I’m both smiling at, and sympathetic towards, a complaint by a Swedish Air Force officer.
The commander of the Swedish helicopter fleet in Linköping, group captain Micael Bydén, has demanded that his female crew members be equipped with fireproof brassieres.
Equipment for female members of the Swedish armed forces is not up to standard and most of the equipment is designed with men as the norm.
Group captain Micael Bydén has now decided to speak out about the situation and has demanded that women serving in the armed forces be taken into account and be provided with flame-proof bras.
“It is a question of basic safety. You can not have anything close to the body that can set alight when you are flying,” Bydén told local newspaper Östgöta Correspondenten.
Bydén also doubts whether fireproof panties are provided and believes that the female crew members are thus forced to fly around in male underwear.
How the bra issue will be addressed in the meantime is as yet unclear.
“They will decline to wear bras when they are flying,” the captain presumed.
Regrettably, the article wasn’t accompanied by a photograph to illustrate the situation. Nevertheless, if the Group Captain’s last sentence proves correct, I predict a substantial increase in male volunteers to serve aboard the good ladies’ helicopters!
Peter
Actually, I think he’s got a fairly reasonable complaint there. Most bras and panties are made of some form of synthetic (polyester), which is NOT what you want near your body during extreme high temps…
I’ve seen pictures of women who’ve come out of fires, with the worst burns looking almost like a bikini because the meterial of their under garments melted…