Band of Sisters American Women at War in Iraq

Holmstedt started studying the experience of women marines when she lived near Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Her research became a master’s thesis in creative writing and the most up-to-date discussion of women in the current war. Unblushingly in favor of women in combat, she doesn’t whitewash their experiences or exaggerate their achievements. Their male colleagues aren’t universally accepting, but many of them admit that the women are performing effectively; since 20 percent of the troops currently in Iraq are women, they must. Following the tradition of American soldiers before them, they say that they are “just doing the job.” That is, they are flying F-18s into enemy ground fire, driving Hummers and trucks that may be ambushed at any moment, and playing invaluable roles in intelligence operations and in the nation building that is one of the more positive aspects of a seemingly interminable and frustrating conflict. Nearly 500 female soldiers have been killed or wounded in Iraq. Invaluable as well as readable. Green, Roland

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars This book inspires women everywhere!
As a woman in the Marine Corps I am intimately familiar with the struggles that women face in the military on a daily basis. I read this book when I was a midshipman at the United States Naval Academy. It inspired me to want to be a better officer. Part of the Marine Corps is its tie to history and a strong sense of those who have gone before you. This book tells the stories of women who have gone before and broken down barriers. I had the opportunity to meet the author and a women who wrote one of the short stories in the book and thank them for documenting an under observed section of the military. I recommend this book to all women, especially those in the military.

4 Stars What it’s really like ‘over there’!
Wow! This is a tear jerker for everyone! Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine (mostly Marine) – all can find someone here. Pilot, driver, nurse, etc.

If you want to know what it’s really like over there (and take it from me!), read Band of Sisters.

OK, I wasn’t really there – I was in Afghanistan instead but I still could identify with all but the fliers in this book. The weather was the same, the jobs are the same, women soldiers ‘inspected’ the Iraqi/Afghanistan women because the US military men were not permitted to, etc.

The language and words used were simple, curt and to the point – just like in the military. Very few compound sentences and even fewer complex sentences. You really felt as if you were there. Black and white. (Actually, beige, but, I digress.)

The chapters were well-written to keep you in suspense even though you knew how each chapter would end. If you read the last few paragraphs of a chapter like I did, you still will be riveted by the story from the beginning.

One thing did strike me, though. Each woman had something to prove and I have not found that to be so in my 25 years in the military, even being deployed.

The cover photo of Marines shows exactly what the sand was like. I now know how to explain it to friends – I’ll show them this book. (Someone once told me to say it was like moon dust, but since I have never been on the moon and neither have my friends and family in the States, I didn’t like that analogy. I used ‘powdered sugar’ instead.)

I actually thought the author had served in the ’sandbox,’ it was all so real. However, I believe her MA was in creative non-fiction (now, what is that?) She obviously has a world of respect for military women.

I found a couple of words that were spelled incorrectly, which is inexcusable (one was ‘template/tamplate’) and for this reason I could not give 5 stars. Also the photos seemed out of order and there were more photos of some of the women than of others, as well as photos of women who were not profiled (and of Ollie North who seems to get his photo everywhere!)

Others have commented that the women seem flat and one-dimensional. This is to be expected in a combat zone where you have one job – to protect your buddy (whose job is to protect you) by doing what you have to do. The stress is overwhelming at times and never really lets up. You live 24/7 with people you would probably not choose to live with back home. The job is one-dimensional. Your life is one-dimensional, 24/7. It just doesn’t let up.

I certainly relived my training clearing houses and my convoy experiences. The author successfully translates military jargon and weapons into words and stories and pictures that even my mother could understand.

What was especially telling to me was reading the introduction and the snippets about the women interviewed who decided not to allow their stories in the book – for some, their experiences were still too recent and raw.

Some of the chapters were of only one incident, others were of daily life over many months to give you an idea of what it was like. Some chapters were stronger than others, especially the beginning ones. I would have preferred each story to be just as riveting as the next, however. The book seemed to drop off in excitement as I read on. However, you can finish it in one or two days!

Now I am waiting for a book to come out about the US military women in Afghanistan!

4 Stars A MASTERFUL JOB
A trailblazing book, Band of Sisters describes the harrowing experiences of our women serving in Iraq. Although the author profiles only twelve women, this book illustrates the complex human machinery needed to fight a war — men and women working together as a unit. While some have criticized the book’s dry prose (Holmstedt’s research became a MA thesis in creative writing), the author has done a masterful job of telling her stories.

Kathleen Winters, author of Anne Morrow Lindbergh: First Lady of the Air

3 Stars Good, but,,,
The author’s writing just kind of bugged me, and I see I am not alone. It read like a book one would find in the young adult section of a bookstore. The stories were very good, but I felt the weak writing took away from them. It also seemed as though the author was heavily favoring Marines and making it seem as though other branches of the military are not as disciplined or effective. The book was good and had valuable stories, but it was not what I was expecting.

5 Stars response to April 6 review by Patricia
I was wondering how you could say the women in this book don’t show “heroic temperament”? Do you know what a hero is? Sorry, but John Wayne characters don’t exist in real life. Heroes are these women … the first black female combat pilot in the marines, who strikes a target to save several of our ground troops; women out searching Iraqi women and children who suddenly find themselves in a firefight; Purple Heart winners; women who leave their children behind to serve our country? What else do you want in a hero, might I ask? Sorry they don’t ride horses and shoot Indians. These are real life heroes.

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