to how women (wives, concubines and slaves) are to be treated. That is what we point to, as well to living examples from around the world, wherever Islam is the dominant force.]
In many Muslim countries, Islam is wielded and instrumentalized to legislate against the rights of people, especially women(e.g., polygamy, repudiation, dress codes). It is no coincidence that these countries have significant democratic and civil rights deficits, which is part of the problem.
[TT: That's a fact, but what law undergirds (highly influences) the system of jurisprudence of these Muslim countries? The Sharia. The very reason why these countries fail to have a true working, pluralistic, democratic society is that they're Islam corrupted. Being a student of history is a wonderful thing. George W Bush's "democracy project for the M.E. was not the first attempt, the San Remo conference after WW I, was, with all the mandates doled out to the victorious powers to midwife democratic rule to the region in the once Turkish Empire controlled Levant and Maghreb. Only Israel could achieve a real democracy, the Islam corrupted Muslims could not.]
Other non-Muslim dictatorships, like the fascist dictatorship of Franco, also used religion as a basis for political legitimacy and the source for a model of womanhood with legal consequences. In Ireland and Nicaragua, the power of the Church has resulted in the prohibition of abortion. And countries like Thailand and Mexico do not even need religion to maintain a climate of violence and harassment of women. Islam does not, then, create patriarchal systems; rather, it provides a specific language and form of legitimacy, as do other religions and/or gender ideologies in non-Muslim states and societies.
[TT: Islam codifies patriarchal systems into law, as well as other highly detrimental traits, traditions and customs, therein lies the major difference.
4. "Muslim women are forced to wear headscarves; therefore this must be banned in Europe in order to free them from this oppression".
Leftist militants and feminists often advocate a ban on Islamic attire in Europe reproducing in reverse the prohibitions that they criticize as oppressive claiming that this frees Muslim women. Oddly, it is from a progressive position that they accept the state's right to ordain how women should dress, purporting to "emancipate" them by taking away their civil rights. Even if a society does not share the religious or social background that leads a woman to adopt the headscarf, this does not empower the state to ban them. Wearing a headscarf or niqab is not a crime and does not increase the likelihood that a woman will commit a crime or belong to a terrorist network.
[TT: There is a good reason as to why totalitarian (nominally secular Muslim regimes in the M.E. banned the wearing of the scarves in public spaces outside the mosque an private homes. They knew, as well as those of us who have become educated on the subject, that Islam is in fact a political ideology. The introduction of the headscarf into the public square is in fact a political act, as much as the sight of groups of Muslim men praying (commandeering) the streets of Europe.
This anthropologist (most likely a leftist feminist) couldn't care less that many women and girls are in fact forced into wearing these garments, even to the point of being beaten. That some or even many choose to freely wear them, doesn't take away from the fact that many do not choose to freely wear them, nor from the fact that it's a political act of intimidation of those who are still clinging to their secular ways.]
When clothing is criminalized,the women who wear it (almost always working class immigrants) are stigmatized and on more than one occasion, this stigmatization manifests itself in serious legal problems. Ultimately, Islamophobia is no more than contemporary racism with a strong classist and sexist component, legitimized socially because it is whitewashed by the discourse about the fight for women's rights, secularism and anti-terrorism. Let's prove these arguments wrong and do away with the "I am an Islamophobe! so what?" position that Brigitte Vasallo wrote about in a previous issue of this journal. Let's put an end to this impunity once and for all.
[TT: As someone more interested in maintaining our civil classical liberal society and hard won freedoms, I am more interested in those who are pressured and stigmatized by their communities because of their failure to conform to Islamic norms, with many of these cases ending in violence.The claim of "islamofauxbia" being a race based, is as nonsensical as claiming anti-Christian rhetoric being "race based". Real, justified, fear of Islam, based upon the historical record and present day empirical evidence, is a healthy response to the basic self survival impulse everyone of us have. Only hardcore ideologues like Rameriz fail to understand that.]


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28 Oct
Suturing Workshop
Starts: October 28, 2017 - 9:00 am
Ends: October 28, 2017 - 12:00 pm
Location: Stead Center for Physician Assistants
Address: 1121 Slater Road, Durham, NC 27703 - Google Maps
Organizer: NCAPA - email@example.com
Phone: (919) 479-1995
Website: http://www.cvent.com/d/stqmyd
Cost: $150 NCAPA Members, $175 Non-Members
The suturing workshop is a 3 hour workshop designed to review basic suturing techniques including simple interrupted, continuous, vertical and horizontal mattress, deep dermal, and subcuticular stitches. During the workshop we will briefly discuss the different types of suture material, in addition to the different suture techniques, and the indications for the use of each one. The majority of the time is spent practicing hands-on techniques by suturing pigs feet and becoming more comfortable with instrument tying and hand tying. The student to instructor ratio is kept low for maximum interaction and support.
- Back to Events

subset: commoncrawl


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Aminé Really Loves Portland
When someone thinks of the major geographical areas of hip-hop it's generally separated into four quadrants: Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. For a variety of reasons, those locales tend to pump out the culture's biggest stars at the most consistent clip. On his new song "Shimmy," Aminé is determined to shed light on Portland, Oregon, a city that's known for tracks & field, Nike, that show Portlandia, and at time being "The Whitest City In America."
Throughout the song, Aminé interpolates and samples Old Dirty Bastard's 1995 hit "Shimmy Shimmy Ya," while partaking in a variety of very Oregon activities. He rock climbs, drives through the wilderness, rides through the street on orange Nike bikes, and wears a lot of sportswear. In essence, the "Shimmy" visual is striving to do for Portland what Drake's "Headlines" video did for Toronto. On the song's opening verse Aminé raps, "It's been a whole year, my nigga / Let's not front, it's my year, my nigga." Maybe it'll be Portland's year, too.
More News
Bennifer 'Forever': Jennifer Lopez Says New LP Is About Ben Affleck Reunion
- This Is Her... Now
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Ryanair CEO: "there's only one way out of this crisis"
Michael O'Leary is clear: "There's only one way out of this crisis."
Speaking at ACI Europe's annual congress on 17 November, the Ryanair Group CEO said that "volumes will restore reasonably quickly, at least on short-haul. I don't agree about this rubbish that it'll take until 2024-2025 to get back to 2019 levels."
He expects traffic volumes to be back to pre-coronavirus levels by summer 2022, especially if there are vaccines in place and if airports are "progressive", as he put it. In this context, progressive means offering robust growth incentives.
Ryanair is renowned for pricing itself out of catastrophes given how price-sensitive demand is in Europe. Coronavirus is no different.
Indeed, unlike volumes, "pricing will take longer to recover." O'Leary expects it'll take until 2023 or 2034 to return to pre-pandemic levels.
"Volumes will return quickly and airports have a role to play in this by discounting to get the volumes back." While he has said versions of this for 30 years, he even hinted that airports could, after the volumes have returned, raise fees again.
Ryanair CEO: "We don't need to cooperate with airports – just pass on the savings"
Recovery will inevitably be patchy, directly influenced by government restrictions and consumer confidence. But O'Leary says demand stimulation can be strongly influenced.
"Rapid recovery for airports will go to those airport operators who are swift and responsive and which come up with the right traffic growth incentives."
This is especially the case for summer 2021 and 2022, he believes.
"We have to make aircraft allocation decisions for S21. We're finalising our schedules, that's why we're in active discussion with progressive airports."
"Stansted and Manchester get it", O'Leary said, likewise "airports in Eastern and Central Europe, in Italy, Beauvais [a new base that opens in January 2021]…" Growth at such airports – and others like them – for next summer is probably assured.
And Italy is very likely to get another Ryanair base for S21, O'Leary said, adding to the 16 it already has in the country. Like Beauvais for Paris, perhaps it's now the time for Treviso for Venice, at which Ryanair had over three million seats in 2019.
