Ashley's War by
In 2010, the Army created Cultural Support Teams, a secret pilot program to insert women alongside Special Operations soldiers battling in Afghanistan. The Army reasoned that women could play a unique role on Special Ops teams: accompanying their male colleagues on raids and, while those soldiers were searching for insurgents, questioning the mothers, sisters, daughters and wives living at the compound. Their presence had a calming effect on enemy households, but more importantly, the CSTs were able to search adult women for weapons and gather crucial intelligence. They could build relationships--woman to woman--in ways that male soldiers in an Islamic country never could.
In Ashley's War, Gayle Tzemach Lemmon uses on-the-ground reporting and a finely tuned understanding of the complexities of war to tell the story of CST-2, a unit of women hand-picked from the Army to serve in this highly specialized and challenging role. The pioneers of CST-2 proved for the first time, at least to some grizzled Special Operations soldiers, that women might be physically and mentally tough enough to become one of them.
The price of this professional acceptance came in personal loss and social isolation: the only people who really understand the women of CST-2 are each other. At the center of this story is a friendship cemented by "Glee," video games, and the shared perils and seductive powers of up-close combat. At the heart of the team is the tale of a beloved and effective soldier, Ashley White.
Much as she did in her bestselling The Dressmaker of Khair Khana, Lemmon transports readers to a world they previously had no idea existed: a community of women called to fulfill the military's mission to "win hearts and minds" and bound together by danger, valor, and determination. Ashley's War is a gripping combat narrative and a moving story of friendship--a book that will change the way readers think about war and the meaning of service.
Band of Sisters by
In Iraq, the front line is everywhere...and everywhere in Iraq, women in the U.S. military fight. More than 155,000 of them have served in Iraq since 2003--four times the number of women sent to Desert Storm in 1991--and more than 430 have been wounded and over 70 killed, almost twice the number of U.S. military women killed in action in Korea, Vietnam, and Desert Storm combined. Band of Sisters presents twelve amazing and often heart-wrenching stories of American women in the frontlines including America_s first female pilot to be shot down and survive, the U.S. military_s first black female combat pilot, a 21-year-old turret gunner defending a convoy, two military policewomen in a firefight, a nurse struggling to save lives, including her own and more.
Creating G. I. Jane by
A compelling indictment of the social issues surrounding the Women's Army Corps in the 1940s.
A Few Good Women by
"The never-before-told story of the U.S. women's military corps: the women who fought for the right to defend their country by serving in our armed forces with full military rank and benefits-- a fight that continues today for American military women who want to serve in combat support positions and in frontline combat units. Using interviews, correspondence, and diaries, as well as archival material, [the authors] tell the remarkable story of America's 'few good women' who today make up more than 15 percent of the U.S. armed forces and who serve alongside men in almost every capacity."
In the Men's House: an inside account of life in the Army by one of West Point's first female graduates by
Describes her life at the U.S. Military Academy, her struggles with a male-dominated institution, and the course of her Army career
The Kinder, Gentler Military: can America's gender-neutral fighting force still win wars? by
Gutmann charges into the armed forces to observe "the new military, " showing why the complete integration of women into the military is physically and sociologically impossible and how the pursuit of this unrealistic ideal is demoralizing to soldiers of both sexes and a sure set-up for battlefield disaster.
Sexual Assault and the Military by
According to Protect Our Defenders, sexual assault in the military is rampant. In the year 2014 alone, 20,300 service people were sexually assaulted within ranks, and these weren't just female victims; over half were males. This volume explores the issue of sexual assault in the military, touching on topics such as if sexual assault in the military is a longstanding problem. It examines if the epidemic was spurred by the inclusion of women in more areas of the military. Readers will get a balanced view of this pervasive and sensitive topic.
Should Women Be Allowed to Serve in Combat in the U. S. Armed Forces? by
In 2013, the military ban on women serving in combat was removed. For many years prior to this decision, however, this issue was a contentious topic of debate. This edition explores various arguments for and against women serving in combat, offering a diverse set of perspectives on the history of this topic.
When Janey Comes Marching Home by
This powerful collection juxtaposes 48 photographs by Sascha Pflaeging with oral histories collected by Laura Browder to provide a dramatic portrait of women at war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Women from all five branches of the military share their stories here--stories that are by turns moving, comic, thought-provoking, and profound. Seeing their faces in stunning color photographic portraits and reading what they have to say about loss, comradeship, conflict, and hard choices will change the ways we think about women and war.
Women in the Military by
Close to 90 percent of military jobs are now open to the nearly 200,000 women-16 percent of total U.S. military personnel-who currently serve in the armed forces. Women are still forbidden from serving in direct combat units. Whether this last remaining barrier to women's military service should be removed is one of several issues debated and discussed in this anthology.
Rebel: Loreta Velazquez, secret soldier of the American Civil War by
In 1861, at the outbreak of the American Civil War, a teenager from New Orleans headed to the front lines. Under the alias Harry T. Buford, he fought at First Bull Run, was wounded at Shiloh, and served as a Confederate spy. By 1863, Buford was working for the Union. But Buford harbored a secret he was really Loreta Velazquez, a Cuban immigrant from New Orleans.