Battleland

“Covert Combat Sex”

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Army photo

U.S. soldiers with the 82nd Airborne re-enlist for another tour, Baghdad, 2009.

Laura Cannon, a 2001 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy who served in Iraq following the 2003 U.S. invasion, takes issue with the U.S. military’s General Order No. 1, prohibiting sex at West Point (“cadets engage one another in the parking lot, behind Battle Monument and in sports equipment rooms, among other places,” she notes). And, while we’re at it, in war zones, too:

I had no idea that a combat zone would be such a sexually charged environment. Blame it on amped-up testosterone pouring out of aggressive, athletic men. Or blame it on combat stripping even the strongest of men and women down to their core, raw emotions. Combine that with forming special bonds with comrades who promise to do whatever it takes to ensure your safe return home, including sacrificing their life for yours. What do you think happens? Let me tell you, covert combat sex (or in my case, hard-core making out, because I was too scared to go “All-In”) ranks high on the list of life’s thrills.

Cannon (where do military types get such names?) blogs at WarVirgin.com. Read her full column from Sunday’s Washington Post here.