First Woman Gets Silver Star Since WW II Thursday June 16, 2005 7:03pm
Washington (AP) - A 23-year-old sergeant with the Kentucky National Guard on Thursday became the first female soldier to receive the Silver Star - the nation's third-highest medal for valor - since World War II. Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, who is from Nashville, Tenn., but serves in a Kentucky unit, received the award for gallantry during a March 20 insurgent ambush on a convoy in Iraq. Two men from her unit, the 617th Military Police Company of Richmond, Ky., also received the Silver Star for their roles in the same action.
According to military accounts of the firefight, insurgents attacked the convoy as it traveled south of Baghdad, launching their assault from trenches alongside the road using rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. Hester and her unit moved through enemy fire to the trenches, attacking them with grenades before entering and clearing them.
She killed at least three insurgents with her M4 rifle, according to her award citation. In the entire battle, 26 or 27 insurgents were killed and several more were captured, according to various accounts. Several Americans were also wounded in the firefight.
"Her actions saved the lives of numerous convoy members. Sgt. Hester's bravery is in keeping with the finest traditions of military heroism," her award citation reads.
"I'm honored to even be considered, much less awarded, the medal," Hester told the American Forces Press Service, a military-run information service. "It really doesn't have anything to do with being a female. It's about the duties I performed that day as a soldier."
Hester, a native of Bowling Green, Ky., joined the Kentucky Army National Guard in April 2001 and moved to Nashville in 2003, according to a biography provided by the Army. She works as a retail store manager. Her unit deployed to Iraq in November 2004 and remains in the Baghdad area, escorting convoys and assisting the Iraqi Highway Patrol.
Also receiving the Silver Star for that action was Staff Sgt. Timothy Nein of Henryville, Ind., and Spc. Jason Mike of Radcliff, Ky. Five other members of their unit received other medals for the action, including another woman, Spc. Ashley Pullen of Edmonton, Ky.
The awards to Hester and Pullen come only weeks after some Republicans in Congress abandoned an effort to curtail the roles of military women in combat zones. The Pentagon and some Democrats and other Republicans opposed the measure.
Current Pentagon policy prohibits women from serving in frontline combat roles - in the infantry, armor or artillery, for example. But the nature of the war in Iraq, with no real front lines, has seen women soldiers take part in close-quarters combat more than in any previous conflict.
Pentagon Does Not Favor Deadline for Troop Withdrawal
Marine Lt. Gen. James Conway, Joint Staff operations chief, and Pentagon spokesman Larry Di Rita take questions during a DoD news briefing June 16. (Photo by Helene Stikkel) By Jim Garamone American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, June 16, 2005 – A deadline on pulling out U.S. troops from Iraq would simply encourage the enemy, defense leaders said today.
Nothing would make terrorists happier than a U.S. deadline on pulling troops from the country, said Pentagon spokesman Larry Di Rita and Joint Staff Operations Chief Marine Lt. Gen. James Conway.
The men spoke at a Pentagon press conference.
Conway said U.S. commanders in Iraq would not welcome an artificially imposed deadline. "They have their plan; it's a plan for victory," he said. "And forces will be withdrawn when victory is accomplished between U.S. and Iraqi forces."
Since the start of the global war on terrorism, U.S. officials maintained that troop withdrawals will be event driven and not dependent on a deadline. Di Rita pointed out that U.S. troops in Bosnia were supposed to be withdrawn after one year in country. There are still some 200 U.S. servicemembers there.
Conway said the enemy studies the U. S. just as it studies them. "They see where we have withdrawn previously -- in Vietnam, in Beirut, in Somalia," he said. "Nothing would make them happier, I suppose, than to think that there is a deadline out there, there's a time and distance factor associated with it, and then ... they simply are able to wait us out."
The insurgents' tactics keep changing, Conway said. They first launched attacks against coalition bases, but that tactic failed, he said. They next targeted Iraqi security forces and had some success, but the ISF now can defend itself. "They are, unfortunately, able to succeed in even greater rates against defenseless women and children forming in lines at the bank or in the marketplace," he said.
The insurgents succeed when they commit a spectacular attack, but the tactic is backfiring. More and more Iraqis are appalled at the carnage the insurgents commit and are turning in the insurgents. "We have seen some evidence of that," Conway said. "The issue is ... that people are getting fed up with the attacks on civilians, and even the insurgent groups are warring amongst themselves over this continuous slaughter of Iraqis. So there is some fragmentation that we're seeing."