Seven hundred thousand American women would join the military campaigns launched after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Although women were prohibited from direct combat roles until 2015, the Iraq War was a guerrilla insurgency, fought with improvised explosive devices, suicide bombs and rocket-propelled grenades. Military sociologist Brenda Moore, PhD, explained, “The unpredictable nature of the attacks in [the Iraq war blurred] the distinction between front-line and rear areas.” Women who were assigned support roles often found themselves under fire, both in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Women were allowed to fly combat aircraft and serve on combat ships, and many female soldiers, marines, airmen and sailors courageously put themselves in danger in war zones.
PFC Lori Piestewa (posthumously promoted to Specialist), was the first Native American woman in history to die in combat while serving in the U.S. military. She was also the first American woman in the U.S. military to be killed in the Iraq War.
A total of 174 women lost their lives in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait and Syria since September 11, 2001. Thousands were severely injured, including Tammy Duckworth, later elected senator from Illinois, who was one of the first women to fly combat missions during Operation Iraqi Freedom. A Purple Heart recipient, she lost both her legs when the helicopter she was piloting was shot down.
Women were making strides, back home, too; in 2007, Marine Brig. Gen. Angela Salinas served as the first Latina woman commanding general of Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego and the Marine's Western Recruiting Region.
“This award doesn’t have anything to do with being a female. It’s about the duties I performed that day as a soldier.”