Sweden has not been involved in many hot conflicts during those years, no
Lews_TherinThelamon Send a noteboard - 22/09/2011 05:04:26 PM
Generally contributing with about 1000 troops to different conflict areas any given year during this time period.
And public opinion makes it difficult for Swedish troops abroad to go public with actual kill counts, but combat casualties are another thing. They are six for the last twenty years, one in 1991 in Lebanon, and five in Afghanistan (two in 2005, three in 2010).
For combat fatalities inflicted, there are no official statistics, but there was quite a few in Bosnia, probably a few in Kosovo, there was some combat in Liberia and Lebanon, but I haven't heard of any confirmed killings from there. The Swedish Special Forces (which hires women to combat positions and are actively searching for more women for certain special missions all the time) were heavily involved in Operation Artemis in Kongo 2003, where they reportedly more or less ran out of body bags for the enemies while not having one casualty. That luck ran out when two of their operators were killed by an IED in Afghanistan in 2005, which is everything the public knows about that mission, since officially, they were actually not there when it happened...). Over all, Afghanistan has probably been the bloodiest conflict area that Sweden has been in since Kongo in the 60's, and they kill bandits and Taliban forces there on a regular basis, with the amount of combat action having increased in later years. I've heard no complaints from veterans about female soldiers, those complaints usually stem from young people who dream of the military but haven't been in it yet, and those who were conscripts during the Cold War and have no experience from having women fighting in their unit.
But then again, the Swedish culture is very different from the American in this respect. We are not taught that men are supposed to take care for women, but that women are fully capable of taking care of themselves. Gender equality is deeply rooted in most Swedes these days, and the opposition to having women in combat positions is more or less non-existent in both the military and amongst political parties as far as I know.
Also, Sweden is far from the only country that has allowed women to fight in wars. The Soviet Union did it during WWII, and today countries such as Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Serbia and Israel allow women in combat positions.
And public opinion makes it difficult for Swedish troops abroad to go public with actual kill counts, but combat casualties are another thing. They are six for the last twenty years, one in 1991 in Lebanon, and five in Afghanistan (two in 2005, three in 2010).
For combat fatalities inflicted, there are no official statistics, but there was quite a few in Bosnia, probably a few in Kosovo, there was some combat in Liberia and Lebanon, but I haven't heard of any confirmed killings from there. The Swedish Special Forces (which hires women to combat positions and are actively searching for more women for certain special missions all the time) were heavily involved in Operation Artemis in Kongo 2003, where they reportedly more or less ran out of body bags for the enemies while not having one casualty. That luck ran out when two of their operators were killed by an IED in Afghanistan in 2005, which is everything the public knows about that mission, since officially, they were actually not there when it happened...). Over all, Afghanistan has probably been the bloodiest conflict area that Sweden has been in since Kongo in the 60's, and they kill bandits and Taliban forces there on a regular basis, with the amount of combat action having increased in later years. I've heard no complaints from veterans about female soldiers, those complaints usually stem from young people who dream of the military but haven't been in it yet, and those who were conscripts during the Cold War and have no experience from having women fighting in their unit.
But then again, the Swedish culture is very different from the American in this respect. We are not taught that men are supposed to take care for women, but that women are fully capable of taking care of themselves. Gender equality is deeply rooted in most Swedes these days, and the opposition to having women in combat positions is more or less non-existent in both the military and amongst political parties as far as I know.
Also, Sweden is far from the only country that has allowed women to fight in wars. The Soviet Union did it during WWII, and today countries such as Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Serbia and Israel allow women in combat positions.
USMC first to fight
21/09/2011 03:36:17 PM
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In my imagination it went down something like this:
21/09/2011 04:22:08 PM
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There could be some truth to that
21/09/2011 04:34:36 PM
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They need military chaplains, right? *NM*
21/09/2011 04:36:06 PM
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not in the marines
21/09/2011 04:45:48 PM
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I had a friend who was a Navy chaplain attached to the Marine Corps.
21/09/2011 07:23:10 PM
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I thought nothing could make the Swedish "dress blues" look worse than it already does.
21/09/2011 04:40:08 PM
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Very interesting, but encouraging.
21/09/2011 08:28:38 PM
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The answer on women in combat:
21/09/2011 10:07:04 PM
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I still worry about how the men will react.
22/09/2011 02:33:15 AM
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Well, you can worry about what might happen.
22/09/2011 09:17:02 AM
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and how much actual combat have these units seen?
22/09/2011 02:40:50 PM
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Sweden has not been involved in many hot conflicts during those years, no
22/09/2011 05:04:26 PM
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The real test will be when a country with a non-discriminatory military fights a major war.
22/09/2011 04:00:12 PM
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The other branches could benefit in a lot of ways by trying to emulate the Marines
22/09/2011 03:25:16 PM
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Probably.
22/09/2011 04:33:49 PM
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The Lynndie England case makes my point
22/09/2011 06:16:32 PM
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The Lynndie England case is debatable.
22/09/2011 07:28:53 PM
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sorry not interested in arguing rhetoric *NM*
22/09/2011 09:01:04 PM
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The US Army Field Manual is policy, not rhetoric.
22/09/2011 09:44:58 PM
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no Joel the rheotoric is all you
22/09/2011 10:45:29 PM
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Quoting someone is not rhetoric; I am honestly flabbergasted that we are still debating that fact.
22/09/2011 11:12:29 PM
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This kind of reminds me of Full Metal Jacket...
21/09/2011 10:49:57 PM
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Re: This kind of reminds me of Full Metal Jacket...
21/09/2011 11:14:38 PM
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"I bet you could suck a golfball through a garden hose" was NOT a compliment?
22/09/2011 11:25:43 PM
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The only really great thing about that movies is he sounded so much like a drill instructor
22/09/2011 03:01:13 PM
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I doubt the sort of person who is interested in the Marines will particularly care about being PC *NM*
22/09/2011 10:34:11 PM
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no but they care a lot about having PC forced on the them which happens all the time
22/09/2011 10:41:13 PM
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