From award-winning journalist Eileen Rivers, comes a riveting account
of three women who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan--their dangerous,
courageous, and often heartbreaking work was vital in defeating the
Taliban and instrumental in the Pentagon's landmark decision to open all
combat jobs to women.
The three subjects of Eileen Rivers's groundbreaking work of literary
reportage lived in the sand pits of Iraq and Afghanistan. They carried
40 pounds of supplies in rucksacks and avoided roadside bombs as they
fell in step with their male counterparts during long marches in the
searing desert heat. They fired weapons out of the windows of military
vehicles to help protect the men in their units. They did everything
their male counterparts did in the throes of some of the toughest combat
zones in the Middle East.
They also had a unique advantage over their male counterparts and their
enemy: they were women. They risked their lives to gather intelligence
on the Taliban from the women of Iraq and Afghanistan. They utilized
their femininity (previously viewed as a hindrance in combat zones) as
an asset to circumvent Muslim traditions and cultivate relationships
with, spy on, and frisk women who were viewed as connections to the
Taliban--women who were bound by tradition and refused to talk to
American military men.
As members of the Female Engagement Teams (FET), the work of these three
women and hundreds of others like them was vital in defeating the
Taliban. It was dangerous, courageous, and often heartbreaking. Their
work, like much of the work done by military women who have served in
war zones before them, contributed to the Pentagon's December 2015
decision to open all combat jobs to women. Yet the work of these
American military women remains mostly unknown. This book is the first
to tell the stories of these female military accomplishments.
