Comments from the DeSoto Book Discussion Group regarding our October 2017 selection:

Soldier Girls: The Battles of Three Women at Home and at War 

by Helen Thorpe

Soldier Girls: The Battles of Three Women at Home and at War intimately details a decade in the lives of three women from the Indiana Army Nation Guard, Michelle Fischer, Desma Brooks, and Debbie Helton.  

Soldier Girls is an excellent look into America’s longest war. The fractured reality of war affects all three women because it feels as if they are leading two lives, a military life and a civilian life. This affects their romantic relationships, children, friendships, and families.

Michelle is the youngest and most free spirited of the women. Michelle joins the National Guard in June 2001 to pay for her college education at Indiana University, a dream she pursues with passion and hard work throughout the book. Desma is a single-mother of three who knew she’d learn valuable job skills and earn good money for two weekends a month and two weeks a year with the Guard. Debbie is the oldest in most of her units. She has always wanted to be a sniper and see the world through her service to the country.

This well-researched and gripping true life account of female soldiers shows the harsh conditions, loneliness, and sexual harassment the women face. We found the history of Afghanistan and the people they meet very interesting. Akbar Khan, their translator, shows his unit the human side of Afghanistan. He speaks English, wants to move to the United States, and is proud of his heritage. He changed the way Michelle, Desma, Debbie, and their unit see the people.

The women felt they did something to help the people, by securing the democratic elections and freeing the people from Taliban and Al Qaeda rule. When Desma and Debbie return from Iraq, they do not have the same sense of accomplishment. They did not meet Iraqi people or go into the communities. Instead, they were on edge, lonely, and in combat zones.

Desma is put into an all-male unit that refuses to talk to her because she is the enemy who could get them into trouble. Desma does not receive proper training and is isolated. We were very surprised she carried a knife around with her because the threat from American soldiers was so great.

Thorpe does an excellent job of showing the mental and physical toll of war. PTSD is a silent epidemic among soldiers. When Desma’s vehicle hits the IED we were surprised she wasn’t killed. Her head injury plagues her for years.  

The changing role of women in the military is evident during their years of service. While they’re in Iraq in the spring of 2008, President Bush claims there are no women in combat. Desma wonders what driving a truck or being in the gun turret in an ASV on a highway in Iraq in spring 2008 was. Obama’s Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta announces lifting of ban on women serving in combat positions. We have mixed reactions to women seeing combat.

All of us shared personal stories of how Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq, and Afghanistan impacts people we know. These stories show the ripple of war into everyday life.