Thursday, October 29, 2015

Ashley's War

Ashley's War by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

This was such a good book.  I am facinated by the pride that our armed forces have in our country, so much so they are willing to die serving.  I believe it takes a special person, one whom I greatly admire.  This book talks about a team of women who joined our special forces in Afghanistan.  Women are not allowed to serve in face to face combat positions but the special forces needed women to help them when they did raids as the men were not allowed to talk to or even be in the same room as the Afghan women.  A team of American women signed up and did special training to be a part of helping our special forces.  The risk that was involved, the dedication, strength, bravery it took to do this missioin was like no other.  This was an elite group of women who had been waiting for this their whole lives.  All of the felt like they were made for this mission.  It is a group of women who were not in the news, not talked about despite their bravery.  I am so thankful I found this book, so privileged to have read about these brave women, so indebted to their sacrifice.  "At a time when the divide between those who volunteer to fight America's wars and those who never served is wide and growing, it is more important than ever to know who these soldiers are and why they sign up to fight for the sake of the rest of us."  My sentiments exactly.  "If you do that, if you hold someone back, they will eventually end up carrying a grudge."  Let's let our spouses, our children, our friends and family soar.  Let's be the wind that lets them take flight, not the ones holding them back.  "Everybody has something that the other girl doesn't.  This is what makes us a team."  Everyone brings their own thing to the table and together we can do great things.  "Going out to get bad men who were killing innocents and fellow soldiers and then living to tell the tale-well, making it to the other side of all that was a drug in itself, and Amber was sure that nothing else, ever, could match it."  These women were given an opportunity of a lifetime and they rose to the occasion, believing that this is exactly what they had trained and wanted to do.  "I put you into His hands.  Now more than ever, when I get scared or concerned about you, I think back to that moment.  I think of God holding and keeping you safe because I can't.  It gives me a sense of peace and calm."  There was a real danger where these women were and their families were rightly concerned but all that they could do was pray that God would keep them safe as they did the job they were called to do.  "There is a difference between Rangers and the people who support them...  If women are out on the front lines marching with the Rangers every night, what is the difference?  If they go out on missions and wear uniforms and carry weapons, and put themselves in danger to help the American military achieve its strategic goals, what is the difference?  If they are getting killed out there, what in the hell is the difference?"  Women could not be a part of Rangers because they could not fight face to face combat so they were enablers.  But in reality they were right alongside the Rangers, right in the face of danger, risking their lives.  "I brought my daughter today because I wanted her to know what a hero was.  And I wanted her to know girls could be heroes, too."    "How much better would this world be if every person, at the happiest, most fulfilled point in their life, thought not of themsleves, but of the good they could do for things bigger than themselves?"  A much better world indeed.  Read this book.  Open you eyes and heart to some of the women serving our county and dying for our freedoms. 

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