Dublin, meanwhile, "has a way to go" in terms of incentives, at which point the CEO of daa (Dublin Airport Authority), sitting beside him, raised his eyebrows and grinned. Dublin was Ryanair's most profitable airport pre-coronavirus.


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We're happy to come by your home or business for an onsite consultation or a free estimate.
Call AJ at:
Or just use our contact form; we will come by and take a look.
Check out the Green Dude's work:
This time of year we are getting ready for Spring:
Lawn Maintenance: rake leaves, mow with the bag, pull and spray weeds
Apply Pre-emergent (Helps keep SOME weed seeds from germinating)
Flowerbed cleanups and makeovers
Irrigation system inspections and tune-ups
Wildlife Habitat Certification: bed prep and installs


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|This weekly bulletin insert complements the curriculum published by the Department of Christian Education of the Orthodox Church in America. This and many other Christian Education resources are available at http://dce.oca.org.
The prophet Nahum wrote triumphantly about the destruction of the city of Ninevah in the year 612 BC. With its great city fallen, the Assyrian Empire's long and brutal oppression of its neighbors would come to an end.
Much of Nahum's prophecy taunts the Assyrians, telling them that their overthrow is well-deserved. His closing words are, "There is no assuaging your hurt, your wound is grievous. All who hear the news of you clap their hands over you. For upon whom has not come your unceasing evil?"
Nahum also seems to tell the Assyrians that laziness contributed to their downfall: "Your shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria; your nobles slumber" (3:18a.). This theme of dangerous laziness comes up again in the New Testament, in II Thessalonians 2: 13-3: 18.
In the first chapter of this second letter to the Thessalonians, Saint Paul offers his thanks that God "chose you from the beginning to be saved, through sanctification" (2: 13). Many of those he is addressing are new converts, so he urges them to hold fast to the teaching they have received by his preaching or his letters. There are those among them, he cautions, who do not have faith. But he reassures them that despite these faithless people, "God is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from evil" (3: 3).
Paul had preached in Thessalonica's synagogue, as he did in every place he stopped, for several weeks. Working with Timothy and Silas, he had attracted many Jewish converts. There were also Gentiles who had joined the Jewish faith, but were convinced by his preaching to become Christians. This created a serious problem; some resentful Jewish leaders maligned Paul and accused him of all sorts of moral and ethical failings. The new converts felt surrounded by hostile opponents.
Another problem was that some of the new Christians had been misled into believing that the Day of the Lord had already come. Therefore, there was no need to prepare for it, and no need to do any work. Paul tells the Thessalonians they must "keep away from any brother who is living in idleness and not in accord with the tradition you received from us" (3:6). He offers the example of his own life: "...with toil and labor we worked night and day" (3: 8).
He refers to these idlers as "mere busybodies." They are so lazy that rather than find something productive to do, they spend their time interfering with others' work. Paul has no patience with these people. He commands that everyone should work and earn an honest living. He urges those who are working as they should to keep away from those who refuse to do so.
Yet Paul truly wants every one of God's beloved to be saved. So he tells the Thessalonians not to treat an idle busybody as an enemy, "but to warn him as a brother" (3: 15).


text: Roy Dale Hall Roy Dale Hall 68, of Kalapana, Hawaii, died on September 10, 2016 at his home. He was born in Dallas, Texas. He was a finish carpenter, combat wounded Vietnam War US Marine Corps veteran, 1st Division 5th Battalion. He is survived by wife, Edy Hall; daughter, Amy Hall; son, Christopher Hall; sister, Patricia (Ed) Stiles; 2 grandchildren. Celebration of life 11 a.m. Saturday, October 8, 2016, at Pohoiki with a paddle-out ceremony at 12 noon. SHARE ON FACEBOOK SHARE VIA EMAIL Our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the deceased ADVERTISEMENT Explore more Search Records for Roy Dale Hall with Ancestry® Discover Roy Dale Hall Family Story with Ancestry® AncestryDNA® with Traits Discover Details of Your Family History - Search Records with Ancestry® Sponsored by Ancestry


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A newer version is available. For the latest information, see the current release documentation.
Each Elasticsearch node, Logstash node, Kibana instance, and Beat instance is considered
unique in the cluster based on its persistent UUID, which is written to the
path.data directory when the node or instance starts.
Monitoring documents are just ordinary JSON documents built by monitoring each Elastic Stack component at a specified collection interval. If you want to alter the templates for these indices, see Configuring indices for monitoring.
Metricbeat is used to collect monitoring data and to ship it directly to the monitoring cluster.
To learn how to collect monitoring data, see:
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May Street Larder is like a play kitchen for Bridger, with an in-house larder-style deli stocking homemade jams, pickles and meats. They also have coco-whip, which is a coconut water soft serve that's gluten free, vegan and dairy free. Very suited to the current market of dietary requirement dining.
Heading down to Fremantle I had a cheeky look at some of the reviews online to scope out what to order. I was actually really surprised by seeing so much negative feedback, and have to admit I felt a little nervous on how the experience would be!
Once we arrived we actually managed to get a table straight away. It was 11.45am which meant the breakfast menu had finished but the lunch was still 15 minutes from being available. We asked for a menu but were told they were still being printed as the food changes each day – however they reassured us they'd bring out menus when they were available. To their credit, they kept their word! And in the mean time we'd decided to order some drinks to line our bellies and keep the rumbles away.
As with most brunch venues you order and pay at the counter, then get a number to take back to your seat. The tables are spread out throughout the airy and light venue, with a combination of stools and chairs available. Both Linda and I try to avoid sitting on stools when we eat (they're almost never comfortable enough to settle in) – and luckily we manage to nab the last table with chairs. Bright, sunny yellow ones to bring in some extra cheer to the hot day!
I made my way back to the table once ordering, placing the funky number in a visible corner. I love the use of the wooden mannequin style dolls even though our poor dining companion had lost one of his legs!
Soon after we're brought out some water and cups. I love the look of those enamel cups and plates but when it comes to drinking they're not so practical in my eyes. Both of our cups had little rust marks inside, with the enamel coating in Linda's actually flaking off and floating in the water. When we pointed this out to a staff member passing by she was really quick to replace the cup with fresh water inside too so it was nice to see how responsive they are.
Our final dish is the lamb pide ($22.00) from the pizza menu. It's minced lamb, pine nuts, harissa, feta, hummus and fresh spinach. A pide is a Turkish version of pizza, made of a flat bread grilled with toppings. The shape of May Street Larder's version was spot on and it was nice to see the use of some strong flavoured ingredients.
I did find this dish salty, which was surprising considering I couldn't really see or taste the feta. However the more I ate, the more I found myself getting used to the salt level and there was the creamy, garlicky hummus and the fresh spinach to offset it. I would have loved to see rocket instead of spinach just because I think it's such a great vegetable for pizzas thanks to it's peppery flavour and pleasant texture, however this is more of a personal preference. The one nuts were a great addition, offering some crunch with a neutral flavour.
Sadly we were defeated by this dish! We definitely did our best but after the drinks, the waffles and the salad, we had to leave a couple pieces of pizza behind. Whenever Linda and I dine together we're always overly ambitious in our ordering, but it's because we both love our food so much.
All up I actually really liked May Street Larder, despite some of the negative murmurings. I thought the service was personable, friendly and just attentive enough. The aesthetic is beautiful and bright, I found it quite welcoming and unpretentious. I especially liked the open counter/prep area and the fact that where we sat we could see into the kitchen and watched the chefs at work. I'd like to return and have another milkshake, some more waffles plus try the other dishes on offer.
