Salute to the Soldier Sisters

Last night, I caught an interesting documentary on PBS. It profiled a group of military women dubbed "Team Lioness" who were used in Iraq to interact with women and children. The interesting thing about Team Lioness (at least to me) is that they were attached to squads of male Marine and Army soldiers conducting raids on suspected insurgents. In the process, these women were involved in combat more than once. Of course, they're trained in weaponry as part of their military training but the caveat is that according to Congress, women are prohibited from serving in combat. Naturally, in combat situations, these women fought back--what else were they going to do, knit a sweater? I salute these women. Each of these women had something unique to bring to the team. Their captain said that of one woman, she could count on her positive personality to calm scared women and children, of another woman, she could count on her to be ultra-alert to their surroundings. Each of these women joined the military for different reasons and besides the "no women in combat" rule, enlisted in positions that aren't exactly combat positions. One woman was a supply tech, another woman was a mechanic. But yet, these women were involved in combat as part of their job just like any other male soldier. The captain's husband had also been deployed, the supply tech's husband, sister and her sister's husband had been deployed leaving their children with the grandparents. I know Veteran's Day has come and gone, but I for one, would like to salute these brave women for their work.