I did not see this addressed, or I missed it. Since you appear to be our military expert in AD, what options in non-combat or combat support areas could deafs be involved in?
My personal feelings here: if I were in a combat zone, I would feel less secure if there were soldiers that required special arrangements behind or along side me. Just my opinion, and remember, I was full hearing at one time. In an intensive combat situation, I would not want someone that needs an interp to tell them there is incoming artillery or aircraft. Every second counts in many situations during battle. I would think there are other fields that are possible for deaf/HOH, but away from the front lines. Your input, Reba?
I'm not an expert but I do have experience, and I know where to look for help.
One of the basic problems is that the philosophy of military service and the goals of equal employment opportunities are totally "apples and oranges." Our military forces were created to defend our nation, not to provide jobs. They do provide jobs for people but only as they are needed to fill a military need, not an employee need.
The military always puts the needs of the mission first, and personnel second.
Equal employment opportunity puts the needs of the potential employee first, without caring about the mission of the hiring company.
Another example of how military and civilian philosophies and practices differ is in medical triage. In civilian hospital ER's the patients in the worst condition are taken care of first, and the least ill or injured are taken care of last. On a Navy ship that is under attack and seriously damaged with lots of personnel casualties, guess who gets medical attention first? The
least wounded. Why? Because they can be patched up quickly and get back to the work of saving the ship. Seriously injured crewmen can't help, so they are taken care of later, if possible.
If a sailor on a deployed sub gets very ill, the boat's corpsman does the best he can to treat him. If he can save the sailor, great. If not, sorry. The sub WILL NOT SURFACE for a medical evacuation (depending on the mission requirements). To do so would endanger the mission, so sometimes an individual's needs will be sacrificed.
Suppose a sailor's wife and baby die in childbirth while his sub is deployed. The boat's radioman gets the message from the Red Cross. Does he give that message to the sailor? No. He gives it to the Captain. The Captain decides whether or not to inform the sailor. Often they do not until they arrive at port later. Why? Because they don't want the sailor to get too upset to do his job.
All that shows that the
primary focus is success of the mission, not the needs of the individual.
One of the problems with setting aside "non-combatant" billets for Deaf people is that combat rotation is effected. The hearing military members would have no non-combat billets with which to rotate their tours.
Another problem is that there really are no completely combat-free specialties. Theoretically, any service-member could wind up in a hazardous situation, and must be prepared for that.
For example, Hubby (when he was on active duty in the Navy) was assigned to an administrative billet at a stateside torpedo facility. He worked most of the time in an office, in support of the people who were assembling the torpedoes. It was a very dangerous facility because of the fuels and explosives that they used. It was always possible that a torpedo would go "hot" and everyone would have
SECONDS to evacuate the building. They had frequent drills, and some real life close calls. When the alarm goes off every technician, officer, clerk, etc., has to be able to jump over obstacles, thru small openings, and RUN for cover.
When Hubby served on ships, even though his primary duty was administrative support, he also had to serve as part of the fire fighting team, Captain's talker (relaying his messages to the crew) on the bridge, and bogey plotter (marking on a see-thru chart the positions of unknown craft when another crewman shouts out the information). EVERY crewman (cooks, medics, admin) grabs a helmet and runs to his position when the gong is sounded for general quarters.
There are civilian jobs that are available in the Department of Defense that support the military. Admin, accounting, medical, supply, etc., have civilian opportunities. Civilian support is very important.
He also avoided fish and rice from that day forward. Dad =