Have you been to May Street Larder? What did you think? I always say, give a restaurant a few months to find their feet so for those of you who had a bad experience, I really hope things are better next time you go because I thought it was a beautiful day out with one of my favourite people in the world.


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This web site, its operators and any content on this site relating to "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" are not authorized by Fox, Amber Benson or her manager. Images are the property of The Warner Brothers Network, The UPN, 20th Century Fox, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar, Kuzui, and Greenwolf Productions and probably some other people. There is no profit made from this site. We mean no harm to anyone including The UPN and Joss Whedon and anyone else involved, we just want Tara to stay on BTVS. This site is for fan purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended. I hope I've covered everything.


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Beggars Group and Ninja Tune announce plans to become carbon negative companies
With Earth Day approaching this Thursday (22 April), The Beggars Group and Ninja Tune have outlined plans to become carbon negative companies in the future.
Ahead of Earth Day 2021 later this week, two of the largest independent record label groups - The Beggars Group (4AD, Matador, Rough Trade, XL Recordings, Young) and Ninja Tune (Big Dada, Technicolour) have revealed their aims to become carbon negative companies in the coming years.
The announcements also arrive at the start of Music Declares Emergency's Turn Up The Volume week, which according to the MDE site, aims to "highlight the amazing work on sustainability already taking place across UK music and marks the start of an annual week of climate action for the UK music industry."
Both companies are founding members of IMPALA's Sustainability Taskforce established in March this year, which will encourage European independent labels to collaborate on addressing sustainability issues. The two record label groups are trying to reduce their environmental impact by urging vinyl pressing plants to switch to renewable energy sources, minimising business travel and freight operations. The two companies have also switched to renewable energy systems at their London offices.
The Beggars Group have pledged to reduce total emissions 46% by 2030, while Ninja Tune are aiming to become carbon neutral by the end of the year, and carbon negative after that.
Beggars Group CEO Paul Redding said, "Music has the power to help catalyse societal action on the climate crisis so it's vital that businesses like ours do all we can to help protect the environment. We can't do it alone. We're just one small part of a broader community made up of artists, music associations and suppliers, and it's essential that we work in a coordinated way to address sustainability issues together as an industry."
Ninja Tune Chair Peter Quicke added, "The climate crisis is already affecting millions of people, governments need to act now. Ninja Tune's net zero commitment reflects an active drive towards sustainability, but it's also a call for widespread change."
Get the Best Fit take on the week in music direct to your inbox every Friday


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"If, as a female military officer, you suffer from a mental health condition (such as anxiety, depression or PTSD), how do you feel this psychological condition impacts your family unit?"
Answer: Greatly.
With all US military occupations and specialty assignments now open to women, experiences in the military can be different for female personnel than for their male counterparts (Davis, Myers, and Bowling 2018; Pellerin 2015; Adams et al. 2016). More than 1.7 million US veterans and nearly 1 million active military personnel received treatment in a US Veteran Affairs (VA) or Military Treatment Facility mental health program in year 2018 (US Department of Veteran Affairs 2019b; Military Health System, 2019). Spouses of military personnel encounter unique difficulties related to caring for those with physiological and psychological distress. These challenges often include the management of the military member's often complex diagnoses (such as a Traumatic Brain Injury [TBI]), the military member's skepticism of treatment options, fear of repercussions in the workplace, and fear of medication side effects (Acosta et al. 2014). Managing outbursts, managing anger, change in attitude or mood, lack of sexual drive or intimacy, and feelings of personal insecurity are just a few of the issues observed by military spouses in their returned soldiers (Baptist et al. 2011; Blow et al. 2013; Wilcox et al. 2015). In addition to relational difficulties, military couples report increased levels of physical violence, intimate partner violence, and divorce (Negrusa and Negrusa 2014; Burgh et al. 2011; Marshall, Panuzio, and Taft 2005; Newby et al. 2005).
It is important to note that in the US, 92% of military spouses are women and the majority of these spouses are civilians (Department of Labor 2019). Only 12% of female military spouses are military personnel themselves, but nearly half of all married female military members are in dual-military marriages (Department of Labor 2019). For those spouses who are female and military personnel, the policies and procedures affecting the responsibilities of wives and mothers are particularly challenging. When the military was primarily comprised of unmarried men, the military had an ethos of the "military family" that was comprised of loyalty, comradery and brotherhood (Holm 1992).
The military now has attempted to keep in step with its changing "family" in the face of societal changes to include provisions for mothers and childbirth that promote an inclusive and more family-friendly environment. Current US Army policy allows mothers six weeks of non-chargeable maternity convalescent leave, extendable if medical complications exist. The mother is entitled to an additional six weeks of primary caregiver leave. If both parents are active duty, one parent is entitled to six weeks of primary caregiver leave and the other is entitled to 21 days of secondary caregiver leave. These policies also apply to adoptions (Department of the Army 2019).
All female US Army personnel are given 180 days, starting from their delivery date, to recover from birth. Importantly, within these 180 days, they must train to take a required physical fitness test and must meet height and weight requirements without provision for normal challenges faced within the postpartum period, notably cesarean section or breastfeeding status (Department of the Army 2009). Following the 180-day postpartum period, women strive to reach a passing score on the physical fitness test, but many often find it difficult to achieve a similar pre-pregnancy score. This score is something they have worked hard for in order to be competitive for highly skilled jobs and hard-earned promotions, but may not be attainable this soon after childbirth.
Mothers in the military, however, can elect not to take these leave options, and some do. Concerns of being passed over for job promotion or fear that staying at home with children may negatively impact their careers is cited by many for early return (Russell-Kraft 2016). The status of officer is something female military personnel are proud of, and many mothers also seek to maintain a balance between work and family responsibilities. Although they miss their children if deployed, female military personnel are proud of their skill set and want to continue to use it (Gewirtz et al. 2014). These reasons were also clearly noted in our recent study. Indeed, many respondents discussed a need to "fight for" officer status in the military or a pressure to maintain their command presence within their units while acting as spouse and mother.
Some studies have focused on female military personnel who have been deployed and aspects of readjustment and psychological distress. Such research is beginning to explore how women feel upon return and their behavioral coping (Hoge, Auchterlonie, and Milliken 2006; Mattocks et al. 2012). Noted in this research were marital problems, loss of friendships, and difficulty returning to daily routines (Mattocks et al. 2012, p. 543). Further work by Gerwirtz et al. (2014) and Haskell et al. (2010) examined the adjustment of both deployed and non-deployed mothers and female VA patients. Lara-Cinisomo et al. (2012) was one of the first to note the direct relationship between increased deployment months with poorer emotional well-being and relationship difficulty in female military caregivers. This new work importantly highlights a lack of attention in previous research on the link between caregiving tasks and well-being amongst female military personnel.
Female soldiers returning from deployment must undergo the same mental health screening as their male peers. At that time of the above studies, it was noted that no female-specific screening tools or services were mandated by the Department of Defense (Mattocks et al. 2012). Upon discharge from the military, soldiers transition to care under the Veterans Administration (VA). Only recently has the VA begun to recognize female military caregivers' return to home as an issue of medical importance (Department of Veteran Affairs 2019a). In addition to individual and family counseling, bereavement counseling, and health reassessment for mental distress (such as TBI), the VA provides its own series of specially designed mobile apps. These apps help female military personnel employ self-help and educational techniques for support following trauma (Department of Veteran Affairs 2019a). However, these services and innovations are only available to veterans discharged from the military, effectively excluding women who remain on active duty from these modes of support.
