thedrifter
07-06-07, 07:57 PM
Book tells of women who served by men in Iraq
By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Jul 6, 2007 17:04:37 EDT
Her face bleeding and jaw broken from an inch-and-a-half piece of shrapnel striking her head, Gunnery Sgt. Rosie Noel just wanted to get back to her Marines.
Less than 48 hours after getting knocked down by a rocket-propelled grenade, Noel returned to Al Asad Air Base in Iraq, where she was stationed, from Balad Air Base, where she received medical treatment for her wounds.
The new book, “Band of Sisters: American Women at War in Iraq,” released Wednesday, tells the stories of Noel and other military women serving alongside men in a war without a defined front line.
“Wherever you are in Iraq, you are on the battlefield,” she said. “And, so far the consensus is, women are doing it, and they are doing a good job.”
The author, Kirsten Holmstedt, said she wanted her book to avoid politics, since women have the subject of negative news stories on women in combat.
The book includes women from all branches, including four Marines. The author had plenty to choose from. More than 167,000 women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Pentagon statistics.
Noel, who deployed with Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 26 from February 2005 to January 2006, was one of the four Marine women highlighted in the book. The other three include a public affairs officer, an F/A-18 Hornet aviator and an AH-1W Super Cobra pilot.
“Females are definitely breaking down barriers,” Noel said.
She went on to say that this book will help publicize women’s roles in today’s wars how they are continuing to evolve.
“I still have people come up to me and ask: ‘You’re a Marine? Women can do that?’ ” Noel said.
The similarities in the titles of “Band of Sisters” and “Band of Brothers,” Stephen Ambrose’s best-selling World War II book, are not a coincidence, Holmstedt said.
“It’s definitely a take off,” she said. “This is after all the largest band of sisters to ever serve in combat.”
Ellie
By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Jul 6, 2007 17:04:37 EDT
Her face bleeding and jaw broken from an inch-and-a-half piece of shrapnel striking her head, Gunnery Sgt. Rosie Noel just wanted to get back to her Marines.
Less than 48 hours after getting knocked down by a rocket-propelled grenade, Noel returned to Al Asad Air Base in Iraq, where she was stationed, from Balad Air Base, where she received medical treatment for her wounds.
The new book, “Band of Sisters: American Women at War in Iraq,” released Wednesday, tells the stories of Noel and other military women serving alongside men in a war without a defined front line.
“Wherever you are in Iraq, you are on the battlefield,” she said. “And, so far the consensus is, women are doing it, and they are doing a good job.”
The author, Kirsten Holmstedt, said she wanted her book to avoid politics, since women have the subject of negative news stories on women in combat.
The book includes women from all branches, including four Marines. The author had plenty to choose from. More than 167,000 women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Pentagon statistics.
Noel, who deployed with Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 26 from February 2005 to January 2006, was one of the four Marine women highlighted in the book. The other three include a public affairs officer, an F/A-18 Hornet aviator and an AH-1W Super Cobra pilot.
“Females are definitely breaking down barriers,” Noel said.
She went on to say that this book will help publicize women’s roles in today’s wars how they are continuing to evolve.
“I still have people come up to me and ask: ‘You’re a Marine? Women can do that?’ ” Noel said.
The similarities in the titles of “Band of Sisters” and “Band of Brothers,” Stephen Ambrose’s best-selling World War II book, are not a coincidence, Holmstedt said.
“It’s definitely a take off,” she said. “This is after all the largest band of sisters to ever serve in combat.”
Ellie