Product Description

From Basic Training to Baghdad, from Mosul to a remote outpost on the Syrian border - this raw memoir gives a vivid picture of Kayla Williams's deployment in Iraq. During her time in the army she witnessed death up close, and horrifying disregard for human life and foreign cultures. Through it all - the violence, boredem and fear, as well as the light-hearted moments of camaraderie and flirtation - she brings home with vivid intensity the experience of being a woman soldier in the US Army today.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #350313 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 312 pages

SCOTSMAN
'brisk, feisty... lively war diary.'

Review
'unique' (SCOTSMAN )

'[A] riveting account' (THE OBSERVER )

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
'wonderfully frank and insightful'

Customer Reviews

What's it really like for women in the army in Iraq?
Kayla Williams joined the US Army Reserve at the age of 23 in 2000 where she was trained as a linguist (Arabic). She joined as much for the financial benefits as for patriotic reasons and is a self-confessed liberal who was against the war. She did not see great amounts of combat in her year-long tour (pre-invasion to Feb. 2004) so don’t expect gung-ho heroism, or to be bogged down in unit names and movements. This is a unique story of one person’s experiences at war and is the first real look at women in a military war machine. (Rhonda Cornum’s story is the only other book I can find on this subject but she was an officer rather than enlisted like Williams).

The most important theme in this book is how women are treated in the US Army. It doesn’t take too much imagination to realize what that is like and Williams describes in all its gory details how exactly it happens. Almost every other page is concerned with her gender and you feel that every anecdote or story she relates to us will end with the inevitable reality. She is highly critical of her leaders which isn’t unique to her but she does appear out of place within the military because of her liberal stance and the fact her previous boyfriend was Palestinian. This means we, as the reader can relate much more to this logical and sensible human being who highlights all the problems of an occupation rather than it were it written by a hardened professional only concerned with his job. At one point she even hints at the beginning of the prison abuse scandals. Somebody on the web has claimed she wasn’t present at these ‘interrogations’ but many women have praised her for showing what women face in the armed forces.

The book spans her teenage years through the beginning of the war and finishes when she leaves just as the insurgency picks up early in 2004. This is reflected in her writing; happiness (joining army), slight discomfort (being leered at during invasion) and heavily depressed (when attacks increase). Her style is very simple and won’t win awards for prose but is nonetheless pioneering as a piece of published literature.

Lost opportunity
A female version of Jarhead. Like Jarhead this is less a story of war but more the story of ordinary soldiers in a foreign country with very little to do. Of course the female perspective is key here and the author tries to answer the questions about what it is like to be a female in the US Army. Although interesting at times, this could have been so much more. This does cover the sexism and attitude of the US Army but also needs to be put into context of a large group of individuals, a long way from home and for a long period of time.
This is a quick read and a bit of a lost opportunity. It has some nice moments such as the interaction with the locals but on balance this does not do justice to the author or the women in the US Army. That is the main problem here; no-one comes out with much credit (except perhaps for the innocent locals who are actually pleased to see the US). I would imagine that women, especially serving soldiers, will be horrified not only by the suggested treatment but also by the lack of competence of many of the women mentioned in this book.

An interesting female perspective on modern war
I think this is an important book.

It shows how even intelligent, empathetic people can be corrupted by the environment they're in to take part in, and even enjoy, the abuse of prisoners.

It also gives an impression of how it feels to be surrounded by all these hyped up testosterone-machines, determined to put you down or at least get a look at your boobs.

Compared to similar war memoirs, there's not much actual combat, but you get a very vivid sense of the sights, the smells and the paranoia.