"If you try to deny basic needs, it always bites you on the ass." So says Sue McGarvie, a clinical sex therapist who has counselled dozens of Canadian soldiers.
Speaking to Canadian Press, McGarvie said the need for "close relationships" is programmed by 100 million years of human evolution. Well DUH! She may be a bit off on the statistic, but the primal urge has been around ever since Adam, realizing that Eve came from inside him, thought he'd try to get inside her.
Ms McGarvie was commenting on the recent scandal which saw Brigadier General Daniel Menard, commander of the Canadian forces in Afghanistan, relieved of command and returned to Canada for ... ahem ... screwing a corporal. (Female corporal, to be sure! Nothing wrong with Menard!)
"[Soldiers] are in an incredibly difficult situation and looking for comfort, and we are expecting them to be automatons," McGarvie said. "You cannot fight it. You put adults together in any situation and you're going to have sex and intimacy." Again, DUH!
Of all the countries fighting for democracy and human rights in Afghanistan [Take your tongue out of your cheek! ed.] Canada's ban on relationships is arguably the strictest. Even the American military has begun easing its attitude toward personal relationships, including those of a non-heterosexual nature.
Ms McGarvie said the military should judge Menard and other soldiers solely on how well they do their job, not by any consensual relationships they might pursue. Walt agrees.
That a competent and heretofore-respected officer should find his career finished because of what civilians would see as "an office affair" seems to me a denial of the reality of human feelings and failings.
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