Before Washington officials said that women could go into combat, they were out there in battle, but just not getting credit for it. Armed with M16's and more robust firepower, women support troops backed up infantry units and got into the thick of it when called up to lend support. Transportation troops, in Iraq and Afghanistan, driving the IED laden roads with critically needed ammunition and supplies were always in the combat zone, explosive devices frequently causing the loss of limb and life attested to that.

Miyoko Hikiji, a young woman from Iowa knows well of it?well enough to write a book about it.  All I Could Be?My Story as a Woman Warrior in Iraq tells it just the way it was when, as a young woman in the Iowa National Guard, she was deployed to Iraq after the invasion ten years ago and discovered that the peaceful world she knew amid the Midwestern farmland had been replaced by the wind driven sand dunes of Iraq. Peace she discovered had become a pleasant and distant memory. Armed with an M16 and the equipment of the modern warrior, Miyoko was told to take her weapon into the cab of a truck, sit behind the wheel, and join a series of convoys. Each day she drove deeper into harm's way.

And each night was a nightmare in the making.  Miyoko writes of one such night,

"The infantry's mortar platoon, just down the street, zeroed in and returned fire. The opposite bank exploded.  Then, two patrol boats fixed with automatic weapons screamed by opening fire along the bank. The radio on the patio lit up with chatter but we couldn't make out details.    Moments later it was silent again.  Voices on the radio became clear--all clear.  Reluctantly we climbed out of the hole and returned to our tents.  No one could sleep but no one wanted to talk.  We lay silently in our bunks until the sun beckoned us to start another day."

And, another day always brought stress, fear and all that war brings. "It is my war story," writes Miyoko, "it is part military history, part personal revelation, part therapy," the stuff of so many war stories that have become a vital part of the great American tradition. All I Could Be is a fascinating beginning to a new chapter in that great tradition: the recognition of the woman warrior in America. All I Could Be ?My Story as a Woman Warrior in Iraq. #9781933909585 will be published by History Publishing Company in March 2013.

Peoria Aviation Unit Will Provide Air Movement and Air Assault Support

PEORIA, IL (01/23/2013)(readMedia)-- A deployment ceremony is scheduled for approximately 60 Soldiers with 2nd Battalion of the 238th General Support Aviation in Peoria who will deploy to Afghanistan. The ceremony will be Jan. 25 at 1 p.m. at the Army Aviation Support Facility #3, 2323 S. Airport Road in Peoria.

The Soldiers will train for a brief time at Fort Hood, Texas, before deploying to Afghanistan for approximately nine months.

The Illinois Army National Guard unit will include members from across Illinois, along with aviation personnel from South Carolina.

While deployed to Afghanistan, the 238th, which flies CH-47 Chinook helicopters, will perform heavy helicopter air movement and air assault missions. It will also be in charge of re-supply operations and aviation maintenance support.

The unit is scheduled to return home in December 2013.

News media attending the event should arrive at least 30 minutes prior to the ceremony. For more information call the Public Affairs Office at 217-761-3569.

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There have been rumors circulating through social media and chain e-mails claiming that our troops overseas are no longer receiving hot meals for breakfast or midnight 4th meal. Some claim it's due to budget cuts, others say it's logistics, but the rumors are flying that troops are only getting lunch and dinner provided.

January 15, 2013
Posted by Steve Weigand

"An Internet rumor that American troops in Afghanistan no longer get breakfast has prompted a response from the Pentagon via Twitter.

A chain email says the last-minute deal Congress passed to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff" also denies breakfast to troops in Afghanistan.

The email garnered enough attention that rumor-debunking site Snopes.com picked up on it and rated the email "partly true" since some bases stopped serving hot breakfasts as they get ready for the drawdown."

The DoD has tried to fight the rumors by reassuring people through their twitter feed, that troops are getting 4 meals a day, but even according to the DoD's best spin, they're saying two of those meals are MRE rations.

Our troops deserve better.

