Other Military Women in the Media - 44

First black female POW,Shoshana Johnson, addresses misconceptions about her captivity in Iraq.

Shoshana Johnson survived gunshot wounds to both legs and 22 days as a prisoner of war in Iraq. Life wasn't so easy when she came home, either.

Interactive Graph: Women Veterans By State.

Women veterans form support group.

Women’s war roles undergoing transformation.

First woman set to lead California National Guard, the nation's largest guard unit.

DOD Observance of Women's History Month.

Face of Defense: Wounded Army Sgt. Sophia Malone Continues Service.

Meet Captain Luann Barndt, the first female commander of U.S. Coast Guard Sector Lake Michigan.

Major Shawna Rochelle Kimbrell is the first female African-American fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force.

More troops returning from urban warfare to battle homelessness: unemployment, mental stress, pregnancy swelling numbers of younger, female veterans on the street.

DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable: U.S. Navy Capt. Cynthia Thebaud.

In charge of a section of about 30 soldiers providing support to combat operations in Iraq, Army Staff Sgt. Connica McFadden had the respect of fellow soldiers - female and male. It was when she supervised Iraqi men assisting in the missions that she found resistance.

As the eldest of six children, Army Capt. Kate Gowel always felt a desire to lead. She first led the way into the military - a path all five of her siblings soon followed.

As a critical care nurse, Air Force Lt. Col. Mary Carlisle’s focus always has been on helping others. It wasn’t until a harrowing deployment to Iraq that the tables turned, and she became the one in need of aid.



U.S Army Spc. Kayla Moore covers her sector in a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter while traveling from Forward Operating Base Lightning to Contingency Operating Base Ajiristan in Afghanistan.
-Photo via the U.S. Army by Airman First Class Laura Goodgame


Female Soldiers from the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team attended a woman’s town hall meeting at the dining facility on FOB Kalsu, Iraq.

Sexual Assault Task Force Urges More Oversight.

Air Force Captain Mary Jennings returns home with a Purple Heart.

Veterans seeking treatment for sexual trauma suffered in the military may have been improperly charged copayments by the Veterans Affairs Department, according to a new report from the VA Inspector General.



Airman 1st Class Devon Carroll of the New Hampshire Air National Guard begins installation of external fuel tank mounts on a generator being prepared for deployment to Haiti.
-U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Timothy W. Psaledakis



"Catalina, New York, New York, 2009"

From the Don't Ask Don't Tell photography project.

Female Marines in the Media - 43

Female Marines:

Video: On Iraq's Front Lines, It's 'A Woman Thing' A news report with several interviews with Marine Lionesses.

The mind set of a first term re-enlistee: As most Marines draw near the end of their first enlistment, the question is often asked: “Should I stay in?” Once I entered the fleet to begin my career in the Corps four years ago, I loathed going to work, and being around Marines annoyed me.

Intriguing People - Julianne Sohn: Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen are scheduled to testify before Congress on the Pentagon's plans for repealing "don't ask, don't tell," the law that bans openly gay people from serving in the military. Sohn, a Marine Corps veteran, will be watching closely. When she was first in the Marines on active duty in 1999, she said there were rumors that she was gay. She did come out to her peers, but there was no retribution.

Every Woman Has a Story, Share Yours: Where the Difference Begins' Featured Photos for last week.

Mail Call: Marine Memories...1952: It was Nov. 10, 1952 at the rifle range at MCRDPISC and our Colonel had arranged for a platoon of women Marine recruits to attend our ball at the battalion lyceum. I was fortunate enough to meet a gorgeous blond and we danced the night away despite the best efforts of her D.I. to keep us from enjoying the music by ordering us to not dance so close.

Sgt. Charity Perrine - Combat Not For Women: I have been in the Marine Corps for nine years. After deploying to Iraq and going outside the wire with an infantry battalion, I realized women do not belong on the battlefield. The male Marines were outstanding and very supportive, but the locals were the problem. Locals thought female Marines were a joke when they saw us on patrol. I am not saying that women can’t handle the job of a Marine. I am just saying that having them on the battlefield causes way too many problems.

Women Marines Association pays visit to MCT: The history of women in the Marine Corps was recently presented to combat instructors and Marines from Student Administration Company, Marine Combat Training Battalion, School of Infantry-East, Camp Geiger, N.C., when members of the Women Marines Association paid them a visit.

