Good Girls And Bad Girls

I live close to the Trident Submarine base. Today it was announced women will be serving on subs for the first time. That's fascinating to me, having been to the base, walked through the subs, seen the challenges of living, working, sharing tight space in such close quarters.

I still remember being in... was it  junior high?... when we female students fought for our rights to wear pants to class. That was back when there were glass ceilings for women.

I live in a region surrounded by soldiers, sailors, pilots, military bases.

My dogs and I were walking yesterday on the beach in our remote backyard.
Then we all stopped in unison, our heads turned upward in synchronicity to the blast of sound, then the sight  of three  blue angel-esque fighters flying in tandem over the bay. They were headed north from south.

I have watched a  mighty Trident sub stop my Hood Canal  bridge crossing.

I observe with awe the battleships ships lined up at the Naval base during my commute through Bremerton.

Occasionally, I attempt to count the military vehicles in the convoys passing me on Seattle's freeways as I head to and from on my investigative rounds.

I have also entered military bases more times than I can count as I visit victims or witnesses.
I am cleared at a security post, where sometimes the wait is quite long,
Sometimes my car is swept inside, out and underneath by a round dish that detects things and a big flat mirror that sees things.

Before entering a base, I have all my  I.D.s' --  drivers license, state P.I. license and auto registration and sometimes, proof of insurance, scrutinized by soldiers much younger than I. And always, I  wait patiently, respectfully and observantly  for either permission to drive on base or for an escort to meet me and lead me in.

Washington state, in the US's Pacific Northwest area, is blanketed by military installations.
I didn't notice it as much when I lived in the tighter confines of North Seattle.

When I moved across the water to peninsula and these endless expanses of forest and water, spotted with people, I have seen more of a military presence than I was ever aware of.
And I am both grateful for and humbled by every one of the men and women who have traded their normal lives for one that puts their structured, regimented and physically uncomfortable lives on the line to protect us.

We here in the Great Northwest are very protective  of our borders as an entry point to our country from Canada.

There are a number of points of entry by ferry and boat via Port Townsend , a popular upscale tourist.

Plus there are the land borders up north to Canada.
Some are  legal, others are not and used by smugglers who have made bold moves... like building a house in Canada one side of the border with a tunnel to our side.

One alleged terrorist was arrested at one of our ferry crossings with  a car full of explosives. He allegedly planned to  blowing up Seattle's beloved Space Needle.

Today I learned that  women now have half of all science and engineering degrees.
Today, women are governors, senators, soldiers, police officers, steel workers, truckers, detetcives.
In my lifetime, I've witnessed  a woman's role roles in society evolve at warp speed from June Cleaver to Laura Croft.

Today women, old and young, can do and be anything.
Many do the right thing.
Some do the wrong things.
Other so bad things.
More than a few do horrendous things.

The link that follows at the end of the post fits the last category.

I can understand why someone would test the waters of the dark side.
I can not understand why anyone choose to swim in them. Especially a child. 

There has been one case I have been studying, that was written about on one of my favorite blogs. "In Cold Blog."

I read the J.R.'s story again, followed a few more links and it continues to make me wonder this:

How did one young girl,  a 12 year old just across  the American border in Canada, become the youngest multiple killer in Canadian history?  I still don't have the answer.Rather, I am left only with suspicion and more questions.

Just click on the next line, which contains a link to "In Cold Blog". it's describes J.R.'s case and the book coming out about it. There are many details in this story worth studying when the subject of why a little girl would turn killer interests you.

 "The Killer Kid and her Metal Prince" from "On Cold Blog"