Women Soldiers In Iraq

American women soldiers in Iraq fight valiantly for the freedom of the Iraqi people just as our male soldiers do. Male and female soldiers are treated equally in the military and in Iraq.

Female soldiers have been a part of the United States Army from the beginning, but their service as women soldiers in Iraq has put the spotlight on them more than in any previous war. Due to the changing nature of the conflict in Iraq, it means that more of them are facing dangerous and life-threatening situations.

Even though women are still not part of direct combat in Iraq, frontlines don't exist and bombs can strike anywhere, and they do. The bombs, mortars and bullets do not discriminate between men and women. They kill or injure whomever they hit.

Checkpoints, where women are essential to search Iraqi women due to cultural traditions, can be especially dangerous. And women can serve in the military police, where they face combat situations.

Over 100 American women have been killed in the war and hundreds more have been injured.

The Army's Third Infantry Division has added scores of female soldiers to newly created "forward support companies" that provide maintenance, food service, and other support services to infantry, armor, and Special Forces units that commonly engage in combat.

Army officials acknowledge that the changes will increasingly place women, who make up about 15 percent of the armed forces, in combat situations, but believe they are following federal law, which prohibits female soldiers from serving in units that engage in direct combat.

100 dead women soldiers in Iraq may sound like a small number. These deaths exceed the total number of women killed in Korea, Vietnam and Desert Storm.

Women have served unofficially as support personnel, spies and soldiers throughout American history. Women gained an official role in the United States military with the formation of the Army Nurse Corps in 1901 and Navy Nurse Corps in 1908. The first women to enlist in the U.S. military joined the Navy and Marines during World War I.

33,000 American service women served in Operation Desert Storm. Of these, 13 were killed and two were held as prisoners of war. It is important to note this difference. Many of the women killed in Operation Desert Storm were killed in automobile accidents, as were many of the men who were killed, not including those killed by friendly fire. However, there were a number of women killed and injured in the last day of the war when parts of a scud missile that had been shot down by a Patriot Missile, hit a billeting area.

Many of the women soldiers in Iraq have been killed by IED explosions. The women travel in convoys that are the main targets of insurgents.

And we cannot forget the story of Jessica Lynch. You remember her. She was the soldier taken after an explosion at the beginning of this war. She was held with injuries by Iraqis until our United States forces found her and liberated her. Live television coverage was there as they flew her to a hospital in Germany and again as she was flown back to the United States. It made for great TV and she was recognized as a national hero.

There is a book out that talks about women’s roles in the military. It is called Band of Sisters by Kristine Holmstedt.

Below is a preview of the book:

They command C-130 squadrons; fly combat missions in F-18s, Cobras and Kiowas; man 50-caliber machine guns in turrets on Humvees; check and clear buildings and get involved in fire fights; and moving aircraft around on the flight deck of a carrier, they risk being blown overboard with one misstep.

They love their country and serve it proudly. They sacrifice, sweat, love and die, just like their brothers and their stories are told with candor, honesty and raw emotion in the new book “Band of Sisters – American Women at War in Iraq”, published July 4th. Written by Kirsten Holmstedt and published by Stackpole Books, the book profiles the experiences of twelve women (Marine, Army, Navy and Air Force) who have served in Iraq.

Following September 11th, author Kirsten Holmstedt became immensely curious about the experiences the largest contingent of women who have ever served our country were having and found that the information available from conventional sources left her wanting more. From her vantage point as a resident of Jacksonville, NC, home to Camp Lejeune, she started to seek out those who were just back from Iraq and ended up during the course of three years, traveling to MCAS Beaufort, Pope Air Force Base, Ft. Bragg and off the coast of Florida, flying aboard the USS Harry S. Truman.

Some of the women were happy to share their stories, others needed convincing and a few declined. The end result is a compendium of stories as different as the women who experienced them and I consider this a must read book.

Sheryl Young

Area 3 Director

Women Marine Association (WMA)

My hat is off to the women soldiers in Iraq. May God bless these female warriors and their families.