Ms. Savage according to her Linkedin profile is chief engineer aboard the Cowpens. My question is, how did she get promoted to this rank without engineering background in the 1st place? So, am I missing something here?

Not sure where you're getting the impression that the chief engineer of the vessel was involved. The article states that the captain of the USS Cowpens was involved in "an inappropriate relationship" with his acting executive officer. (Read: he was boning his XO.)

I was very amused, by the way, at the fact that the woman's name is "Destiny Savage". Apparently the Navy is permitting strippers, hookers, and/or porn actresses to enlist and become senior officers on their vessels. Part of a new drive to raise flagging morale, perhaps?

Notably, the people who hate women in the military the most, in my former Navy experience – the women who actually do their job as "one of the guys."

You will never hear more scathing language or commentary against the "wups I got pregnant" and "gee, will you lift that/write that/fix that for me" crowd than the women who are actually willing to pull their share of the load.

Those selfsame women will also admit that the ones like them are few and far between.

Both of my parents were also in the Navy. Mom was a Navy nurse in the 'Nam era. Many a wounded Marine was happy to see her pretty face when they woke up in the hospital after being brought back stateside. There is a place for women in the military, but the frontlines or any combat command is not it.

Not to mention that it's impossible to apply wall-to-wall counselling in such situations, no matter how thoroughly deserved…

I can't think of a dumber idea than letting- forcing, really- men and women to serve together in mixed units. That sort of thing leads to potentially disastrous breakdowns in discipline, efficiency, morale, combat effectiveness, and generally leads to a situation that is more f***ed up than a football bat.

Oh, hey, look what I just found!

Actually, Aphrodite and Ares were lovers. Love and war go together

That is true. It is also true that Aphrodite was the wife of Hephaestus, and the jealousy and rage that he felt when he found out that he was being cuckolded by Ares very nearly caused a civil war on Olympus and had further very unpleasant consequences for Aphrodite's children.

The Greeks understood love and war- and they understood why the two needed to be kept separate. Which is why war was made the exclusive province of men, a tradition that persisted down the centuries until various "enlightened" Western governments, in their infinite folly, decided that letting men and women serve together in mixed units was actually wise.

Indeed. I got direct inspiration for this post (read: shamelessly ripped off) from his writings on the subject.

As you probably know, he also wrote a fiction book based on the same ideas. Which I thought was rather good.

He had a rule: no matter what, don't get involved with a military woman. He saw more than a few false rape accusations come against his fellows, especially when it was time for ratings to be issued and the women received substandard rates. Crying rape was a quick way to get your rate adjusted and stick it to your CO. Ridiculous.

Eros was Aphrodite's child (in some myths; in others he is a primordial god). Ares is referred to as the father of Eros, and Eros kindles passionate, deep, but often fickle and mischievous love.

Love is a root of many human emotions and actions: love for country and countrymen begets a sense of honor and duty for them, love of beauty and form begets a drive for excellence and pride in accomplishment. Yes, when this love is threatened, war will be fought to reclaim the noble virtues.

Camp followers aside, the Greeks knew a woman on the battlefield was poison, and the Amazons were a distinctly man-hating/fearing cult who were only subdued once by a man of exceptional strength and cunning (Hercules).