We’ve gathered a number of stories about women who are in the fight in Afghanistan. Some are Americans. Some are not. They all deserve a salute from us for their bravery and good work! Follow the link to the original story for more information.

L/Cpl Sophia Turner has been working with Afghan police while on a tour of duty in Central Helmand

L/Cpl Turner was on a patrol close to Lashkar Gah, when she was called to help with an operation with 156 Provost Company attached to 16 Air Assault Brigade.

“As we went down there they said over the radio that I might have to arrest someone but it was only when I got there that I saw I had to arrest 17,” she said.

“It was a lot for me to do as the only military police officer on the scene and I was exhausted at the end of it.”

LCpl Turner said she had originally wanted to join South Wales Police but was too young so signed up with the Royal Military Police instead.

BBC

Army medic Cpl Isobel Henderson

A Scots army medic, from Dalbeatie, has been awarded an MBE for bravery and dedication in Afghanistan.

Corporal Isobel Henderson, 24, treated wounded British troops and Afghans at a checkpoint in Helmand province which was under constant attack.

BBC

Captain Lisa Irwin. Crown Copyright 2011

“I speak a small amount of Pashto, the local language, and was therefore able to have limited conversations. I managed to engage with 22 Afghan women.

“I am also participating in a health initiative where we train local health professionals and teachers about health education so that they can then train others. My role necessitates me moving all around our area of operations and regularly patrolling with the guys in order to be able to meet local women.”

UK Force Afghanistan

Capt. Leigh Larkin, 389th Fighter Squadron weapons system officer, leans on an F-15E Strike Eagle Feb. 17. Captain Larkin was nominated for the Mackay Trophy for a meritorious flight during a deployment in Afghanistan this past April. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Roy Lynch

“We tried one quick pass to see what was going on and to show the enemy that the Strike Eagle was there,” Captain Larkin said. “We were hoping the terrorist would clear out so the troops would be safe and there would be enough time for them to get out of the town.”

Unfortunately, the team’s plan didn’t work as they hoped as they initially couldn’t see through the clouds. When they were finally able to break the clouds, the terrorist dropped heavy fire on the ground troops in retaliation.

“I can’t tell you what it feels like hearing over the radio the crack in someone’s voice when they are being shot at or what it sounds like when the piercing of the bullet goes right by them through the mud hut they are taking cover in,” Captain Larkin said.

The captain knew she and her team needed to act fast — they needed to consider collateral damage, take out the terrorists and leave town. They began unloading bombs on the mountain sides to stop the terrorist from popping in and out of holes shooting at the ground force.

Eventually, danger close was needed, where a bomb is dropped within a certain area was someone could be incapacitated if they didn’t take enough cover.

“I had never dropped danger close in my whole life,” the captain said.

by Staff Sgt. Roy Lynch
366th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
U.S. Air Force

A team of female Airmen made history here March 30 when the F-15E Strike Eagles of “Dudette 07″ blazed down the runway to provide close air support for coalition and Afghan ground forces.

The two-ship formation consisted of all females, two pilots and two weapons system officers, but more importantly, it marked the first combat mission flown from Bagram to be planned, maintained and flown entirely by females.

This mission represents the first combat sortie on record to involve only female Airmen from the pilots and weapons officers to the mission planners and maintainers, said Lt. Col. Kenneth Tilley, the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing historian.

by Tech. Sgt. Michael Voss
455th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
U.S. Air Force

Big things are happening in a small clinic a few miles outside Camp Bastion- the kind of things that change the collective ideas of a group of people.

At the Shorabak clinic, everything looks like business-as-usual, at first. People come in, many of them locals, get treated and leave a little healthier and hopefully a little better informed than when they came in.

The facility itself isn’t anything out of the ordinary. The building belongs to the Afghan national army and is shared between a group of ANA medics and a small team of medics with the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force.

Sit down and stay a while though and someone might see something that isn’t seen every day at military clinics, local females coming in for care. That’s because at the Shorabak clinic, they have something special, a team of female medics who treat local females.

Females coming to military bases for care may not seem strange to those from other areas of the world, but in Afghanistan, especially in Helmand province, this is the first time females have been allowed to seek treatment at a military facility, according to an interpreter who works with the CJSOTAF team.

One of the members of the female treatment team is an Army captain who has been working at the clinic for approximately two months. For security reasons, her name will not be mentioned in this article. In her job at home, she’s a primary care provider at her base’s medical clinic.

The captain said she provides the same basic primary medical care she does back home. Diseases are often more progressed than in the states due to lack of available health care; however, the extent of service she provides is the same. The big difference from her job in the states is that here she’s creating an opportunity for a whole sector of the population to receive care that would have been otherwise unavailable.

As an example, an elderly woman came in for follow-up checks on three gun shot wounds. She was shot by the Taliban while working in the fields by her home. The captain and another medic from the team checked her wounds, which were healing well.

The captain said she sees her work as not just providing medical care to the men, women and children who come to the clinic, but also helping to change how Afghan society views the role of females.

One way the captain said she is changing this collective mind set is that she’s a female doing a job that many Afghanis are not accustomed to seeing females perform.

“I think it’s extremely valuable just for the men that come here to see me as a female,” the captain said. “It changes their definition.

“In their culture, for any type of change to occur — because it’s a patriarchic society — men have to accept the changes. So for them to be able to see me as a female in the role of a professional health care provider helps them to see that change might be a good thing,” she explained. “It’s just something they’re not ever exposed to here within their own culture.”

The captain said the men who come to the clinic don’t have any problems being treated by a female. If anything, they’re glad to receive care first and perhaps secondly surprised to be receiving care from a female.

An interpreter who works directly with the captain agreed with her statements. He also added these changes in perception are allowing women to be allowed to seek treatment for the first time on military bases.

The captain said if it wasn’t for the changes in perception the FTT is making, it would not be possible for people like the woman with the gun shot wounds to come to the clinic to get help. They would have to either wait until a medical team went out to them or simply go without.

The captain said it is her hope that her presence and work is changing the perception of the roles available for women and that perhaps one day these changes will grow into a better quality of life for Afghans, specifically in the mortality rates associated with childbirth.

“According to the World Health Organization, there are only a couple nations in sub-Saharan Africa with worse maternal and infant mortality rates than Afghanistan,” the captain said. “Most women in Afghanistan, especially here in the Helmand valley, give birth in the home without a midwife, without a doctor, with no medical care at all.”

The captain said the solution is getting more young women into midwife schools, such as the one currently running in Kabul. The problem, however, is the girls need a high school diploma to attend and many areas in Afghanistan have just recently started allowing women to progress their education as far as high school, which is something else she hopes her presence will help reinforce.

More than anything, the captain said her goal is to make lasting changes in the lives of the Afghan people and for that reason, the focus of their mission is reinforcing the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

“We try to put an Afghan face on what we do because we want people to accept the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan,” the captain said. “It’s very important that the people support and work with the government. That’s the long term goal.”

DVIDS
By Senior Airman George Cloutier
American Forces Network Afghanistan