Academic discourses surrounding the role of wives and motherhood have moved away from traditional gender stereotypes to include feminist research that challenges functionalist ideas of gender roles as a core analytic concept. These new approaches reframe the focus on gender relationships as powerful components in the structure of changing families (for examples, Ferree 2010; Coltrane and Adams 2008; Bittman et al. 2003). In the context of a military family, however, with over 90% of military spouses being in traditional roles of civilian female military wives, the structure of the majority of military families in the US has remained largely unchanged and continues to be traditionally modeled. The emergence of the idea of a "warrior caste" in America, where families often have multiple generations of active duty and veteran members, has added to the entrenchment of traditional gender roles (Schafer 2017). These positions have historically been male dominated and put unusual pressure on female military personnel. While the words "wife" and "mother" continue to be paired culturally, the words of "active-duty military," "officer," and "combat" are still felt as unsettling concepts and are the focus of much debate in the US connected to female military personnel. As Thomas et al. (2017) discuss, women in the military are more likely to face issues of discrimination and lack the social support within their units and feel a sense of isolation (Thomas et al. 2016; Kline et al. 2013).
Although "military moms" have caught the attention of the press and the American public (Mann 2008; Tamm 2019; Slater Tate 2018; Freeman 2019), our research wanted to reach beyond the more popularized news stories and blogs. We sought to explore issues related to the well-being of female soldiers in leadership roles with regard to psychological distress and peer support. Below we outline our methodology, then follow with a focused discussion of the quantitative and qualitative results regarding stress, anxiety and depression with respect to caring for oneself and caring for one's family simultaneously.
In response to the increasing awareness of the challenges faced by female military servicewomen and veterans, this research team sought to focus on mental, behavioral, and social health of female military officers in the United States Army. While previous attempts to survey female servicewomen have largely provided data on veteran populations, active duty personnel, particularly those in leadership positions, have not been adequately represented in many research reports. As the role of women in the military has shifted to include more senior leadership roles and opportunities for direct combat, the stressors and needs of the youngest generation of military servicewomen would understandably differ from previous cohorts.
To best understand the concerns and issues important to these women, we worked with two organically created, private support networks for female officers in the US Army on Facebook. Historically, many formal, military-supported networks and veteran support organizations, have low female membership and participation levels (Thomas et al. 2017). In the younger generation of servicewomen, informal, non-military social media has become an increasingly popular and powerful method of social networking, peer growth and female support. These online social support platforms connect an otherwise isolated minority population with each other to form a virtual community of supportive female servicewomen.
In August 2019, the research team assembled to develop a survey instrument that would accurately characterize the concerns and issues important to this population relating to their mental, behavioral, and social health. Of particular interest were the topics of peer support and behavioral health issues on the family unit given the added responsibilities female military members face as a spouse and/or mother while serving in the military. The finalized survey instrument and procedures for this study were submitted to the Ohio University Institutional Review Board for review. Full approval was granted for this inquiry (approval number 19-E-275) and formal research proceedings began in October 2019.
The pilot survey instrument created by the research team covered several broad topics including demographic/familial status, support networking/social media usage, military status, professionalism, command presence, and mental health. This survey instrument consisted of a maximum total of 75 questions that operated in a dichotomous fashion. Depending on the participant's response, additional follow-up questions would then be queried. A variety of multiple choice questions and free response text boxes were utilized to capture both quantitative and qualitative data points.
Dichotomous questions were employed to determine eligibility for question blocks. Once determined as applicable to the respondent, multiple choice questions were asked on a Likert scale, requiring the respondent to identify the degree to which she agreed or disagreed with the posed statement. Responses at either extreme of the scale were asked to further elaborate on the answer selected in a free response text box.
All respondents were asked a series of open-ended questions and provided the opportunity to respond with the amount of detail she felt most comfortable. These questions focused on support networking, service utilization, professional conduct, and the impact of career and mental health issues on their family unit.
Due to the nature of an anonymous survey, all questions regarding mental health were dependent on self-reporting by the respondent. Questions were specifically worded to indicate if the respondent had received a formal mental health diagnosis from a qualified healthcare provider. Other questions were formulated to gauge feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression experienced by the respondents regardless of formal diagnosis. As mental health conditions frequently go undiagnosed in the military population and particularly among female military personnel (Brunner et al. 2019; Wilson et al. 2019), it was important to the research team that these self-reported symptoms be captured by the survey instrument.
Once the survey instrument was written, it was programmed on the Qualtrics (Provo, Utah, USA) survey management platform. The survey was distributed via secured online links and was optimized for mobile phone administration as well.
This survey was deployed over the course of three weeks (October 2nd through October 22nd, 2019). Links were distributed via a posting on two private Facebook groups exclusively for female US Army officers. These two groups were chosen due to their rigorous vetting process of applicants who request to join the group. Once an officer is added to one of the groups by a current member, administrators crosscheck their credentials against the current Army Global Human Resource Network, an official military database, to verify rank and status. Members are then asked to agree to the terms of the group and maintain the privacy agreement. In this way, the group preserves the integrity of its purpose, along with the security required to ensure only the intended individuals are members. One of the research team members is a verified member of these two groups and distributed the survey link in these groups. In order to increase response rates, a second posting of the research announcement and survey link was issued ten days after the initial post.
All survey data was collected in an anonymous manner to protect the identity of the participants and promote security in disclosing personal issues. The responses were collected and reviewed in aggregate via the QuatricsXM software platform. Any identifying information provided in the free-response questions was removed prior to data analysis. In addition to the security vetting provided by the group administrators, the survey instrument itself also contained internal validity measures. Any respondent who did not indicate female gender (inclusive of transgender individuals) or rank of officer was redirected to the end of the survey instrument and prohibited from attempting to complete or retake the survey.
To best understand trends and frequencies in the quantitative survey responses, a series of cross-tabulations was conducted. One-way frequencies were calculated automatically for each question in the survey as an exportable data report in Qualtrics. This data report was reviewed by the research team independently and then it was determined which factors would be included for contingency (two-way frequency) tables. The cross-tabulations are described below and include variations by relationship status, whether they had children of any kind (including adoption and step-children), military rank, and concerns on their mental health.
Qualitative responses also were included in this survey to provide clarity to responses on the extreme ends of quantitative scales and to garnish new information on topics not readily expressed in a multiple choice fashion. These responses proved invaluable to us and to the servicewomen, because they can express their concerns in a completely anonymous fashion. Qualitative survey responses were compiled by the Qualtrics software into a data report. Researchers reviewed this data and independently coded the responses using an inductive content analysis method to provide a systematic classification of current themes and patterns in the texts (Hsieh and Shannon 2005). The researchers compared their independent coding to determine a consensus regarding emergent themes. Codes that were repeated with greater frequency in the responses were given more weight in this analysis. Depending on the frequency and quantity of content provided, the researchers distilled each question to the two highest order themes reflective of the responses. The use of three independent coders was used to validate the quantification and characterization of the qualitative data.
It is worth noting the use of social media platforms for research is becoming more common for research sampling, particularly in healthcare (McKee 2013). Both patients and researchers are using platforms to discuss information shared within the groups. Such dialogue is also sparking the growth of "infodemiology" in public health to track the response of public concerns (Chew and Eysenbach 2010) and to possibly capture information on emerging disease trends before data becomes available (Chunara, Andrews, and Brownstein 2012; Greaves et al. 2013). However, this kind of monitoring can be silent, and possible use of data without informed consent rightly has come under scrutiny (McKee 2013; Martin 2012).
Important to note is that in our pilot, we distributed an approved, anonymized survey within two private groups for female officers. We considered these groups as they were described – private – and no data from private conversation between the female officers was used even though it may have fit our topic areas. In this way, our sample utilized convenience sampling protocols (Coleman 1958; Naderifar, Goli, and Ghaljaei 2017).
