I've heard of Mazur. Haven't read her, but the name sounds familiar. Actually, I've been trying so much more to get myself up to speed in general that I haven't specialized as much as I might have.

Actually, what I was thinking of -- and what I worry about -- is the hero-on-horseback syndrome. I'm seeing that with the Obamaphiles, and I distinguish between hero-on-horseback (either gender) and intense personal loyalty. If people feel one, but express themselves (not you) in terms of the other, I can only read what's on the screen.

No, Clinton isn't gender-neutral, just as Obama isn't race-neutral. And we're getting dirty tricks on both sides. They're more subtle than the Willie Horton routine that helped skunk Dukakis, but they're there.

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on whether or not gender-neutrality is a good thing. Or, perhaps, a possible thing, given Clinton's age cohort. Granted, Thatcher, a generation older, managed it just fine, and with Albright, the subject didn't come up. Clinton's from Wellesley and grew up in an era when the personal -was- the political. This isn't always true. Look at Drew Gilpin Faust who acknowledged that yes, she was the first woman President of Harvard, but she was president of Harvard, and that was that. Then, she published a superb book about the impact of the Civil War on the American psyche and it's business as usual.

You're of a generation in which "that's not a WOMAN, that's a Lieutenant" is possible. And you were in an organization where the outfit was paramount. Both Obama and Clinton are politicians -- out in front, not part of an outfit. Regrettable, but true, I'm afraid.

To respond to CindyLu, I agree that Clinton did a very smart thing in getting onto the Armed Services Committee. She was clever enough to know that the way Bill Clinton and the military did -not- get along was something she had to learn from, and she did. In this, I think she was helped, first off, by being draft exempt. She didn't have to CYA, and she doesn't incur the stigma of the chicken hawk either. But because she is not presenting herself as "sans peur et sans reproche," however, she knew it was a problem she had to address.

Must say, how many in the military treated Bill Clinton -- wasn't there something in the UCMJ about that? I don't see how people's COs ignored the way people forgot the distinction between the Office in the individual keeping the chair warm.

Last point: Clinton's vote on Iraq. I'm in New York, so she's one of my senators. Not all New Yorkers will agree with me, nor should they. I don't agree with me because I am not a happy Kzin that I was lied to about WMD. As long as I thought there was a possibility that WMD existed or that NBC weapons had been used on our troops as well as the Kurds, I supported that vote. Now, I'm simply furious. And there's something else: after 9/11, the situation was very different, and emotions were high. Whatever, else, Clinton was too shrewed to pull a Jeannette Rankin, and now she has to stand the heat for it. I suspect I'd have made the same decision.

I'd like to read your article on Sgt Maj MacKinney (in the context of feminism, I was thinking of Professor Cynthia, and it took me awhile to get my ideas straightened out). I thought it was a fascinating example of unit cohesion operating in favor of race, as opposed to gender and, although not precisely thrilled by the whole situation and some of the comments I heard, I was profoundly impressed by how thoroughly racial integration has permeated the armed forces. I gather the Marines call African-Americans -dark- green. I'm not telling ANYTHING to the Marines.

No, sorry. Dad died in 1970. He was good to his enlisted people and protected his scrounger. He never talked, except to get depressed every Christmas. I think, in some ways, coming home, coming almost all the way back, marrying and having a daughter he could bring up sheltered (it annoyed him when I refused to be coddled, and what he thought of my participation in the anti-war movement...oh dear...), was his victory, and I had to respect it.

But later on, I checked out his unit from a mug he had. His general never said "nuts." That was publishable, however. And Dad had a lifelong respect for Patton. He didn't talk. But from things that he said and did, I know he never forgot.

Ironically, he volunteered for overseas duty when he was at Ft. Benning and his Colonel refused to have Jewish officers. Dad pulled himself to about 5'5" of attention and, with "Sir" larding every word, requested overseas duty, SUH. The Colonel was a bigot. My father was my first and best hero. One of my Dad's best friends, born in Germany, was in OSS. Both worked behind enemy lines. Both refused to wear anything but H (for Hebrew, the custom at the time, on their dogtags).

Wait. The only story I know, and he had to tell my eldest male cousin, dammit. Apparently, Dad made friends with the Russians. GOOD friends. They were driving a Jeep behind enemy lines one night, lights blazing, drunk out of their minds, singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the top of their lungs. And Dad's voice was so awful that when he sang, the dogs in the neighborhood would howl in sympathy. He was a very, very, very bad captain, and I hope he had one hell of a hangover. He earned it.

Ultimately, he went home on the QUEEN MARY. I was out there once for the Nebula awards and checked out every inch of officers' country, sniffling disgracefully. This is apparently not unusual.