Springfield State-Journal Register

October 21, 2003

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A woman's place
   Female soldiers stand out in a Muslim country

By MARCUS STERN
Copley News Service

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Spc. Kristina Ward, a 21-year-old member of the 233rd Military Police Company, was on patrol in Baghdad when her convoy came upon an Iraqi man who had been shot in the leg.

Ward and another medic rushed to the injured Iraqi, who struggled against their efforts to stop the bleeding and splint a shattered bone.

"I think he was scared,'' said Ward, who lives in Springfield.

Of the 156 members of the 233rd in Baghdad, 26 - or one out of every six - are women. For them, policing a Muslim community carries an extra burden.

In a culture where women are expected to be less visible in public, the sight of a woman standing in a Humvee turret or shouldering an M-16 rifle on the street is an outright spectacle.

Spc. Erica Clark, 21, a student from Belleville who also works in a riverboat casino, said a man had offered five goats for her hand in marriage.

Angela Carner, 20, of Dupo, said one Iraqi told her she should respect him just because he's a man.

"I told him he should respect me, because I have a gun,'' she said.

Sgt. Jamie McCurry of Auburn, a medic who turns 23 today, said, "The (Iraqi) women and children are very receptive, but the men aren't used to women being so bold.''

Sgt. Jennifer Batterson, a member of the Springfield Police Department, said reactions to female soldiers vary, just as they might back in the United States.

"A lot of it depends on the religion they practice at home,'' said Batterson, 25, adding that some Iraqi Muslims are more fervent than others about women not being in positions of authority.

Spc. Rebecca Power, 22, of Springfield has treated two civilians, one for a gunshot wound and another for a heart attack.

"They're amazed by American women,'' she said of the Iraqis she encounters on patrol.

Blondes, especially, are striking to Iraqis.

"They try to reach up and touch it,'' Power said of her own blond hair. "I hear them say, 'Will you marry me? I love you.' It happens all the time.''

Iraqi men have given some of the female MPs jewelry, flowers and marriage proposals, they said.

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While several of the women are medics, others are gunners, and one is a mechanic.

Acknowledging the existence of critics of women in the military, Capt. Jeff Royer, commander of the 233rd, said, "I wish they could see our women out there.''

That, he suggested, would quiet their concerns.

Generally, the National Guard - the 233rd, which is based in Springfield, is a unit of the Illinois Army National Guard - makes no distinction between male and female soldiers.

"We're all pretty well accepted,'' said Power, who was a point guard at Auburn High School and mixes it up pretty well with the men on the basketball court set up on their compound in the heart of Baghdad. She rarely misses from outside.

Like most of the citizen-soldiers here, she didn't expect to be away from home for more than 15 months, as it now seems likely, but she doesn't grumble.

"It's an adventure,'' she said. "I'm helping people out here. It's just another chapter in my life. School's always going to be there.''

Stephanie Stretch, 20, of Springfield said she signed up for the National Guard while a student at Chatham Glenwood High School. The MP gunner said she was in the Police Explorers program with the Springfield Police Department in high school and wants to go into law enforcement. She sees her current duties as good training.

Like the other women, she reported no problems as a woman in the military.

"They treat us pretty good,'' she said. "They know our limitations, but they don't treat us any differently'' from the men.

Ward, who grew up in Timewell but now lives in Springfield and works for AmericanConnection, said joining the Guard was a longtime ambition for her.

"I've been dreaming about this since I was 9,'' she said.

She credits her aspirations to an aunt and uncle who served in the Guard. She also points out that the National Guard will pay her college tuition and that the G.I. Bill will provide her with extra money while she goes to school.

Carner, an architectural student at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, said the men in the unit sometimes are a little protective of the women soldiers when they're in a confrontation.

She recalled a time she was having trouble with an Iraqi man. A male MP came over to back her up, she said, but she shooed him away.

"Go find your own," she told her chivalrous fellow soldier. "This one's mine.''

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Family attitudes back home vary, but several of the women said their brothers, fathers, husbands and boyfriends believe they should have been the ones going to Iraq instead.

"My brothers were real upset that they didn't go,'' Clark said. "My father was really upset. He said, 'My baby boys were supposed to go, not my little princess.'''

In the 233rd's compound in Baghdad, barracks are not segregated by gender - men and women are assigned individual cots a few feet apart in the same rooms. Both sexes also use the same shower facilities, although on a schedule that designates shower periods as men-only and women-only.

And while the men and women of the 233rd say gender isn't an issue, conflicts do occur.

"We had a fight (Sunday) night because the guys were in here playing video games, and we wanted to watch 'Sex and the City,''' Carner said.

For the unit's female members, the HBO television series is sacred time.

"Sour gummy worms, soda, cookies, popcorn and giggles,'' Carner said.

Some of the women also said they tend to clean up around the barracks more than the men.

"I don't think the guys can smell the stench,'' said Janet Sutter, a 20-year-old pre-dental student at the University of Illinois.