Other drawbacks include that as a pilot, this study surveyed a small portion of the population of US Army servicewomen. With that said, however, our small sampling was reflective of the make-up of rank representation of female officers in the US Army overall (see "Results" section). Also, this study only surveyed female officers in the US Army. The experiences of officers may differ from enlisted soldiers, and the experiences could vary by branch of the military. Although these characteristics add to the limitations of the study, we feel our cohort fits a category a rare and limited group cohort at this time. Our hope is that this pilot has yielded both informative and intimate responses that we may not have known unless we utilized such a platform.
In total, 73 female US Army officers from across the United States completed our pilot survey. For purposes of this study, respondents were grouped and compared by familial status. Within the survey, respondents could identify their relationship status as: single, married, in a domestic partnership, divorced, or widowed. In this cohort, no respondents indicated that they were in a domestic partnership or widowed. Respondents could also indicate if they had any children or stepchildren that they provided care to; a group which represented 25 (34.2%) of respondents. Collectively, a separate group was created for the sake of analysis called "caregivers," which indicated a respondent as a mother and/or wife – essentially, responsible for providing some form of care to at least one other family member. Of completed responses, 48 (65.8%) met the caregiver criteria. Of note, there was one divorcee with children/stepchildren, and no women identified themselves as single mothers.
A summary table of demographic information for this cohort can be seen in Table 1. The average age of all respondents was 33.1 years old, with a significant difference between the mean ages of single and married respondents (27.3 vs 35.4, p = <0.01), single and mother/stepmothers (27.3 vs 40.7, p = <0.01), and single and caregivers (27.3 vs 35.7, p = <0.01). The majority of respondents identified as White/Caucasian (63, 86.3%), followed by Asian (5.5%), Black/African American (4.1%), and Hispanic/Latina (4.1%). Similarly, a majority of respondents identified as heterosexual (87.7%), with a small minority identifying as homosexual (5.5%) or bisexual (6.8%).
|Familial Status*
|Single n (%)
|Married n (%)
|Divorced n (%)
|Child/Stepchild (any marital status) n (%)
|Caregiver n (%)
|Total n (%)
|47 (64.4)
|4 (5.5)
|25 (34.2)
|48 (65.8)
|73 (100)
|Mean Age (Years)
|47 (100)
|1 (25.0)
|48 (100)
|25 (52.1)
|48 (65.8)
|19 (86.4)
|40 (85.1)
|4 (100)
|22 (88.0)
|41 (85.4)
|63 (86.3)
|2 (4.3)
|1 (25.0)
|2 (8.0)
|3 (6.3)
|3 (4.1)
|2 (9.1)
|1 (2.1)
|1 (2.1)
|3 (4.1)
|1 (4.5)
|3 (6.4)
|1 (4.0)
|3 (7.1)
|4 (5.5)
|1 (4.5)
|1 (2.1)
|1 (4.0)
|1 (2.1)
|2 (2.7)
|1 (2.1)
|1 (4.0)
|1 (2.1)
|1 (1.4)
|Sexual Orientation
|19 (86.4)
|41 (87.2)
|4 (100)
|24 (96.0)
|42 (87.5)
|64 (87.7)
|1 (4.5)
|3 (6.4)
|1 (4.0)
|3 (7.1)
|4 (5.5)
|2 (9.1)
|3 (6.4)
|3 (7.1)
|5 (6.8)
This study included women from the US Army, US Army Reserves, and US Army National Guard. Of note, this survey was only circulated to military officers within the Commissioned Officer and Warrant Officer ranks. Significantly, our response rate is reflective of the overall distribution of female military officers across the ranks of the US Army (Defense Manpower Data Center 2019). The military history and statuses of respondents has been summarized in Table 2.
|Current Military Status
|Active Duty Army
|35 (47.9)
|Army Reserves
|17 (24.6)
|National Guard
|11 (15.9)
|Active Status – Army Reserves/NG
|2 (2.9)
|Active Guard Reserve
|1 (1.4)
|3 (4.3)
|Military Branch
|Nurse Corps
|16 (23.2)
|Medical Corps
|15 (21.7)
|Military Intelligence
|6 (8.7)
|Adjutant General
|6 (8.7)
|5 (7.2)
|Military Police
|3 (4.3)
|18 (26.1)
|47 (68.1)
|22 (31.9)
|Ever deployed on behalf of US Military
|42 (60.9)
|Deployed to an active conflict zone
|34 (49.3)
Of the survey respondents, 35 (47.9%) identified their military status as active duty Army, 17 (24.6%) as Army Reserves, and 11 (15.9%) as National Guard. Three respondents (4.3%) identified themselves as retired from the military. The Nursing Corps and Medical Corps represented the two largest military branches (23.2% and 21.7% respectively) in this study, with Military Intelligence and Adjutant General tied for the third most common branch (8.7% each). In this cohort, 60.9% have been deployed at least once on behalf of the US military, with 49.3% reporting one or more deployments to active conflict zones.
All participants were asked two distinct series of questions regarding their mental and behavioral health. Participants were asked to self-report feelings of undue stress, anxiety, or depression as a result of their military roles. The participants were then asked to indicate if they had received a formal mental health diagnosis from a licensed healthcare provider, and if so which diagnoses. As stated in the Methods section of this report, self-reporting data became a primary focus of this investigation due to the established research indicating mental health conditions frequently go undiagnosed and/or untreated among female military personnel. Table 3 demonstrates the outcomes of these questions in all respondents.
|Self-Reported Feelings
|58 (86.6)
|1 (1.5)
|8 (11.9)
|67 (100)
|56 (83.6)
|1 (1.5)
|10 (14.9)
|67 (100)
|44 (65.7)
|5 (7.5)
|18 (26.9)
|67 (100)
|Formal Mental Health Diagnosis
|28 (41.8)
|17 (25.4)
|16 (23.9)
|11 (16.4)
|5 (7.4)
|4 (6.0)
|Avoid Treatment
|44 (65.7)
|7 (10.4)
|16 (23.9)
|67 (100)
Three questions were specifically designed to reflect self-reported feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression among these female officers. Designed on a 7-point Likert Scale, the respondents were asked to identify the degree to which they agreed with the following statements:
Over four out of five respondents agreed that being a female officer contributed to feelings of stress and anxiety (86.6% and 83.6%), and 65.7% agreed that being a female military officer caused feelings of depression. Both Table 4 and the Figure 1 illustrate how the respondents answered the above three questions by caregiver status. As compared to their non-caregiving peers, caregivers were found to be more likely to strongly agree that being a female military Officer has contributed to self-reported feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression.
|Strongly Disagree
|1 (2.3)
|1 (2.3)
|2 (4.5)
|2 (8.0)
|3 (6.8)
|3 (12.0)
|4 (9.1)
|2 (8.0)
|7 (15.9)
|3 (12.0)
|Somewhat Disagree
|1 (2.3)
|2 (4.5)
|1 (4.0)
|3 (6.8)
|1 (4.0)
|1 (2.3)
|1 (2.3)
|3 (6.8)
|2 (8.0)
|Somewhat Agree
|9 (20.5)
|8 (32.0)
|6 (13.6)
|8 (32.0)
|10 (22.7)
|8 (32.0)
|11 (25.0)
|5 (20.0)
|12 (27.3)
|5 (20.0)
|9 (20.5)
|3 (12.0)
|Strongly Agree
|19 (43.2)
|6 (24.0)
|19 (42.3)
|6 (24.0)
|11 (25.0)
|3 (12.0)
Amongst respondents, 41.8% reported being formally diagnosed with a mental health problem; most commonly anxiety (25.4%), depression (23.9%), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD – 16.4%), and traumatic brain injury (TBI – 7.4%). A total of 65.7% of all respondents agreed with the statement: "I have avoided seeking mental/behavioral health services due to my position in the military." Importantly, caregivers were more likely to report avoiding mental health services than their non-caregiving counterparts (68.9% vs 59.1%). As illustrated in Figure 1, the shades of blue coincide with percentages of respondents in agreement ("somewhat agree", "agree," or "strongly agree") to the posed question. Many of the respondents highly identified with statements concerning self-reported stress, anxiety, depression, and treatment avoidance.
