comScore
  1. Mediaite
  2. Gossip Cop
  3. Geekosystem
  4. Styleite
  5. SportsGrid
  6. The Mary Sue
  7. The Jane Dough
  8. The Braiser

armed forces

Just What You've Always Wanted

Ready for Closeups, Ballistics: Explosive-Proof Makeup Developed for Armed Forces

by Zoe Chevat | 2:46 pm, August 31st, 2012

daryl-hannah-as-pris-in-blade-runner-1982

Action movie heroines (and heroes) with perfect makeup are just one step closer to science fact, not fiction.

Research scientists at the University of Southern Mississippi have developed a heat-resistant lotion that can withstand high temperatures, protect against a direct blast of heat for more than 15 seconds, is waterproof, and can be applied with ease (and, obviously, is fireproof). Invented for use by soldiers and firefighters, the military’s guidelines for the facial creme presented a hurdle for the team, because the product had to include DEET, an insect repellant that is, you guessed it, incredibly flammable.

READ MORE

Firsts

Janet C. Wolfenbarger Nominated to Become the Air Force’s First Female Four-Star General

by Susana Polo | 2:50 pm, February 15th, 2012

Janet C. Wolfenbarger has been a Lieutenant General and vice commander of the US Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio since she was confirmed by the US Senate in 1999. She’s currently the highest-ranking female officer in the Air Force, and may soon become the highest ranking woman to ever serve in it. President Obama recently nominated her to be appointed to the rank of a four-star Air Force General, a position no other woman has ever held.

READ MORE

Firsts

Parris Island, East Coast Marine Training Grounds, Gets First Female Commander

by Susana Polo | 11:15 am, August 23rd, 2011

Brigadier General L.E. Reynolds is a veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan; already the first woman to command a marine camp in “battle space,” the sprawling Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. Since June, she has served as the first woman to ever head Parris Island, the South Carolina military installation where male Marine recruits living east of the Mississippi and all female recruits train.

Reynolds, daughter of a steelworker and granddaughter of a Marine, downplays the significance of her gender, of course:

“We’ve been at war for 10 years with this generation of Marines,” Reynolds said. “We’ve seen women do a whole lot of things between the war in Iraq and the current war in Afghanistan. The fact that I’m sitting here making sure that we continue to put out the best young Marines is just a matter of it being 2011.”

READ MORE

Firsts

First Female Submarine Officers Begin Their Training

by Susana Polo | 4:20 pm, May 10th, 2011

The nuclear submarine has long been one of the last completely gender exclusive posts in many navies around the world. The typically long and isolated deployments, along with a very cramped and communal environment has kept armed forces from being comfortable with creating co-ed  submarine crews. According to Wikipedia the U.S. Navy allows only three exceptions to the ban on women in submarines, “female civilian technicians for a few days at most; women midshipmen on an overnight during summer training for both Navy ROTC and Naval Academy; [and] family members for one-day dependent cruises.”

However, the U.S.’s ban on women in subs has recently been overturned (at least partially) and yesterday eight women officers reported for the Submarine Officer Basic Course in Groton, Connecticut.

READ MORE

X