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Silver Stars Affirm One Unit's Mettle
Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, who fought insurgents in close combat outside Baghdad, is the first woman to receive the Silver Star since an Army nurse in World War II.
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A Bronze Star was awarded to Spec. Ashley Pullen, a 5-foot-2 ½-inch Humvee driver from Edmonton, Ky.
Pullen, 21, smiles constantly, occasionally paints her toenails pink and tilts her head back to see over the dashboard of her vehicle. As bullets pelted her Humvee's armored skin that day, Pullen backed up the truck to provide cover for Sgt. Joseph Rivera, 39, who lay bleeding with a stomach wound. Pullen then helped treat Rivera while still under enemy fire.
Capt. Todd Lindner, who commands the 617th Military Police Company, which includes Raven 42, said Hester and Pullen "shouldn't be held up as showpieces for why there should be women in combat. They should be held up as examples of why it's irrelevant."
A 1994 Pentagon policy bars women from serving in units most likely to see ground combat. But many women serve in support units that put them in the same free-fire zones as combat units.
The dangers facing these women became evident Thursday when a suicide car bomber struck a Marine convoy near Fallujah; at least four were killed, including one woman, and 11 of the 13 injured were women. The women were in a support unit.
The 617th Military Police Company is also technically a support unit. Overall, 20 percent of roughly 150 soldiers in the company are women, said Lindner. Back in Kentucky, the unit helps provide garrison security and assistance throughout the state, including crowd control at the Kentucky Derby.
In Iraq, the company protects convoys and conducts round-the-clock patrols on supply routes leading in and out of Baghdad. Since November, Raven 42 has encountered roughly 30 roadside bombs, about two-thirds of which have detonated near the squad, soldiers said. The same week that the squad received its citations, a soldier from the 617th Military Police Company was killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack.
"We're infantry with badges, is the way I like to refer to it," Nein said.
Into the Kill Zone
In interviews, the squad and its commanders described how the battle on March 20 unfolded. Raven 42 was patrolling north near Salman Pak, about 12 miles southeast of Baghdad. A convoy of 30 tractor-trailers passed in the other direction. Nein decided to turn the squad around to shadow the trucks until they were safely out of the area. Squad members were in three Humvees.
Within minutes, the convoy abruptly stopped. Up ahead, Nein, seated in the passenger seat of the first Humvee, could see the half-mile line of trucks suddenly break erratically. Spec. Casey Cooper, in the gunner's hatch, said he could see it, too.
"They're taking fire!" he screamed. "Go! Go!"
The squad's three Humvees roared toward the firefight. Some of the trucks were already in flames. Nein ordered his driver, Sgt. Dustin Morris, to get between the assailants and the convoy.