Out of 75 questions, 65 were exclusively quantitative and 10 had a qualitative component. The qualitative responses took free-text form for extrapolation on feelings about certain topics including mental health, family life and career challenges. The responses were instrumental and revealing, providing a closer look at the impact mental health and stress can have on the lives these female military officers. In total, 226 qualitative responses were analyzed. With 65.7% of our respondents self-reporting undue stress, anxiety or depression exacerbated by the role of military officer, and 31.1% of these respondents serving as wife and/or mother, specifics regarding the impacts on the family units was important to the research team. After an analysis of responses, two broad themes emerged; increased complexities of discord within the family unit, and an effort to hide that struggle.
Officers who were caregivers reported feelings of low energy, less patience, and increased family discord because of their dichotomous roles in command in the military and caregiving in the home. As a result of their roles, several respondents reported that they hid their personal distress from their family members.
Importantly, reports of negative interactions in the home environment were shared after asking the open ended question: "If, as a female military officer, you suffer from a mental health condition (such as, anxiety, depression, or PTSD) how do you feel this psychological condition impacts your family unit?" While studies can reflect prevalence of generalized anxiety, stress, and depression (Meadows et al. 2015), this type of reporting does little to get at how respondents feel when they are at home.
Overall, respondents noted feeing exhausted, frustrated, and having a "short fuse." Further illustrative responses regarding the effect of poor mental health on family life included:
"It puts stress on us and my husband doesn't understand or know how to deal with it."
"It does affect my family, and I cannot function when I get home due to headache and exhaustion."
"Makes me irrationally angry with a relatively short fuse."
"It negatively affects my children …most of the childcare still falls on me. Anxiety and depression impact my ability to care for my children because I have a shorter temper and less energy."
"I have no energy at home…. all my energy is sucked up at work."
Hinting at continued isolation despite being with family, respondents also indicated that their struggles created a sense of isolation from their family members, even when not physically separated. For example, one respondent poignantly stated:
"The condition takes you away from [my spouse and children]…"
One respondent noted that she feels her current familial situation is a direct result of traditional gender dynamics in the home that came from her officer training:
"I lost my daughter. She went to live with her father. We divorced shortly after I finished Officer Candidate School. I believe that my identity as a wife and mother no longer fit with the officer I became and some members of my family couldn't accept that."
As mentioned above, caregivers were more likely to avoid mental health services than their non-caregiving counterparts (68.9% vs 59.1%). In the qualitative survey responses, a key source of concern became elucidated:
"If I actually went to Army mental health providers I'd probably be diagnosed with anxiety/depression. I go off post to a therapist that I pay out of pocket for because the army keeps saying it won't affect your clearance. It will."
It is known that US military service members can mask or subdue reporting feelings of mental and behavioral insecurity (For example, Hoge et al. 2004; Holyfield 2015; Murray 2011) and that fear that stigma surrounding mental health can actively affect a serviceperson's career (Porter and Johnson 1994; Acosta et al. 2014). What does it mean if these additional pressures come into the realm of traditional spousal roles and motherhood? The most common solution reported was to hide symptoms from family members:
"I keep it to myself as much as possible."
"I know I suffer from anxiety and mild depression. My family has no idea. They believe I am the most cheerful enthusiastic one of us all."
Some respondents discuss briefly a conditioning in the process of subduing her feelings at home:
"Over time, we are desensitized as we are expected to interact with peers as 'tough' and without [sic] emotion…."
Additional respondents also tapped into the juxtaposition of their professional and personal lives. These respondents discussed the need to hide one, many, or all aspects of their lives. Beyond hiding their mental health from their families, some officers hid their identity as a mother, wife, or caregiver from their professional colleagues. In fact, 67.2% of respondents agreed with the statement: "I have felt the need to hide an aspect of my personal or family life (in person or online) in order to maintain my image of command presence." Here, one respondent stated: "I've withheld that I had a young child in order to not be perceived as 'soft or 'mother-like' by my Soldiers." Such statements shared with us about the dichotomy of serving in a leadership role as well as a caregiving role are revealing. Below we discuss the need for further qualitative work in this area.
It is becoming commonly known that military families face problems associated with extended time away from family members, and research suggests that military culture and its emphasis on emotional and mental toughness hinders US troops from getting the help they need to return to civilian life. Coupled with continued traditional roles in the military family and definitions of "military wife" being in majority associated with civilian females, female military personnel who are caregivers can become almost invisible. Add to this a necessity for a command presence in a highly and historically masculinized environment, these wives and mothers find themselves in a double bind where they must manage their homes and their families, as well as their soldiers.
The Health Related Behaviors Survey (HRBS), first distributed in 1980, assesses military health and readiness. This periodic survey has identified US Army personnel as having the highest perceived need for mental health services and highest use of these services compared to other branches (Meadows et al. 2015). In our pilot, however, only 26.2% of our Army respondents reported using mental health services (including psychologists, chaplain, self-help etc.). Despite need and perceived use of these services, mental health services among these Army servicewomen remain largely underutilized.
This pilot research has found that those who feel they suffer stress, anxiety and depression are less likely to seek help and more likely to hide their need. The implications of such discoveries are important. First, while important access to services for female service personnel and veterans has been gaining attention and important ground (Department of Veteran Affairs 2019a), responses in our pilot may show these measures are not enough. We believe that this survey has empowered us to try to obtain further qualitative interviews with women who are both military leaders and caregivers. The nuanced responses of everyday life can often be missed in larger, military/government-led quantitative surveys and our efforts have revealed that more personalized and qualitative work would be of immense value.
Women in the military, mothers in the military, female military officers, all remain rare categories. However, albeit rare, these categories are growing. As noted above, our pilot reflected the makeup of the female population across officer ranks of the US Army. To be an officer in the US Army is challenging. Captain (O3) duty positions can vary widely but often serve at the level of Company Commander, in charge of 80–150 soldiers as well as all budget and equipment. Field Grade Officers (O4–O6) are unique not only for their rank, but for their experience and ability to perform in the competitive promotion structure. They are expected to have completed key leadership positions as junior officers, completed their civilian education to the level of a Master's degree, attend advanced training in their branch specialties while having completed the Command and General Staff College or an equivalent level course. Only then does she become a Field Grade Officer (Department of the Army 2014). These advanced officers are reflective of the modern experience of women in the military and are the forefront of leadership that today's junior enlisted soldiers see on a day to day basis.
As the face of military leadership begins to change, so do the challenges experienced by female officers. These challenges on the battlefront and the home front are a unique reflection of the dual burden society places on women in leadership positions, particularly within the military. While their male counterparts are praised for exhibiting strong leadership characteristics, women can be chastised for exhibiting the same characteristics in the field and at home. The repercussions of the moral injury sustained from this experience have lasting effects on the mental wellbeing and family lives of these female officers. In order to honor the great strides these women have made towards equality in the armed forces, military leadership must first recognize the struggles experienced by these women and their families. In much the same way the struggles of caregivers/spouses of military members are addressed by the military, official support networks, the VA, and veteran organizations, these organizations must put forth an equal emphasis on serving those individuals who are both services members and caregivers.
To our knowledge this was one of the very first studies to explore cultural, behavioral and mental health challenges among female military officers in the US Army. This investigation found that the dual burden of providing leadership on the battlefield and at home creates a distinctive experience for caregiving military servicewomen that has not be previously explored. The mental health challenges faced by female military officers often go under-reported and untreated. In addition to the exhaustion expressed as a result of stresses and demands at work, these women feel that they cannot share their experiences with their family members and must maintain a façade often at odds with their professional persona. This internal conflict has profound impact on mental health and their functioning as a part of a family unit. In this pilot we sought to describe and characterize these women's experiences, however, further research is needed to address and prevent these issues in the future generations of female US Army officers.
