Lots to see and do

Our Troop Commander is a female who smokes cigars. She wanders around sometimes, evaluating our training, with her cigar tucked down, puffing away.

I haven't decided yet if I think it works for her. I'm not sure if I'm just still a generation away from it being an ok thing. Maybe the young women and men I'm working with see it just as normal, I don't know.

For me, it stills sets me back when I see her doing it, just like when I see a woman chew tobacco. It just doesn't look right.

Generational, I guess. One of my grandmothers would never refer to my tattoo, as a 'tattoo'. It was always my 'mark'. I remember her helping me in my wedding dress and she kept tugging at the lace trying to get it to cover the 'mark' on my breast.

Me, I'm just not tough looking, so I have completely given up in that arena. I do not 'hooah', and I do not 'hoorah'. I seldom make alot of noise for any reason. I sound retarded when I do, so I just don't do it.

But by the same token, it takes alot to intimidate me with just show any more. It's been interesting to watch the differences in how the males act out aggression, versus the females. Much of the army training flies right over my head, I think , for that reason. Men talk about 'beating someones ass', 'kicking ass', with the inference being that both parties are going to recover and get up and walk away, no harm, no foul. It's about establishing superiority and hierarchy. And males reap benefits of honor and status though this process.

Females act that process out in other ways, and don't hit the physical realm until they're ready to annihilate the enemy for real and permanently. It's about survival, not status. Females who are physically aggressive lose status. The system is set up now in such a way that the females are having to adopt the male behavior patterns. But even then, if they 'win' in the male arena, they still may not be accorded the same levels of recognition as the males, as in the case with the Col. and her cigar. It is some fascinating stuff.

Sometimes painful for the people involved, but hey, since I'm here anyway, I might as well observe.