"She Served Proudly" Role of Women in Military {UpDated}

Photographer documenting role of women in military

Feb. 6, 2012 - I recently met Julie Dowd, a Nashville-based photographer and daughter of a former soldier. Julie has begun work on a project called “She Served Proudly,” which celebrates the role of women in the military over the last 60 years. After reading a magazine article about a female Afghanistan veteran suffering from PTSD, Julie felt compelled to use her talents to help bring more attention to the women who have served and sacrificed for our country.

Nearly 15 percent of our active duty military personnel are women — mothers, sisters, wives and daughters. They serve alongside men every day at home and around the world and have made sacrifices, suffered injury and lost lives. Today’s military women are there because of the women who came before them.

“She Served Proudly” is the story of the women who traveled courageously into the military, once populated almost exclusively by men, and who then changed the landscape forever. Through interviews, photographs and video, Julie plans to introduce us to women veterans from the last 60 years – women whose reasons for enlisting are as varied as the women themselves, but whose stories each resonate with the same sense of pride.

As a photographer, Julie’s initial idea was to simply produce a photographic piece highlighted by audio interviews. However, as she began the interview process, she felt there was a need to film these remarkable women in order to help tell their stories more fully. read more>>>

She Served Proudly from Julie Dowd Photography on Vimeo.

Combat rules don't keep women off battlefield

8 February 2012 - "Every time they would request a specific gunner and it was always a female to man the .50 cal," said Halfaker.

That gunner was Spc. Victoria Rivers.

"It was just kind of euphoric, working side by side with some special forces team. It was pretty cool," said Rivers.

"She was just top notch," said Halfaker. "Great soldier and it was just funny to see this tiny little female up there manning the .50 cal and just fitting in with the special ops guys." read more>>>

UpDate:

Sources: Pentagon rules shift on women in combat

9 February 2012 - Pentagon rules are catching up a bit with reality after a decade when women in the U.S. military have served, fought and died on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan.

On Thursday, the Pentagon is recommending to Congress that women be allowed to serve in more jobs closer to the front lines.

According to defense officials, the new rules are expected to continue the long-held prohibition that prevents women from serving as infantry, armor and special operations forces. But they will formally allow women to serve in other jobs at the battalion level, which until now had been considered too close to combat.

In reality, however, the necessities of war have already propelled women to the front lines — often as medics, military police or intelligence officers. So, while a woman couldn't be assigned as an infantryman in a battalion or in a company going out on patrol, she could fly the helicopter supporting the unit, or move in to provide medical aid if troops were injured. read more>>>