From Head Scarf to Army Cap, Making a New Life - New York Times

[Owen Densmore]

And now, for something completely different!
   http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/15/nyregion/15muslim.html?hp

Starting quote:
Stomping her boots and swinging her bony arms, Fadwa Hamdan led a  
column of troops through this bleak Texas base.

Only six months earlier, she wore the head scarf of a pious Muslim  
woman and dropped her eyes in the presence of men. Now she was  
marching them to dinner.

?I?m gonna be a shooting man, a shooting man!? she cried, her  
Jordanian accent lost in the chanting voices. ?The best I can for  
Uncle Sam, for Uncle Sam!?

The United States military has long prided itself on molding raw  
recruits into hardened soldiers. Perhaps none have undergone a  
transformation quite like that of Ms. Hamdan.


     -- Owen

Owen Densmore   http://backspaces.net

[Marcus G. Daniels-3]

Owen Densmore wrote:
> And now, for something completely different!
>    http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/15/nyregion/15muslim.html?hp
>  
It seems a cunning plan to recruit women from these cultures.   They
must have deep-seated rage, if only discovered retrospectively.   Yet
they have evolved skills for controlling it.  And they have a crucial
skill the government needs, namely knowledge of Arabic.   My favorite quote:
> Nothing felt more familiar than the military?s emphasis on respect.
> Soldiers learned to tuck their hands behind their backs when speaking
> to superiors.