Book In Review

The Lonely Soldier was a book that I wanted to read. I knew that it would be a tough read just because of the subject matter. The subtitle is, The Private War Of Women Serving In Iraq. Regardless of the reader’s personal views of whether the United States should be over in Iraq fighting this war in the first place; I think you will find this book of a particular interest to anyone who has loved ones in the armed forces or who is thinking of joining up. There are some very specific personal stories of five women and their experiences of serving the country as soldiers during this war with Iraq.

All military troops face challenges in war circumstances; but the precept behind this book is the particular challenges that face the women soldiers who are far outnumbered in ratio to their male counterparts. There are issues for these women in the performance of their duties due to issues with race, gender, personal space issues, health issues, respect of their fellow troops, sexual assault and sexual harassment issues.   The isolation that the female soldier experiences in dealing with these issues is compounded due to the fact that there has not been a large number of women in each troop.   In some cases, resentment is rampant and a lack of organized leadership seems to prevail, causing ongoing harm between the enlisted men and women, as well as their leadership.

The fact of the matter is that this war in Iraq is like no other that this nation has ever fought. Women are not “allowed” to fight on the front lines…and yet, because of the nature of this new kind of war fought in ways previously unknown to military personel; women are serving on the front lines under the guise of support services.

Post tramatic stress disorder affects both men and women and the rate of homelessness that seems to shadow our service people after their time is served is a disgrace. Services are not readily available without a fight. There is much between the covers of this book that will shock you, sicken you and terrify any parent or loved one who knows that their loved one has signed up to serve what used to be an honored job of service in the armed forces. It is alleged in this book and in the media that our service men and women are used in a careless fashion by shots that have not been proven to be safe health-wise.   During the time that many of these women served, our troops did not even have adequate protective equipment due to mismanagement at a high level…much of which has been addressed in the media.

Getting follow up care for the trauma that these women soldiers have experience is almost non-existent. It is a shame that our military women (and men) are not being properly trained, cared for nor are they being taught appropriate boundaries between the sexes. It is an outrage that suffering in silence is encouraged over addressing these issues to create a healthier and safer military force.

This book was written by Helen Benedict and it was copyrighted in 2009. The publisher is Beacon Press and this is their website:  www.beacon.org .