Is it just me, or are there a greater number of women walking around in the colours of our armed forces these days? You sometimes see them at neighbourhood shopping malls in the evenings, or even waiting at a number of bus stops fringing the town area. And of course, one cannot help but notice them in camp during one’s reservist training stints, simply by nature of the fact that they… well… stand out.

I will not claim to have any knowledge of why there seems to be more uniformed females emerging from the woodwork. The armed forces are as good a place as any to earn one’s living, it’s true, and all the better if some women feel they need a greater challenge than the mundane, traditional female roles they’re supposed to occupy in society. If they can do a man’s job, and perhaps bring that softer touch to it, kudos to them. Besides, some of them look pretty cool in multiple shades of green too.

And it is exactly because of that, that their exact roles are, more often than not, quickly forgotten by virtue of their very appearance. Who would wonder what position a uniformed female officer occupies in which unit when seeing her walking down the street? The first thing that would spring to most guys’ minds is “Whoa!”. Most guys.

Whispers of ‘Eh look! Female officer approaching’ often been overheard during training exercises, and the guys would often stand up taller (if they’re on guard duty) or act extra ‘on’ (if they’re filling sandbags, for instance) when such an occurrence takes place. You could say it’s the usual male-female dynamics at play, but perhaps the fact that these women are in uniform – in a male-dominated realm – just lends them that extra air of enigma… of mystery.

And perhaps that is what makes them seem that much more unapproachable… unless you’re a male officer of higher rank or a guy with balls of steel.

Whatever the case may be, and whatever rank they occupy, I say women in uniform add an extra dimension of excitement to the armed forces. Fantasies aside, many of them have risen the ranks and command their own units these days, having been given no quarter in training by virtue of their gender. They have earned respect, and command it too.

And that in itself is enough to earn them the rank of ‘hot’ – stinky field fatigues notwithstanding.