Ashley’s War by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon – Review and Thoughts
In 2010, the military established a new team of all-female special ops called the Cultural Support Teams, a pilot program created to place female soldiers in the battlefield of Afghanistan. The female soldiers were used to communicate with Afghan women and protect those women and children when necessary.
Even looking for the biggest physical and mental challenges from the military, these female soldiers’ experiences continue to show me that not every job that you think will be physical will actually be.
People here on base are living like pigs, Sarah thought. No wonder they say Afghans resent us. Who wouldn’t
Reading this book has humbled me. But around page 260 it angered me of the things that we seem to take for granted. The dumb things I complain of, the petty things we go through daily. Then on page 274 I saw one of the female soldiers looking forward to the arbitrary things people unknowingly and freely enjoy, I thought “maybe I can continue to hold both things.” Similarly to how I read – I sprinkle fun reads in there with my more intense ones so I don’t overwhelm myself with emotion, knowledge, etc. Such as can be from what I’m learning from this book – we can still enjoy the stupid little things and complain about mundane small details, but also know when to scale back and appreciate that we have the luxury to do this and that there are people who cannot and there are people who have fought to make sure that we can live this way.
Each knew that the program had a limited number of spots, so they would naturally be in fierce competition with one another. But the vibe in the room went well beyond competitiveness. Here was a group of women who cared more about being the best they could, not besting the girl next to them.
I felt that this book was very motivating for female athletes, or females just training in general. While not motivating for physical attributes, the last section was full of grief for me but also triggered 1) a renewed (and possibly even greater, which I did not think was possible) gratitude for the ability to and 2) a desire to live the life that I’d enjoy. Veteran stories give me life, seeing veterans enjoy themselves and living life as they wish makes my heart happy. Hearing of soldiers who passed in combat and not of old age makes my heart hurt.
This book also had some recs from what the CTS soldiers had to read and expanded my own tbr. I’ve read A Thousand Splendid Suns, but it would be really interesting rereading it with the knowledge that the CST soldiers read it before going into combat.
- Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
- Kabul in Winter by Ann Jones
- Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
- A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
- War by Sebastian Junger
- Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell
- The Mission, the Men, and Me by Pete Blaber
There were also so many quotes that I saved and were so effective.
A doctor at the local veterans’ hospital told Lane it couldn’t be post-traumatic stress: that could only come from combat injuries, not from trauma caused by rape.
Ashley’s War
That is absolutely fucking ridiculous! I hate this kind of shit.
Sarah couldn’t help but feel a twinge of satisfaction when the male soldier she overheard insisting to his buddies that women shouldn’t even be allowed in the Army was evacuated during the final ruck march
Even if some may have disagreed with Amber’s tactics, they all knew what it was like to drown in frustration when other people place limits on you. In fact, the desire to bust through those limits was the reason most of them showed up for Assessment and Selection in the first place.
This CST thing was turning out to be a kind of sisterhood. It was something he never imagined women could have in the military, let alone a kinship his own wife would be part of.
The urgency, the fear, and the sensory assault of war destroy the response instincts of most people in the heat of the moment. This truth made combat training not just important, but essential to survival and success in combat.
Ashley’s War was impactful for me – definitely one of the top books of my reading year.
Read on.
Alessandra is reading... 
Leave a comment