In honor of Veterans Day, author Kirsten Holmstedt and veteran Rachel McNeill spoke Tuesday about the combat experiences of women at the University of Massachusetts.
Holmstedt dicussed her new book "Band of Sisters: American women a War in Iraq," while McNeill related some of her experiences as a Marine in Iraq.
After a brief introduction from Andrew Masciola, the president of the UMass Veterans and Service Members Association (VASMA), Holmstedt began by asking all of the veterans in attendance to stand so she could thank them. She said she never served in the military, but her interest started when she was living in Jacksonville, N.C., the home of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.
There she said she would often see women soldiers about to be deployed to and returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
In her book she said she wanted to represent as many branches, locations and ranks as possible so that many women in the armed forces could relate to it.
"Women are really resilient and I think the public underestimates them. The military underestimates them," Holmstedt said. "They love their country as much as their male brothers in arms and they want to serve with them … [but] women are often treated like second-class citizens in the military."
Holmstedy related the stories of several women from her book, one of which was Lance Cpl. Carrie Blaise. She talked about how Blaise and her comrades were resting from searching houses when several rockets hit the building they were in, wounding several of them. Blaise was told there were no "friendlies" in the area and was ordered to "shoot to kill." She did, killing a terrorist in the fight. Holmstedt said she recounted the story to emphasize that "women are in the fight."
"Two [women] have received silver stars and many have received bronze stars," she said. Those two awards reserved for personnel who have engaged in combat.
McNeil recounted her story of joining the military at 17, a decision influenced by the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks.
McNeill served as a sergeant in the 826th Ordnance Company and was a heavy construction equipment operator serving in Iraq with the 983rd Engineer Battalion from Dec. 2004 to Dec. 2005.
In Ramadi, Iraq, she started by driving gun trucks but eventually volunteered for convoy security and was given full training in Marine weaponry.
She said when they performed missions through the city they often faced snipers and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). When they were on their base, they often dealt with rocket attacks.
McNeill also mentioned the transition back to civilian life.
"The hardest part was coming back to school with people who had no idea what the experiences, not just women, but men as well, are going though over there," she said. "The most important thing people can do is learn, talk to people, talk to veterans."
McNeill also fielded a question about sexual harassment in the military, after an audience member cited a statistic stating that one out of every seven women in the military reported being sexually harassed in some way.
McNeill said that there was sexual harassment that occurred and that people were sometimes pressured not to do anything about it because of the effects it could have on the perpetrator's career.
When asked how universities can help the transition back to civilian life McNeill said, "The most important thing a school can do is to eliminate the stress of getting into school."
She said the paperwork related to getting into school is a bit much to deal with while still transitioning into civilian life and universities should have more resources to help veterans to help with that.
VASMA was created in 2005 by veterans at the University to aid in that transition from military to student life.
"We thought the event went well, it was a nice way to say 'Thank you' to female veterans and let their story be heard," said Andrew Masciola, the VASMA president. "We do events like these so that people are aware that there are soldiers and veterans on campus."
"Military women are all too often misunderstood or ignored by the general public, and we feel this event will highlight the complexity and diversity of their lives, experiences, and sacrifices," said VASMA Treasurer Jon Yee. "We thought it would be a good opportunity for people to learn about military women, they are a very underrepresented demographic, especially on a college campus."
The event was co-hosted by The Military Community Resource Center, and the Everywoman's Center.
Sean McDonough can be reached at smcdonou@student.umass.edu.
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