ABSTRACT
The devaluation of service women began in the American Revolutionary War and continued for the next two centuries. During the Civil War, some women cross-dressed and passed as men or became camp followers and trailed after their husbands across the various blood-stained battlefields. The chapter explores that nursing was the more traditional role for American women during times of war. It describes the Women's Involvement in World War II. After the war, many military women chose to accept a discharge and return to civilian life. Military women tend to spurn the label feminist, and are in general neither crusaders nor radicals. In 1971, the US Air Force admitted women into its Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), and the Joint Armed Forces Staff College admitted women for the first time. In the Air Force, two auxiliary forces, such as Women's Army Ferrying Services (WAFS) and Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs), are emerged during World War II.