63rd Anniversary of Women in the USMC: It was 13 February 1943 when women were officially instituted as part of the Marine Corps. Though women have served their country honorably in the Corps since 1918 it was not until 1943 that the Women Reserves became an official part of Marine Corps.

Fighting for Our Fighting Women: When 17-year-old Lindsay Long enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps back in 1977, a woman's role in the military was far different than it is today. "It was peacetime and we were perceived differently than the men. I was called a ‘Woman Marine.' Today, women in the Corps wear helmets and armored vests, carry weapons and serve on the front lines."

Woman hopes to become fishing guide after military career: Savannah Zanosky is one of the last people you'd expect to want to be a fishing guide. This wisp of blue eyes and shy smiles is another one of those books you can't judge by its cover. And fishing-guide dreams are the beginning of her surprises: with a slow economy, and being fresh out of high school, Savannah decided guiding wasn't an immediately realistic way to support herself, so she joined the Marine Corps.


Not female Marines yet:

Student graduates early to join the Marines: Rather than wait around for "Pomp and Circumstance," Brii Hirt said "Semper Fi." Last Friday after accelerating her high school coursework, the 17-year-old graduated early. By Tuesday, she was at Parris Island, in South Carolina checking in for a 13-week boot camp.

Pressing Forward: I worked myself so hard into being a Marine, that I mentally convinced myself that if being a Marine wasn’t going to happen for me, then I’d be nothing at all. I forgot that I am a writer, a woman, a daughter, a sister, a friend. I forgot that I am me and there’s nothing in this world that can change it, not what I achieve or don’t achieve.


More Photos:

(Some found via Where the Difference Begins and the Women Marines Association)


A Marine fainted during the opening ceremony of the annual combined military exercise Cobra Gold 2010 at U-Tapao airport in Thailand. About 14,000 military personnel from the United States, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Japan are involved in the exercise ending of Feb. 11.
-Pornchai Kittiwongsakul, Getty Images



U.S. Marines assigned to Combat Logistics Battalion 4, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, place a waterproof tarp over their tent at Shadow Range, Iraq, March 23, 2009.



U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Stacy Beebe, left, a drum major with the Marine Forces Pacific Band, stands at a modified position of attention as the band performs during the Colors and awards ceremony on Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Hawaii, Jan. 15, 2010.



U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Anna Wallace, assigned to Marine Aircraft Support Squadron 1, 2nd Marine Air Wing, loads a rucksack onto the back of a truck at Asad, Iraq, March 23, 2009. Wallace will undergo training in the Lioness program.
-Lance Cpl. Audrey Graham



U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Brandy Young assigned to 2nd Supply Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, uses a mirror to search underneath a vehicle during search procedure training at Shadow Range, Iraq, March 27, 2009.
-Lance Cpl. Audrey Graham



-Getty Images, 1998



U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kailyn Dailey, Combat Camera, videotapes Marines with the Tactical Training Exercise Control Group (TTECG) during training at Range 210 at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif., Nov. 25, 2009.



U.S. Marines conduct Israeli counterterror warfare training weapon drills Nov. 18, 2009, at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan. Nir Maman and Shay Amir, Israeli Defense Force counterterror warfare fighting instructors, are at the air station to train selected Marines.



Cpl. Susana Craig, an electrician attached to the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment’s Female Engagement Team, talks to Afghan children during a patrol in Khwaja Jamal, Afghanistan, Dec. 29.

Neglect

Sorry about the blog neglect.

I moved, and my new house doesn't have Internet yet so I only go online at school in between classes. On Sunday I will start posting again, provided that Comcast's talented employees manage to set up my Internet as promised.

Other Military Women in the Media - 42

Capt. Jennifer Harris Memorial Scholarships offered - Capt. Harris was the first female helicopter pilot assigned to the famed Marine Corps squadron HMM-364 “Purple Foxes".

What My Recruiter Never Told Me: A U.S. soldier in Kosovo negotiates the minefield of a woman serving “in a man’s world.”

Pioneering women pilots of WWII get a belated honor - 11 Washington women will join the 200-some surviving WASPs in receiving Congressional Gold Medals for service during World War II.

Transitional housing for female vets planned in Florida.

