Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation
Retired Brigadier General in the Air Force; president of the Board of Directors of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation
PROFILE
Wilma Vaught
Guest
FROM Wilma Vaught
Which Way, L.A.?
Women on the Front Lines About 16 percent of America's military is now composed of women. In Iraq, more than 130 have been killed, more than 800 wounded. Since World War II, two women have won Silver Stars — one by clearing insurgents from two trenches with hand grenades and killing three more with her M4 rifle. But she was a military police officer acting in an emergency. America's female soldiers served on the front lines in Iraq, and they're doing the same thing in Afghanistan. No American women are assigned to combat. Anne Coughlin has filed a lawsuit to challenge that. A professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, she and some students started the Molly Pitcher Project. We hear about a dispute that's raging from the courts to the Pentagon to the Halls of Congress.
To the Point
Should Women Soldiers Be Assigned to Combat? During the Iraq war, an Army medic ran through gunfire to rescue wounded comrades, earning a Silver Star. But one rescued man said she should never even have been there. The medic was a woman, even though women are never assigned to combat. They're getting closer and closer, and there's a budding movement to make them eligible for all things men do, if they can meet the qualifying standards. But that's hugely controversial. Is it just about equality under the law? Is it a cultural issue, deeply ingrained despite the guarantees of the Constitution?
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To the Point
Replacing Obamacare: Now you see it… now you don’t As the Senate deliberates replacing Obmacare, health coverage for millions of people is at stake. There've been no public hearings, and a draft measure won't be made public. Is the House version so unpopular that that Senate is hiding a version that looks much the same?
To the Point
Will the Senate write a healthcare bill in secret? While Democrats and Republicans argue White House relations with Russia, another question is being decided behind closed doors: who gets help buying health insurance and who doesn't? We hear how the pros and cons are being shrouded in secrecy.
Left, Right & Center
How was the trip? President Trump's travels got less fun as he went from the Middle East to Europe.
To the Point
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.