By Aili Arnell
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Most little girls dream of owning a pony or becoming a princess. It is rare to find a little girl who dreams of entering the U.S. military.

Junior Taylor Robinson said, “When I was 13 and my mom and step dad got married, I first wanted to join the military. My dad is in the Marine Corps, and I’ve had a lot of friends and people that mean the world to me die in Iraq. They died doing something great so I want to do the same thing and fight for my country.”

Although women have made great strides in gender equality since the 1920s, they still do not hold a significant number of positions in the armed forces. According to the New York Times, today, women make up only about 14 percent of the 1.4 million people on active duty in the military. There are 196,000 women in the military and 1,204,000 men. And of that number, 7,000 of the women are generals and hold leadership positions.

And those numbers bother Robinson. She said, “I don’t think that (women) are treated fairly in the military. They don’t let the women go in combat but they fly them over to Iraq anyway. For what? I don’t know. Just to keep them around? They don’t let women go on the front lines and fight like a man would and (women) are underestimated because they are female.”

Retired Navy recruiter Sgt. Ken McMichael said that women are equally trained and provided the same opportunities for career advancement as their male counterparts. “The military prides itself on the strength and contribution of its female soldiers and officers. However, some fields are not currently open to women.”

According to the Women’s Research and Education Institute, some positions in the military are restricted to men only while all openings in the Coast Guard and Air Force are open to women, in the Navy, only 59 percent of the positions are open to women, in the Army 52 percent are open to women, and in the Marine Corps only 20 percent are open to women.

Despite those percentages, Robinson said she still wants to be in the Marines. Robinson said, “It’s the toughest branch. They go in first and come out last. I want to really fight and get physical. My mom would rather me join the Air Force just because it is calmer, but my parents would support me in anything.”

Senior Emily Morin has similar dreams of joining the military and said, “I want to be in the Air Force. I would like to fly and the Air Force is the best.” According to goarmy.com, the Air Force has many benefits including travel, a good income, dental and medical health care, and the honor of serving your country.

Morin said, “I’m currently in the middle of the application process. I’m meeting with congressmen. I’m working out a lot to prepare myself for the physical test.” When applying at the U.S, Air Force Academy or for any military academy, applicants must meet with a congressman and request a nomination. Applicants must also fill out an application just like any other school. They also have to go through a vigorous physical test.

McMichael said, “When I was serving it was different. During the 1960s and 1970s, women were not treated that equally in the military. Their presence was extremely rare. But today, when women enlist or go through the application process, we do not discriminate against women. We look at them as any other person applying. Unfortunately, there still tend to be fewer women applying.”

Robinson said she does not plan on going to a military academy. She said, “I’d rather join after college to go into the marines as an officer to have more benefits and to lead a platoon that’s what I really want to lead younger marines and do drill and be the C. O. for the color guard.”

As for Morin, she still has hesitations. “I am kind of worried about being one of the only girls,” she said. “There are just so many guys. I’m not so much worried about my safety because they train us well, and I won’t even be on the ground that much anyways. I’ll be flying,” Morin said.

Robinson wants to end a common misconception about the military. She said, “There’s a lot more to the military then just fighting a lot of the people that do it, do it to fight for their country not just to get out of bad situations. And just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I won’t fight because I will die fighting for the U.S.A.”