When retired Army Staff Sgt. June Moss returned from Iraq, she had to explain to her children why she couldn't hug them. Any embrace longer than two seconds made her skin feel like it was on fire.

Once Madelon Burcham Hill had decided to fly, no one could change her mind. It was the early 1940s, and Hill was a recent college graduate, bored with her job in a Midwest insurance office.

Raised during the 1980s crack epidemic, U.S. Navy veteran Kimberly Brown was determined not to let her circumstances limit her future.

Ohio Army National Guard Appoints First Female Brigade Commander.

Doing a disservice to women who serve - They are denied the array of reproductive health care options civilians take for granted.

Florence, 108, is country's oldest surviving First World War veteran.

DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable Interview: Rear Adm. Patricia E. Wolfe, Supply Corps, Commander, Task Force 48.


Nuristan PRT Female Engagement Team holds MEDCAP for children. Photos:

Female Marines in the Media - 41

Role models - Europe-based NCOs mentor female troops in Liberia: SSgt Veronica Soto...served as part of the Liberia Security Sector Reform, a program run by the U.S. Department of State. Troops from various U.S. services are serving as mentors to their Liberian counterparts in an array of fields. But...was also tasked with mentoring female troops and supporting them in their interaction with male colleagues.

Breaux Bridge Marine deployed to Afghanistan: Marine Corporal Ali Angelle of Breaux Bridge was deployed to Afghanistan on January 10, 2010. She is the 23 year old daughter of Stella and James Herwig and Kenneth R. Angelle. She graduated from Breaux Bridge High School in 2005 and joined the United States Marine Corp in service to our country.

Women Marines sending Valentine care packages: Deployed troops will get Valentine care packages “From Romeo with Love” with the help of the local unit of women Marines.

Where the Difference Begins - Photos for January 8-14, 2010: Each month, WTDB will showcase the spirit of women Marines through featured photographs. These images embody the full spectrum of opportunities and responsibilities carried out with distinction and honor.

Oscar Company's Molly Marine Presentation: Recipients Pfc Kristine Arevalo of Louisville, KY (Plt 4002) and Pfc Maxine Bania of West Orange, NJ (Plt 4003)

Female Marines: Dedicated to the Corps, country: Free a man to fight! This was the call for women to serve in the Marine Corps Reserve during two world wars. Although 305 women served in the Marine Corps Reserve during World War I, all were separated from service by June 30, 1919, after the war ended.

Two Yuma Marines join female force in Afghanistan: LCpl Sorina Miller, flight clearance clerk, and LCpl Dawn Doyle, military policeman, began training in Camp Pendleton to interact with Afghan females and children while deployed.

Dancer, fashionista becomes 'down and dirty' Marine: Standing tall at a mighty 4 feet 11 “and three quarters, to be exact,” LCpl Shadel Mestre, a 19 year-old Puerto Rican from Jacksonville, FL, is one of four female Marines in her shop as an aviation electronics technician with Marine All Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 242. Since middle school, Mestre has known that she wanted to join the military. Living next to Naval Air Station Jacksonville her entire life, she always dreamed of working on jets.

Paying Back a Karmic Debt: In the late 1970s when I was a young PFC fresh out of Military Police School, the Marine Corps sent me to Camp Pendleton via LAX. The bus from LAX dropped me in downtown Oceanside and I had no instructions on how to get to the base. So there I was…21 years old and a LONG way from small town North Dakota in my uniform with heels, lugging a packed seabag plus a suitcase. I had no idea what to do.

Injuries Among Female Marine Corps Recruits: The results of this study from Marine Corps basic training at Parris Island show that the incidence of lower extremity injuries in female recruits is high. Risk factors were identified...

Photos from Where the Difference Begins:


Al Asad Air Base, Iraq - Reserve Marine 1st Lt. Sarah Feinberg, assistant battalion operations officer for Combat Logistics Battalion 46, instructs a class of Marines in convoy brief procedures here Dec. 21, 2009. Feinberg graduated from Marine Corps Officer Candidate School in November 2007. She deployed to Iraq in 2009 and has commanded numerous resupply missions in western Al Anbar Province over the past several months.



Cpl. Sarah B. Furrel, a member of the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment's female engagement team, teaches Afghan girls to count numbers at a school in Now Zad, Afghanistan, on Jan. 2, 2010. Furrel is at the school to encourage the girls to pursue an education.