NCO speaks of Army as 'home' during Army birthday celebration

NATICK, Mass. (June 18, 2012) -- If you had to pick one person to blow out the candles on the cake during the Army's 237th Birthday, you couldn't do better than Staff Sgt. Sharalis Canales.

In less than seven years, Canales, 27, has transformed herself from a homeless New York City resident to a well-respected NCO at the Natick Soldier Systems Center. Putting on her nation's uniform literally changed her life.

"I am proud of the woman I have become," said Canales, speaking at NSSC's Army Birthday celebration June 14. "We each have our own reasons for enlisting in the Army, but I know that none of us could have expected how it would have changed our lives forever. I stand before you as someone whose life was changed because I joined the Army."

Canales was living at the Covenant House shelter in Times Square when she enlisted in November 2005. Prior to that, she had spent ages 14-20 in a group home after her divorced mother had given her up.

While others struggled to adjust to Basic Training, Canales shrugged it off -- she had already lived with far more people in the shelter. It didn't take long for the 4-foot-8-inch Canales to stand out in the crowd, and she has done so ever since.

"The Army molded me to become fearless," said Canales, "a leader and ready to face any obstacle thrown at me."

Canales, training NCO for the NSSC Headquarters Research and Development Detachment and president of the installation's Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers program, said she was humbled to speak on the Army's Birthday so near to its birthplace.

"What better place to celebrate than to be here in Massachusetts, a few miles away from where our Army was first put to the test?" Canales said. "Today, we celebrate the generations of Soldiers who followed in the footsteps of those colonists who left their homes and embraced our nation's call to duty."

After she spoke, 60 future Soldiers from the North Shore Recruiting Company reaffirmed their oaths of enlistment, and a ceremonial cake-cutting took place. Canales, however, had shown everyone at Natick what the Army is all about.

"The Army is my family, my home, my life," Canales said. "I will continue to serve for as long as the Army will have me. I am thankful to be wearing this uniform today."

american and israel women army

In order to fight for Israel, we have to define Israel.  As it can’t technically be a nation without borders or laws, things Israel doesn’t actually have yet, it will have to establish a border and adopt a constitution, one that falls in line with normal human rights.  Thus far, this is a problem.

There are two sets of laws in Israel, actually 3.  One set is for Jews, the other for Gentiles.  Then they have a religious law that oversees all of it, much like Sharia Law in Iran, actually almost identical to it.

America will have to have permanent bases in Israel, 99 year leases, like we have with our other allies.  Thus far, though even Saudi Arabia allows infidels American bases, Israeli law has forbidden Gentile soldiers on their land.

Americans can fight and die for Israel but not step onto Israeli soil, as their religious law lists such an act as “defilement.”

Hijab American Military Women, American servicewomen encouraged to wear headscarves in Afghanistan

In an effort to get closer to the local population, American female soldiers stationed in Afghanistan are being encouraged to wear a Muslim headscarf when interacting with civilians. But some question whether the practice constitutes cultural sensitivity or a form of appeasement that is degrading to U.S. soldiers.

Major Kyndra Rotunda, executive director of the Military Law and Policy Institute and AMVETS Legal Clinic at Chapman University, told The Daily Caller that while the women are not being ordered to wear the head scarf, encouragement is tantamount to a demand.

“They say they are encouraging women to wear the headscarf when they are out and about and on patrol. But the problem is — and I think anyone who has been in the military understands that being encouraged to do something is about the same thing as being ordered — it really puts them in an uncomfortable position when their commander says, ‘We really want you to do this, technically you don’t have to, but we really want you to do this,’” she said.

Lt. Col. Michael Lawhorn, a U.S. Central Command spokesman, stressed to TheDC that while commanders are encouraging American women to wear headscarves while engaging with civilians, they are not having them wear the headscarf in lieu of their kevlar helmets.

“Nobody is saying, ‘Okay as we head out onto this dangerous street, you wear a hijab instead of your kevlar helmet,’” Lawhorn said. “As women are on some of these engagement teams and they are going to go into places where are going to predominantly be dealing with other women, like giving them medical information or finding out their concerns are in the local community. Local commanders are encouraging them — not demanding, but encouraging — if they feel more comfortable — ‘Feel free to wear a headscarf.’”

Rotunda remained unconvinced, telling TheDC that helmets are always the preferred head wear among soldiers.

“Even if it is outreach, you never know what to expect. You really should be wearing your kevlar helmet, it is a safety issue,” she said.

Retired Col. Martha McSally, whose grievance about being forced to wear the Muslim abaya while stationed in Saudi Arabia in the 1990s resulted in 2002 legislation outlawing the practice of making female soldiers wear Muslim religious garb in Saudi Arabia, told The Daily Caller that the sanctity of the uniform should not be sullied with outside accessories like the hijab.

“Another thing that makes this inappropriate is that they are wearing it with their uniform,” she said. “All the services have several-hundred-page regulations about what is appropriate and is not appropriate to wear with the uniform, and we have very strict guidelines … You are representing the United States government. You are wearing the U.S. military uniform, and it confuses what you are representing when you add this to the uniform.”

In mid-February one of the sponsors of the 2002 legislation that outlawed the practice of making female soldiers in Saudi Arabia wear the abaya, Rhode Island Democratic Rep. James Langevin, wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates requesting more information about soldiers in headscarves.

“I understand the mission in Afghanistan is drastically different than the situation our female troops faced in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 10 years ago,” Langevin wrote. “However I am interested to know the precise policies or operating instructions that are currently being employed with regard to the garments worn by female service members in Afghanistan and other Muslim nations.”

Langevin continues to wait for a response.

Female service members are not the only ones concerned. Retired Navy SEAL Scott Taylor told TheDC that he has been troubled by reports of women wearing the headscarves with their uniforms.

“I am completely oppose appeasement to a culture rather than respecting it,” Taylor wrote in an email. “My personal Middle Eastern experience in a very conservative country has taught me that Muslims can feel respected without submitting to an impersonation of their culture. There is little or nothing gained by an American woman in a Hijab, in what is deemed by some as cultural sensitivity. Women in Female Engagement Teams can successfully complete their stated mission without utilization of the Hijab. Encouraging (which coming from leaders is basically an order within the military) this approach is against what the American soldier in uniform stands for. Soldiers operating covertly are a different story.”

Colonel Martha McSally is hopeful that the experience she had in Saudi Arabia being forced to wear the abaya will not be repeated in Afghanistan with the hijab.

“I am a civilian now, I retired from the Air Force, these things will not apply to me, so there is no personal connection in that sense. But as an American and someone who went through this with the abaya … I feel on principle, for the same reason the abaya was wrong, this is wrong,” she said. “It is important to be sensitive to the local culture in any mission, and understand the culture but this is not about shaking with your left hand or showing the bottom of your feet … this symbolizes that women have a lower status than men.”

Major Rotunda is hopeful that Congress will get involved to ensure that female soldiers are no longer pressured to comply.

“It is clearly within Congress’s realm to pass another provision like what they passed in 2002,” she said. “If the military on its own doesn’t stop this nonsense.”