every WEDNESDAY
The weekly feature page of the University Daily Kansan November 2,1977
Army ROTC cadet Lori Amerine seemed to enjoy her first encounter with a greasy camouflage stick.
DAMSELS OF DEFENSE
Two KU women ROTC cadets, Lori Annineh, Harrison, Ark. sophomore and Allison Lauderdale, San Antonio, Tex. sophomore, became the first KU women cadets to participate in KU Army ROTC war games.
The two women climbed barbed wire fences along their two mile trek
An exhausted Allison Lauderdale relaxed after last Saturday's war games
Nature's silence prevailed.
Aside from the crackling of leaves underfoot and a barking farm dog, no other sounds were heard—until a flurry of gunfire broke the quiet atmosphere.
"You're dead, you're dead, you've been dead for a long time."
And then the hill was taken, the two-foot target was secured and the battle was over.
Lori Amerine, Harrison, Ark., sophomore, had "killed" her first enemy. Allia Lauderle, San Antonio sophomore, didn't fire a shot. But both women had experienced front line attacks.
War games—the words seem to be contradictive. But for Amerine and Lauderdale, the
War games for women? The U.S. Army does not allow women to fight in front line infantry.
Amerine said volunteering to participate in the exercise "didn't intrigue me at first thought, but to actually experience what the men go through and see how rough it is the first hand is invaluable."
But anmerne and Lauderdale are active members of the Pershing Rifles and participated in a field training exercise Saturday, along with 32 male cadets.
After each cadet was issued an M-16 semi-automatic rifle, 80 rounds of blank ammunition, a canteen and a backpack, he boarded troop trucks and was transported to the camp. Everyone then was camouflaged from the forehead to the fingers so nothing would stand out against the environment. Later he held a camera on his belly.
The two women and 11 other actives had to find and secure a two-foot target that the 21 male pledges were guarding somewhere within a square mile area.
The squad leader explained the attack plan. The morning sun started to dissipate the dense (heat) fog.
All of the elements of a Vietnam locale locate four fortress, towns, rocky cliffs and open spaces where they can be found.
After a one and a half hour, two-mile trek through ankle deep marshes and over barbed wire fences, the exhausted women and their comrades reached the base of the hill. "Killing" was accomplished by firing the blanks in the general direction of the enemy. The exercise was
then won by the actives through a daring diversionary tactic and a rear attack.
Most of the men were apprehensive about having the women along.
Dave Snodgrass, company commander, said, "The girls are pretty gung-ho, but we can only move as fast as the slowest person. I'll treat them just like everybody else. Kick them when they need to be kicked and congratulate them when they deserve it."
Amerine "killed" an enemy soldier. She fired
his gun, his direction and he was dead.
Justified him.
"Yeh, I shot someone and it was a wizard feeling. But it's all play here. I could probably do it in real life, but it would be hard. Very hard," she said.
Lauderdaire lost her ammunition clip so her gun would not fire. She was disappointed.
"I didn't get to shoot but I gave someone my ammunition. At least I helped my side," she
After it was over and the troops were resting.
eating lunch and discussing what had transpired, the women were physically drained.
A
"It took a lot of energy but it wasn't as bad as I had expected," Lauderdale said. "It was interesting to see how we crawled, ducked behind the wall and passed the hand signals down the line."
Amerine said, "I did this for the experience but never for a career as an infantwoman."
The two women had held up on their own.
Neither has reprints and both enjoyed the dav.
From sticks to M-16s, stones to smoke grenades, and mud to camouflage make-up, the war games were the actual representations of childhood fantasies.
But for two women, the exercise proved to them that they could stay with the men.
Amerine and Lauderdale were the first women ever to participate in a field training exercise at
"The single fact that we were there, out with the rest of them, must say something to the rest."
Story by Eric Morgenstern
Photos by George Millener