band of S

This has been a hectic work week.
But tomorrow is Friday and I am grateful.
I am reading a fantastic book.
I typically wait until I am finished to give a recommendation, but this is fantastic .
Band of Sisters: American Women at War in Iraq
by Kirsten Holmstedt

blog link --- Pick up this book. Seriously.


More information from the publisher:

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--4 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.
But should women be in combat? Do they have what it takes to be warriors? Compelling questions once . . . but empty questions now, because more than ever, American women are in combat, and they are warriors. The real question is: What is their experience of war? We haven’t heard their stories--until now.

Band of Sisters presents 12 of these amazing and often heart-wrenching stories of American women in the frontlines:

Accounts from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines
America’s first female pilot to be shot down and survive
The U.S. military’s first black female pilot in combat
A 21-year-old turret gunner defending a convoy
Two military policewomen in a firefight
A nurse struggling to save lives, including her own