Stubob
07-07-2007, 09:24 AM
By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer Army Times
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."
This was e-mailed by a Vietnam Vet
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."
This was e-mailed by a Vietnam Vet