AFL’s Geraldine George Encourages More Female Recruits …Says Joining The Military Has Benefits

The Deputy Chief of Staff, Geraldine George, says if a Liberian does not have the mind set of protecting their country, nobody will do it better.
She said even though there has been no date set and approved for the recruitment process, the notion that the army is for males or people who do not have life in society is wrong because there are many benefits in becoming a military personnel in Liberia now unlike in the past.
The Deputy Chief of Staff who has served the national army for 13 years said it had not been an all ‘bread and butter’ experience for her as sometimes she also felt discouraged but one thing that had kept her going was if she does not do it, she did not expect a Guinean, Ghanaian or Nigerian to do it for her country.
Having read on serving your army in the military and listening to a general’s encouragement, that propelled her decision to remain in the AFL therefore she is urging females to push themselves because it was the army that allowed her to obtain a master’s degree without paying a dime and visiting over 18 other countries as well as it is the army that has given her the personality she has today.
Brig. General George encouraged females wanting to join the Armed Forces of Liberia, where she has risen as the second in command, to come with a mind of acquiring a profession regardless of the toughness in the training exercises but the AFL will not lower its standards any further because of a particular sex.
She explained that though the military training is tough, females must first prepare their minds, be prepared for the trainings when even anticipating joining the army but the Armed Forces of Liberia will not lower its standards any further than what it is now.
She said most females fail the test because of the push-ups, sit-ups and running during the training therefore in order to incorporate more females as anticipated by the AFL ahead of the recruitment exercise, a team will be set up to carry out a pre training exercise with focus on the females to make them adjusted before they proceed to the recruitment process.
The D-CoS said what will not be done is to take them on the shooting range and give them weapons to fire because they are not yet part of the Armed Forces of Liberia adding, “And we will not be doing any academic part of the training; so we expect that when you are out of high school, you must be able to read, write and to understand.”
“I went through every training that the army has required and I did it with the help of other enlisted in the Armed Forces of Liberia who helped me along the way. It’s a tough training and you must be ready for it and it is not something I had to do differently from what the males were doing. I hear most of the time people say we should lower our standards and that I disagree with,” the first female Brig. General explained about females in the military.
She said if a male and a female is of the same age, they cannot be made to do the same trainings such as the same push-ups, run time and, the same sit-ups; the male will always be allowed to do more therefore, the standards cannot be lowered any further because when there are no standards, the female who rises to the rank of a ‘General’ in the AFL will be mocked by her male counterparts on grounds that she did not merit it.
“And we are not going to take six or ninth graders nor high school drop-outs because we want people who can read, write and understand; that you know that when you are given an unlawful order, you know that, that is not what you are supposed to do,” Brig. General George explained.
She said the AFL is prepared to carry out the pre training ahead of the recruitment process because it is like a normal ROTC training so that the number of females can increase to over a hundred females in the army. She identified some of the reason as low salary, impression of more benefits, and other impressions; while others felt that the army was not the place for them. Writes C. Winnie Saywah-Jimmy