The authors have no competing interests to declare.
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Gewirtz, A. H., McMorris, B. J., Hanson, S., & Davis, L. (2014). Family adjustment of deployed and nondeployed mothers in families with a parent deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 45(6), 465. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036235
Greaves, F., Ramirez-Cano, D., Millett, C., Darzi, A., & Donaldson, L. (2013). Harnessing the cloud of patient experience: Using social media to detect poor quality healthcare. BMJ Quality & Safety, 22(3), 251–255. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2012-001527
Haskell, S. G., Gordon, K. S., Mattocks, K. M., Duggal, M., Erdos, J., Justice, M. C., & Brandt, C. A. (2010). Gender differences in rates of depression, PTSD, pain, obesity, and military sexual trauma among Connecticut war veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. Journal of Women's Health, 19(2), 267–71. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2008.1262
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Five inducted into VHS Wall of Warriors
VINELAND – The annual Wall of Warriors celebration is evolving into an inter-generational bonding project for Vineland High School.
Five former staffers were inducted on May 14 during a sun-soaked walk down memory lane in the VHS South second floor atrium.
They were:
•Larry Bocchese, a teacher, coach and assistant principal
•Anna Clippinger (posthumous), teacher and former Vineland High School principal
•John "Bunkie" Dalesandro, guidance counselor and coach
•Henry "Hank" Schneeweiss, physical education/health teacher and coach
•Beverly Smith, physical education and health teacher
This fourth year of the program, hosted by the Vineland High School Historical Committee, involved more input from the school's history club.
"The reason behind this decision was to make sure a wider range of individuals were able to voice their opinions and vote on the teachers who should be inducted," said student Jessica Morris.
The inductees were determined by a vote of the committee and club members from a list of nominees that also included names submitted from the public.
The minimum criteria is for a person to have taught in the district for 25 years and spent at least 15 of those years on the VHS campus.
"Where many teachers met this prerequisite, we are interested in those who have gone above and beyond the norm," Morris said. But to be named a warrior, she said, a contender must be "exceptional."
The inductees were introduced by students Mia Massaro, Angelina Bartolozzi, Tithi Thakkar, Tess Fisher and Riya Patel. The new warriors had their portraits added to the gallery of previous winners.
Several of this year's inductees noted the honor was more precious to them because the students considered them worthy of recognition.
"What we are trying to do is get the students more involved in the process of choosing the nominations and it's getting them involved in more Vineland history," said Daniel Kuzma, VHS Historical Committee chairman.
While welcoming Bocchese, the first inductee to the podium, Kuzma remembered back when he was at D'Ippolito and the honoree was then his principal.
"Very frightening man," Kuzma joked, but added as he grew to know Bocchese over the years "he wasn't as frightening."
Bocchese, who retired in 2006, thanked the board of education "for giving me the opportunity to do numerous things — I taught physical education, biology, earth science, health."
After a five-year stint in administration as an assistant principal, he returned to teaching and coaching. He is credited with being a leading force in the opening of the VHS 9-10 building and making sure lifesaving programs through the Red Cross were available to students.
Each year, there is one posthumous inductee. Not much information was available on Clippinger, but she was well respected by colleagues. She taught at Vineland High School until 1931, when she was promoted to principal, a position she held until her retirement in 1942.
"I think it's important that we have individuals like this that we don't know that much about because they are the ones that get lost to history," Kuzma said, adding it will be up to future historical committee's to fill in the gaps.
Dalesandro, who retired in 1993, served in many roles but made his grandest mark in the guidance department. He developed the the school's first crisis team, organized the PSAT testing for the middle schools and oversaw the Headliners bulletin given out to students in homeroom. He coached wrestling and tennis and assisted the football team in a variety of functions.
"There were a lot of things we didn't put in his biography, he just didn't want people to know how great he was," Kuzma said.
But Dalesandro said his achievements were "not done by one person, they were done by an entire staff."
Schneeweiss, who retired in 2003, taught physical education/health and also helped students learn to drive. He coached the football and wrestling teams as well as the Lacrosse Club.
"It was very easy to work here," he said. "I'm kind of embarrassed, I came to school, played games and went out did the things I liked to do and got paid for it."
Smith, who retired in 2008, was the embodiment of school spirit. She was the Key Club adviser, cheerleading coach, volleyball club adviser, Spirit Club adviser and the coordinator for the Red Cross Bloodmobile. In 2006, she was voted Teacher of Year by her colleagues.
"In my 30 years of teaching here at VHS South, I never thought of it as a job or work," she said. "It was fun — I loved what I did."
Smith called the three decades at VHS "the best years of her life."
School board president Scott English recalled back to his VHS days when Smith invited him to be the Rowdy Rooster mascot.
At first, he declined, but when he found out he would be able to ride on the cheerleaders' bus, he said he reconsidered.
Deborah M. Marko; (856) 563-5256; email@example.com


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UPDATE: Washington City Paper editor Michael Schaffer expands on Jessica Sidman's role over at Eater DC:
Jess gave us a very strong pitch to do a different kind of food journalism. We're a publication where writers can have opinions all the time, so I assume that she'll be doing a lot of telling us what she likes and what she doesn't, but I don't think that kind of traditional full-dress criticism is going to be the main case of the work she produces. I think a lot of this debate about anonymity misses that point.
Washington City Paper has hired Jessica Sidman as its new "Young & Hungry" food columnist and Eater DC reports that she will not be anonymous.
Editor Michael Schaffer writes in an internal memo:
I was particularly impressed with her not being hung up in the old-school, Voice of God restaurant reviewer model of food writing, instead producing journalism for a world where outlets compete to break news, make provocative arguments, and deliver conceptual scoops to a readership that's more engaged with food than ever.
While the discussion over restaurant criticism and anonymity is seemingly endless and often rehashed, most major newspapers still attempt at hiding their critics' appearances, despite the increased challenges with such a social sharing-friendly world (see: Eater's "To Catch A Critic"). Still, there remains a compelling argument for not having a mug shot out there -- one can't help but be reminded of Ruth Reichl's famous 1993 review of Le Cirque in which she goes in disguised and has a dramatically different experience than when she was recognized as herself.
But 1993 is a long time away from 2012 and the food world has changed significantly. Critics aren't just expected to critique. They are often required to blog and engage with readers much more directly, as Schaffer explained to the Washington Post. They are required to know chefs, yet avoid actually knowing them personally.
As new -- and younger -- critics are hired, it may simply become impossible to mask their identity. What 20 or 30-something isn't on Facebook these days? New York Times critic Pete Wells isn't advertising what he looks like, but as he lived in the world of digital media before becoming the paper's restaurant critic, he isn't exactly a mystery man. Nor was Sam Sifton before him.
We might not have reached the turning point yet in which newspapers just say "screw it, we can't do this anymore," but the seeds have been planted.


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« US Might Sanction Israel | Main | Hezbollah Sells Drugs »
Iran Wants Money
By Micah Halpern
Sunday January 10, 2010
I'm Predicting:
Ahmadinejad just announced the creation of a committee that will put a cash number on the damages inflicted on Iran during WWII.
That's not a mistake.
There is an element of truth to this claim.
Iran is claiming that the invasion cost the Iranians a significant chunk - that inflation skyrocketed and the cost of essentials went through the roof.
Iranians see the world differently than everyone else.
Read my new book THUGS. It's easy. Just click.
4 June 2017 12:13 PM in Predictions
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This Hair Care Line Just Dropped Pikachu-inspired Products For The Holidays
The holidays are coming at you fast, but there's already an electrifying gift set that's dropped to prepare you for the season's greeting. Luxury professional beauty brand Shu Uemura and Pokémon are collaborating to give your beauty cabinet a festive take on hair care and makeup. Your Pokémon Go literally could never.
