Women at War: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Conflicts

by James E. Wise Jr. and Scott Baron

Book Overview

Wise and Baron relate the compelling war experiences of thirty American female soldiers in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, highlighting their extraordinary display of dedication to their mission and to the soldiers and sailors with whom they served. While the book's focus is on today's women in combat, it also reaches back to Korea, Vietnam and World War II to offer stories of inspiring women who served at the cusp of the spear as they fought...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 159114972X
• ISBN13: 9781591149729
• Release Date: August 2011
• Publisher: US Naval Institute Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Other views

These courageous women amaze me. If you were interested in this book you should read Women as Weapons of War: Iraq, Sex and the MediaThis book is eye opening. It made me see connections between the treatment of women soldiers in the U.S. military and women suicide bombers in the Middle East. And, the criticisms of the media coverage of the war is very interesting and persuasive.

The tale of true heroes

In "Women at War: Iraq, Afghanistan, and other Conflicts", James Wise and Scott Baron record the individual stories of 30 women who are representative of the more than 2.5 million American women who have chosen the Profession of Arms. "Women at War" focuses on the contributions of women from World War II through the ongoing operations in Southwest Asia (up to 2006). For the modern operations, the vignettes are the transcripts of personal interviews. However, for the fallen warriors due to both age and combat, we learn their tales as told through personal letters, award citations, or previous publications. Whatever the source, you can't help but be moved by their stories. You will read the letter of the proud mother who sends her child to boot camp, only to hear her child's life came to a violent end due to an improvised explosive device attack. Conversely, you also read the personal recollections of the platoon leader who must be stoic to the Marines left behind after one of their comrades is killed in a separate bombing incident. There are also the tales of a Coast Guard skipper who prevented the mining of rivers in Iraq, and of the soldier who ran into a burning building to save Vietnamese children. The gender of these heroes is irrelevant - they are incredible stories that will be treasured by America's Next Greatest Generation. After 17 years of continuous low- and high-intensity combat operations in Southwest Asia, it's surprising that not a single Airman or Sailor who served in the desert is featured in the book. The epilogue apologizes for intending to interview Lt Col Martha McSally who was the first female fighter squadron commander in combat. Unfortunately, the book went to print before the interviews were complete. Compared to "Hell hath no Fury" by Rosalind Miles, this book is filled with more richly-detailed, personal accounts of the heroines. Also, this book focuses strictly on American women since World War II, and does not highlight any of the women's organizations featured in "Hell hath no Fury". Miles' book also spans a few centuries, vice the last 50 years in "Women at War". While this books is relatively narrow in focus, it certainly gives you a more intimate look at the contributions these women made to history. As a complement to this book, I would also recommend two books from Air University Press documenting the personal histories of Airmen who executed Operations DESERT STORM and NOBLE ANVIL: "From the line in the Sand" and "A-10's over Kosovo". This book is a page-turner. It is well-researched and features many photographs. Hopefully, Wise and Baron will publish a second edition to keep the tales of the female Airmen and Sailors alive too.

Authors did a wonderful job!

Scott Baron and James E Wise, Jr. have put together a wonderful book profiling some of the women who have served our country. This 2006 Naval Institute Press book is well worth the read. They interviewed and covered women who served during World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War, Afghanistan and Iraq from all branches of the military. Statistics were provided such as during the Gulf War more than forty thousand women were deployed, fifteen killed and two became POWs. Some of these women received medals, some were wounded, some were POWs, some were deceased and yet the authors collected information from family, friends and military records about them. One woman told the authors how the military treated her after she emerged from a coma. The military wanted her to sign discharge papers even while knowing she had a long road ahead of her filled with surgeries and rehabilitation. Another woman spoke out about the subject of women in combat. She made sure to point out that women are indeed in combat and on the same roads as the men are. And yet another woman told about what it was like as a female to be boarding ships and looking for people, equipment, etc in a field where it is usually only men on the open seas. A portion of this book covered the women who served during WW II especially those who were POWs during that war. Since so few people know that so many women were prisoners of the Japanese and one was captured by the Germans I was glad to see these women covered as well. As a person who appreciates reading and learning more about our brave women who have served our country I truly liked this book. The authors did a wonderful job getting these women to open up and talk about their experiences. Everyone should read this book!

Women At War

A very interesting book on womens role in our latest war with individual chapters devoted to individual women. I would put this book at recommended reading for most adults. It relates my experiences with the military to the women. It goes into how these women handle the experience of war and to cope with it. It also shows their relationships with fellow male soldiers and how they cope with a war time situation. The book covers how these women dealt the casualties in war.