Ashley's War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield
2015; United States Army War College; Volume: 45; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0031-1723
Autores Tópico(s)Gender, Security, and Conflict
ResumoAshley's War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield By Gayle Tzemach Lemmon New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2015 320 pages $26.99 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Ashley's War is destined to be the first women's war story in the classic tradition of action, adventure war stories. 20th Century Fox has already purchased the film rights and Reese Witherspoon is listed as a cast member. The story chronicles one of the first groups of servicewomen to volunteer for special operations missions in Afghanistan. Most Americans, indeed many servicemembers are completely unaware of the selection program, the training, and the missions these women were involved in as early as 2010. The story follows First Lieutenant Ashley White, an unassuming force of nature whose physical abilities amazed many battle tested soldiers, on her journey to the battlefield of Afghanistan. It reveals the heart wrenching struggle she has getting her husband to accept her decision and how she hides her work from her twin sister and her parents. Lemmon gives the reader an insider's view of the team of Alpha women Ashley joined as it went through the rigorous Cultural Support Team selection and training program, dubbed 100 hours of hell, and eventually on direct-action night raids with Army Rangers. She examines the fear common to all soldiers when confronted with combat but more crucially the added, self-imposed burden these women experienced by their intense desire to prove women would not just succeed at this work, but would improve mission success. As a story about the first women soldiers imbedded in elite ground combat units the story succeeds brilliantly. However, Lemmon misses an opportunity to delve into deeper issues surrounding the military's involvement in Afghanistan and its own treatment of servicewomen. What the book fails to do is to examine the role these women played in the overall conflict or the irony behind the Special Operations community's need to create this unique program. After ten years of conflict in Afghanistan, the US military was casting about for new ways to reach the population in its never ending quest to win hearts and minds. A number of groups, including Army civil affairs units as well as development and aide organizations had long recognized the subtle but important role women play in Afghan society. And, they knew Afghan women were not predisposed to support the Taliban. …
Referência(s)