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SAN ANTONIO — Mary Dague hears the catty whispers sometimes. "So ugly," the strangers say when they think she can’t hear. The 24-year-old has bright green eyes, a quick smile, and on the days she gets her husband’s help, perfectly applied mascara and blush. But all the gawkers really see are her arms, each amputated above the elbow. What they don’t suppose — with no fatigues or standard-issue Army T-shirt to clue them in — is that this chatty young woman, who likes to wear a little black dress to fancy parties as much as the next girl, is an...

    For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.     Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!     Conclusion: American Women in the US Military Although it is the largest and most extensive undertaking for military women, WIMSA , the Women's Memorial at the gates of Arlington National Cemetery, is not the first monument to military women or to women who have aided the military in our country's time of war. Here are some of the other statues and memorials that honor...

    For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.     Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!     Part X: Women Revolutionaries   In 1670 Alyona, a former nun, led a troop of rebels who took the Russian town of Temnikov. She was eventually captured by government soldiers and burned at the stake. In Mexico both Zapata's and Pancho Villa's peasant armies included women revolutionaries called "soldaderas" who originated in the ranks of the camp followers who provided water, food, clothing and...

    For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.     Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!     Part IX: Women Soldiers & Sailors   In 1428 a 16 year old peasant girl named Jehanne la Pucelle convinced the Dauphin of France to put her in charge of his army by promising to reclaim Orleans from the English and have him crowned at Riems. In May 1429 she led the army in the battle that returned Orleans to the French and two...

    For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.     Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!     Part VIII: European Women Leaders and Defenders Throughout the middle ages noble women vigorously, and often successfully, defended their own or their male relatives, lands and castles. Around 890 AD Thyra, Queen of Denmark, ruled in her husband's absence. She led her army against the Germans who invaded Sleswick and Jutland and over a 3 year period built the Danneverke, a great wall which...

    For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.     Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!     Part VII: South America &European Women Crusaders   From the time of Columbus' discovery of the "new world" reports of women warrior tribes were common. Gonzalo Pizarro wrote of "ten or twelve Amazons fighting in the front rank of the Indians" who killed many of his soldiers. Francisco de Orellana reported his expedition being set upon by a women's army near the Maranon River...

    For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.     Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!     Part VI: Celts Among the ancient Celts women rulers and warriors were so common that when a group of Brigantian captives was brought to Rome in the reign of Claudius they automatically assumed his wife, Agrippina the Younger, was the ruler and ignored the Emperor while making their obeisance to her. In 51 AD the Brigantian Queen, Castimandua, allied herself with Rome as a...

    For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.     Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!     Part V: Asia   During the Shang Dynasty (1766 - 1122 BC) in China noblewomen known as fu held office, paid tribute to the Emperor for the lands they controlled, led armies, regulated agriculture and supervised religious activities. Fu Hao was a royal consort and general who led her armies in the Hunan province around 1199 BC. In 529 BC, Tomyris, Queen of the...

    For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.     Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!     Part IV: Africa   Matriarchal warrior tribes and matrilineal tribal descent are a continuing theme in African history and in some cases survived into modern times. One of the great African warrior queens of the ancient world was Majaji, who led the Lovedu tribe which was part of the Kushite Empire during the Kushite's centuries long war with Rome. The empire ended in 350...

<p>The emotional center of traditional Arab tribal warfare, the cult of the battle queen, derived from the earliest roots of Arabic culture, evolved through time, and still exists in the twentieth century…She formed the center of the cult, the members of which included ranking women of the tribe, who functioned to incite fiery patriotism, iron resolve, and battle fervor in male warriors…When the warriors were stirred to a frenzy, the battle queen mounted her camel and led them into battle. Sometimes this woman functioned merely as a ritual figure with little direct military purpose: a combination cheerleader, symbolic commander in chief, goddess, and living pinup. At other times, however, when not a weapon-wielding combatant, she served as a field general. The center of the battle was always occupied by the battle queen in her litter with her accompanying retinue. She acted as a visual and spiritual rallying point for her soldiers.</p>

<p>The Greeks also wrote of their own women warriors. Amastris, wife of Dionysius of Heracluria established her own city state by conquering and uniting 4 settlements.</p> <p>Artemisia I, ruler of the Greek city-state of Halicarnassus and Cos and advisor to Xerxes the ruler of the Persian empire, assisted him in his attacks on the Greeks by commanding a force of warships in the naval battle of Salamis around 480 BC.</p>

    For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.     Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!     Part I: The Amazons   The Greeks, Romans and other early civilizations wrote about or depicted the Amazons in their art. The name Amazon has survived through the ages as a generic term for women warriors. But until recently most of the historians who accepted these same ancient authors and artists as credible sources for information on other aspects of their society dismissed their...