If you think our troops deserve better, how about sending a care package filled with GOOD tasting food that's also portable, like powdered Gatorade or hot cocoa that can easily be mixed in minutes, or cookies and beef jerky that stay safe and delicious for weeks.

https://www.thecampaignstore.com/supportourtroops.asp?id=291&rname=eml_20130117&utm_source=MailSquadron.com&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=MREs+Campaign

The U.S. military invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and has been there ever since; in fact, the government started and ended another long and costly campaign in Iraq within that period. All the fighting, dying, loss of limbs, family absences, stress and resulting post-traumatic stress disorder, alcoholism, homelessness and suicide have been experienced by less than 1 percent of the population - combat veterans.

"Everyone says they can only imagine the hell of war, and it's true; if you haven't been in combat, you just don't know what it is like," says Ord Elliott, a former platoon commander with the Marines and author of The Warrior's Silence (www.ordelliott.com). The memoir, written over several decades, recounts the transformative experience of combat in Vietnam and how it informed his emerging understanding of war as a young man.

"The problem has gotten worse because the number of active-duty veterans in the U.S. Congress has been declining for nearly four decades," Elliott says. "This year's 113th Congress will have the fewest since World War II - just 19 percent of the 535 House and Senate members."

Elliott says he had no particular purpose in mind when he wrote down his memories and impressions of war, and the pages sat in the back of my closet for years - until the drums of war started up once again for the Middle East.

"I knew more young people would be used as cannon fodder for an unnecessary war, voted on by old politicians with nothing to lose. That's when I knew my writing could be used for something."

Much of his reader feedback addresses the apparent indifference by politicians to the suffering that will be endured by troops when the nation goes to war, says Elliott, a Princeton graduate. He says many feel thatThe Warrior's Silence - in the tradition of Karl Marlantes' Matterhorn and Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead - should be required reading for any politician pushing for a war vote. Several passages in Elliott's book detail the heavy toll of war:

• Resentment & anger: As a platoon commander, Elliott participated heavily in "the numbers game," which was the attempt to count the dead and wounded on both sides. "It became a far more fictional than real method of accounting," he says.Many times since then, Elliott has daydreamed about having Robert McNamara, the late Secretary of Defense who played a major role in the Vietnam War, run "point." "I wanted the politicians and the generals and the colonels sitting back in Da Nang moving pins on a map - I wanted those bastards on my point," he writes. "When you're on point, you're marching on the edge of annihilation, your last moment not a full breath away."

• Depersonalizing humans: In Vietnam enemies were called "Gooks;" today, we fight "terrorists,"or even the more blatantly racist "rag-heads." In addition to the many inane reasons given for the past several U.S. wars -which stay with vets as a nagging "why?" - embattled military personnel also carry with them the dangerous experience of having dehumanized people. "When you get back from combat, you know you've changed, but you don't know exactly how," he says.

• The good warrior: Dave Hackett, a friend of Elliott's in Vietnam, was the company's executive officer. "He was a good Marine who never questioned the war; he was a professional warrior who accepted the rules of the game he was in," Elliott says. One night, the two shared coffee while Dave retold the adventures of a Native American hero, as portrayed in a western-novel series, in which the protagonist was finally killed. The storytelling turned out to be prophetic.The next day the company was ambushedand Dave died in the firefight trying to save other Marines.Today's Marines are much like Dave, Elliott says. They are admirable in their willingness to charge into anything, and they are completely at the mercy of politicians' votes.

• Insight: "My father fought in the Battle of the Bulge," writes Catherine Webber, a former Oregon state senator. "Two years later, when I was only 6, he committed suicide. Ord's insight into the warrior's mind has helped me understand how what he endured could have trumped his love for me, my mother and my baby sisters. Had I known this 60 years ago, my life would have been much different. I have now finally found some closure and peace ...."

About Ord Elliott

Ord Elliott was a Marine Rifle Platoon Commander in Vietnam, and he is a Princeton graduate. He went on to build a successful career in management consulting. He is also the author of a book on organization design, The Future Is Fluid Form: Practical Steps for Designing Flat, Flexible Organizations.