Posts Tagged ‘Leigh Ann Hester’

A pretty little 18 year old from Texas got a Silver Star recently; Monica Brown the medic ran from her Humvee to treat wounded comrades and shield them with her own body. The Vice President himself pinned the combat decoration to her chest; and then they pulled her from her unit where she was obviously much needed, because “Army restrictions on women in combat barred her from such missions.” (BTW, Monica Brown was serving in Afghanistan…the list of the dead women at the bottom of this rant only includes those who died in Iraq. Not to disrespect the dead in Afghanistan; but Iraq’s list was more than sufficient, I think, to make my point.)
She was the second woman to earn that shining combat star in the recent wars: Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, a military police officer in the Kentucky National Guard, became the first female soldier awarded the Silver Star since World War II, for her role in thwarting an Iraqi insurgent ambush in March of 2005. But gee, how could that be since America does not send her women into combat. I mean, we aren’t like nasty Soviets who DO things like that, are we?

Yes, we are. We just lie about it.

War is not a tidy board game. It is not “Stratego” or “Risk” any more, if it ever was. We don’t have broad plains of grass with opposing colorful bands of foot soldiers lined up to charge each other at dawn while on the overlooking hills, ladies have tea as they watch from bright pavilions. War now is ANY place and ANY time in the country involved. America hides the homecoming caskets from the news media and half the news commentators barely mention the deaths by name; usually only the local boys. Oh, and yes, in even softer tones, the local girls.

How many local girls? As of today, one hundred and three…about 2 1/2 percent of the total; mainly from the U.S. but some from Britain and other Coalition nations. Some of them, of course, died of what the military terms “non-hostile” causes, meaning the enemy did not kill them. These deaths encompass illness and vehicular accidents, suicides and yes, interminably investigated cases of possible rape and murder by their own comrades.

I am a veteran, of a time when women had to make loud noises to get even minimal training in use of the M-16 or other arms. I am not here to argue upper body strength or agility. I am here to say American women ARE in combat every goddamned day of this made up war and to say otherwise is pure bullshit. They go forth to do necessary jobs and without them there, the military could NOT get the job done.

The military has no qualms at all about ordering military married couples to hand their children over the grandparents so they can send BOTH parents into war zones, and yet they sanctimoniously pull this dedicated young woman from her unit? I personally know a military couple at the same base in Afghanistan, where mortar fire is taken daily, where IEDs blew one of their comrades up just within the last two weeks. Is that airman, wife, and mother NOT at war? Their children could be orphaned tomorrow because both parents were required? America piously sends home the final son to his mourning mother, but sends BOTH parents to war? Kids are not old enough to vote or do the television talk show circuit, I guess.

I am calling bullshit. American women ARE at war and are in combat jobs, regardless what little military crest is on their shoulder. Regardless what MOS their records sport; war isn’t a game and they need the training to survive and not convenient political fiction.

Below is the list of women killed in Iraq alone – of HOSTILE causes, alone (the others are at the link at the bottom of the article): although I contend that, as with the many men who died of non-enemy caused deaths, they would not be dead if NOT sent to the war zones. Try telling their parents, husbands, children, lovers, siblings and friends that they were not in combat and not at war. The entire list of dead female military members may be found at: http://icasualties.org/oif/female.aspx (My list below contains only the indisputeably “hostile” caused deaths…names and the combat cause of death)

SSG Carletta S. Davis – IED

Lt Tracy Lynn Alger – IED

SSG Lillian Clamens – rocket attack

Spc Rachael L. Hugo -IED, small arms fire
Spc. Zandra T. Walker -indirect fire

Sgt Princess C. Samuels – indirect fire

Cpt Maria T. Ortiz – mortar attack

Spc Michelle R. Ring – mortar attack

Sgt Trista L. Moretti – rocket attack

Spc Karen N. Clifton – RPG attack

PFC Katie M. Soenksen -IED

Pvt Eleanor Dlugosz (UK) – IED

Lt. Joanna Yorke Dyer (UK) – IED

Sgt Ashly L. Moyer -IED

Cpt Jennifer J. Harris – missile attack

Cpl Jennifer M. Parcell – hostile fire

SGM Marilyn L. Gabbard – helicopter crash

Sr Airman Elizabeth A. Loncki – IED

Maj Megan M. McClung – IED

SSG Sharron Elliott (UK) – IED

Lt Ashley L. Huff – car bomb

Sgt Jennifer M. Hartman -car bomb

Lt Emily J. T. Perez -IED

PO2 Jamie Jaenke – IED

Lt Sarah-Jayne Mulvihill (UK) -helicopter crash

LCpl Juana Navarro-Arellano -small arms fire

Sgt Amanda N. Pinson – mortar attack

Sgt Myla L. Maravilloso – RPG

Sgt Regina C. Reali – IED

Sgt Julia V. Atkins – IED

Spc Toccara R. Green – IED

Airman Elizabeth N. Jacobson – IED

SSG Tricia L. Jameson – IED

Cpl Ramona M. Valdez – car bomb

PO1 Regina R. Clark – car bomb

LCpl Holly A. Charette – car bomb

Cpl Carrie L. French – IED

DOD employee Linda J. Villar – mortar attack

PFC Sam W. Huff – IED

Spc Aleina Ramirezgonzalez – mortar attack

DOD employee Barbara Heald -rocket attack

Sgt Jessica M. Housby – IED

SrSgt Vira Pietrik (Ukraine) -IED

Sgt Cari Anne Gasiewicz – IED

Sgt Pamela G. Osbourne – rocket attack

Sgt Jessica L. Cawvey – IED

Sgt Shawna M. Morrison – mortar attack

Sgt Tatjana Reed -IED

SFC Linda Ann Tarango-Griess -IED

PFC Leslie D. Jackson – IED

Sgt Isela Rubalcava – mortar attack

Spc Michelle M. Witmer – IED

Spc Tyanna S. Felder – IED

DOD employee Fern L. Holland – hostile fire

PFC Nichole M. Frye – IED

PFC Holly J. McGeogh – IED

Cpt Kimberly N. Hampton – helicopter crash (she was the pilot, btw)

SSG Kimberly A. Voelz – IED

CW5 Sharon T. Swartworth – missile attack

Spc Frances M. Vega – missile attack

PFC Karina S. Lau – missile attack

PFC Rachel K. Bosveld – mortar attack

PFC Analaura Esparza Gutierrez -grenade attack

PFC Lori Ann Piestewa – ambushed – hostile fire

This is not about argument over whether women should be in combat; it is about calling “Liar” to a government that plays games of semantics about assignments to units, rather than admit that in modern war, both genders are at risk…as you can see from the list, even government employees of both genders are at risk. Women are fully integrated into the military for all purposes—the pretention that they are not in harm’s way because the units they serve are not considered “combat arms” is pure bullshit. But then, so very much of what is said about this war could be bagged for garden fertilizer.

And just cause I have a case of the ass about this, a few links:

An all woman crew flew a mission in Afghanistan: http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/sep2005/a092705wm3.html

A female medic in Iraq was pissed at not being able to fully do her job:http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/229884_womansoldier24.asp?source=rss

In 2004, the Pentagon acknowledged its need of women in combat:’http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200410/s1226266.htm

There are a LOT of females who are Naval aviators…and more: http://userpages.aug.com/captbarb/combat.html

And many women WANT to go with their male comrades at arms: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=33003&archive=true

Ok, I WILL stop now and go stomp around ranting elsewhere.