This season, Pokémon fans can jump for joy because the popular gaming franchise is coming for your full glam routine. The brands have joined together to turn Pikachu into "Pikashu". According to a press release from the brands, "Pika" is known as the electric sounds in Japanese and "shu" represents the hair and makeup brand in which the limited edition holiday collection is plastered with images of Pikashu.
For the Shu Uemura Art of Hair line, the collaboration highlights four Pikashu-approved hair products: the Essence Absolue Nourishing Oil, the Essence Absolue Nourishing Mask, Cleansing Oil Gentle Radiance Cleanser Shampoo, and the brand's wide paddle brush. The makeup line, however, features an eyeshadow palette, a lash curler, two matte lipsticks, a facial cleansing oil, a brush set, an eyebrow pencil, and a cleansing oil set. Each of the featured products is decorated with a special print of Pikashu dressed in makeup. And the Pokémon star is featured all over the products in electrifying poses throughout the print that will make you coo at every turn of the products.
Everything in the Shu Uemura Art of Hair collection is available online and in salons Nov. 1 starting at $57. Makeup products in the line are currently being sold online as well. Here's all the Pikashu cuteness to expect in this holiday collection.
Shu Uemura Art of Hair x Pokémon Essence Absolue Nourishing Hair & Body Oil
Shu Uemura's coveted Essence Absolue Nourishing Oil is a multiuse hair oil that infuses and retains moisture for all hair types from mid-length to your ends. The oil also protects against UV rays while remaining lightweight to use on a daily basis. However, the Pikashu rendtion of the nourishing oil includes gold sparkles in the camellia oils to accentuate a glow in your hair and on your body.
Shu Uemura Art of Hair x Pokémon Essence Absolue Nourishing Hair Mask
The Shu Uemura x Pokémon collection also features the Essence Absolue Nourishing oil in the form of a hair mask. If you're in need of an added boost of oil in your ends, the hair mask will get deep into your roots. Plus you can expect to see the same gold flakies featured in the oil to be dispersed throughout this hair mask as well.
Shu Uemura Art of Hair x Pokémon Cleansing Oil Gentle Radiance Cleanser Shampoo
Shu Uemura's Cleansing Oil Shampoo is both paraben-free and silicone-free. Made for dry hair and itching scalps, the cleansing oil acts gently on all hair types. Plus, the shampoo is lightweight enough to keep your hair fluffy, but strong enough to the point where you'll need very few pumps.
Shu Uemura Art of Hair x Pokémon Paddle Brush
This Pikashu-inspired holiday collection is complete with the brand's large paddle hair brush. The brush acts as a detangler, an everyday styling tool, and a scalp massager that's best used dry and on normal to thick hair. While you can't purchase this item right now on the site, the Pikashu brush will be released later this season.
Shu Uemura x Pokémon Eye Palette: Mythical Purple
Pikashu Eye Palette in Mythical Purple features nine matte and shimmer shades. The palette includes an even balance of cool and warm tones. Any way you mix them up, they're all perfectly festive for fall.
Shu Uemura x Pokémon
Yes, there's a four-piece brush set to place your shadows, too. Shoppers will get a face, cheek, eyes, and a lip brush in this compact set with Pikashu dancing on the stems of each one. Plus, there's even a decorative pouch to carry the set on-the-go.
Shu Uemura x Pokémon Rouge Unlimited Matte Limited Edition
Pokémon fans are offered up two traditional bullet lipsticks. Both are made in a soft matte formula, with Pikashu speeding on the cap. You can shop either this Scarlet Fire red shade or the Mulberry Frost purple mauve shade.
Pokémon Hard Formula Limited Edition Eyebrow Pencil
Shu Uemura's best-selling eyebrow pencil gets a Pokémon twist. The shape of the eyebrow pencil allows you to make as many arches and shapes as you please. However, the pencil only comes in Seal Brown, an ashy medium brown.
Shu Uemura x Pokémon Electric Gold Pikashu Premium Eyelash Curler
The Shu Uemura brand is marked inside of the plate of this limited edition eyelash curler. The silicone padding on the curler protects the eyes while the hinge applies the ideal pressure for a more precise curl. But honestly, the golden Pikashu charm on the end makes this a truly special holiday gift.
Shu Uemura x Pokémon Catch'em All Pikashu Cleansing Oil Coffret
To remove the day's makeup and grit from your face, the collection also offer you the appropriately-named Catch'em All Cleansing Oil Coffret. The set includes four of Shu Uemura's oil cleansers: ultime8∞, Anti/Oxi+, blanc:chroma, and POREfinist2. Plus, the foursome is also travel-sized.
Pokémon lovers may have just found the perfect holiday gift for the beauty enthusiasts in their life. However, if you're a true Pikachu fan, you'll probably want to nab this limited edition collection for yourself.


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Kaduna government constitutes governing councils for KASU, others
The Kaduna State Government, on Tuesday, has announced the constitution of governing councils for the Kaduna State University, Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, College of Education, Gidan Waya, and the College of Nursing and Midwifery.
The government has also appointed a new board for the Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital.
Muyiwa Adekeye, Special Adviser to the Governor (Media & Communication) in a statement on Tuesday, stated that Dr. Ishaya Dare Akawu will chair the Governing Council of Nuhu Bamali Polytechnic.
Haruna Uwais will be representing the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria. It has also Mrs Gladys Goje and Dr Salisu Garba Kubau as members. Other members include the Rector, the permanent secretaries of the ministries of Health and Finance, a member of the Academic Board, and representatives of the Nigerian Association of Engineers, Ahmadu Bello University and Ministry of Justice.
Professor Binta Abdulrahman was named the chairman of the council of the College of Education, Gidan Waya, with Kabiru Ajuji, Masa'udu Doki Igabi, Bayie Joseph Dauda named as members representing the public. Other members include the Provost of the College, the Permanent Secretary- Ministry of Finance, the Permanent Secretary -Ministry of Education, and the Permanent Secretary -Ministry of Justice, two representatives of the Academic Board, non-academic staff and the National Commission for Colleges of Education.
According to the statement, Hussaini Adamu Dikko was appointed chairman of the Governing Council of KASU, with Ismail Sanusi Afieza representing the organized private sector, and Dr Tanimu Muazu Meyere, Habiba Sani and Charity Shekari.
Other members of the KASU Governing Council include the Vice-Chancellor, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, two representatives of the KASU Senate, one person appointed by the Congregation, one person appointed by Convocation, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, and the Registrar as secretary of the Council.
The council of the College of Nursing and Midwifery has Prof. Andrew Suku as chairman. Members include Dr Amina Abdulwahab, Prof. IK Zubairu and Rahila Gajere, permanent secretaries of the ministries of Finance and Education, the Provost, Deputy Provost, the College Librarian and the Bursar.
Other members are the Director, Nursing Services of the Ministry of Health, representatives of the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the National Board for Technical Education, with the Registrar of the college as the secretary.
He said Dr Abdulrahman Sambo will lead the new board of Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital. Other members include Mohammed Sani Dalhatu, Gambo Mohamed Gadan Gaya, Mrs Margaret Audu representating community interest, Prof. Idris Suleiman representing the medical profession, and Prof. Kabiru Musa Yusuf, and Dr Anthony Friday Shemang as representatives of other professionals in the health sector.
According to him, the Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital board also has as members the Vice-Chancellor of KASU, the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, a representative of Ministry of Health, representative of the University Senate, the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, and the chairman of the hospital's medical advisory committee.
"The teaching hospital's director of administration will be the secretary of the board," he said.
Kaduna government constitutes governing councils for KASU, others