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How did a group of female support soldiers-mechanics, supply clerks and engineers-end up fighting alongside the Marines in some of the bloodiest counterinsurgency battles of the Iraq war? Find out in Lioness, a film about female combat veterans.
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Share your response to the film. Tell us your story. Are you a female soldier, veteran or healthcare/support provider? Did the film change your opinion or did you learn something new?
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June 24, 2009 2:11 PM
The Women Veterans Health Care Improvement Act, sponsored by Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD) has passed in the House. The bill now goes on to be voted on in the Senate.
H.R. 1211 seeks to expand and improve health care services for women veterans, especially those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Watch Herseth Sandlin discuss her bill at our screening on Capitol on March 31st, 2009.
June 23, 2009 10:19 PM
On June 22nd, the House Armed Services Committee completed its markup of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (H.R. 2647). This very large bill includes a section on women who have participated as "Lionesses" during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan:
The committee is concerned that there is no mechanism in place within the services to properly document service member participation in operational missions outside of the requirements of their military occupation.
Therefore, the committee directs the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the services, to review the way the services manages and documents the additional services some service members perform. The review should also consider a way to properly document participation in such actions, particularly since they are being pulled from their regular units for these missions. The review should consider whether a service or skill identifier to identify these individuals, who have previously served and may be called upon again to serve in future deployments, is appropriate. The review should also consider whether the current chain of command construct allows these individuals sufficient oversight to be able to seek proper recognition for their service. The review should also take into consideration the differences that may need to be addressed between those within the active component and those within the Reserve Component who are activated and subsequently demobilized.
In addition, the committee believes that there should be a systematic training program for these individuals prior to their deployment that takes into account the unique mission for which they have volunteered. The committee directs the Secretary of Defense to submit the results of the review, and any recommendations, to the Senate Committee on Armed Services and the House Committee on Armed Services by March 31, 2010.
To read more, see pp: 315-316 of the bill:
http://www.rules.house.gov/111/CommJurRpt/111_hr2647_rpt.pdf
The full House will likely approve the bill later this week. Meanwhile the Senate Armed Services Committee is currently marking up its version of the 2010 defense authorization bill. Advocates for women veterans are hoping to see a similar provision included in the Senate version.
June 22, 2009 2:53 PM
Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin's (D-SD) bill, the Women Veterans Health Care Improvement Act (H.R. 1211), was passed by the House Veterans Affairs Health Subcommittee on June 4th, and has been sent to the full committee.
June 4, 2009 7:14 PM
The National Association of State Women Veterans Coordinators (NASWVC) honored Shannon Morgan with an Angel Award on June 2nd and hosted a screening of LIONESS the next day as part of their 10th Annual Training Conference in Manchester, New Hampshire.
(Shannon Morgan, 4th from left; Linda Waldroop, NASWVC Founder, 3rd from left; Bertha Cruz Hall, NASWVC Treasurer, 2nd from right.)
June 3, 2009 2:34 PM
John Wilson, assistant national legislative director of Disabled American Veterans (DAV), testified before Congress on April 23rd, 2009 about the lack of documentation of women's participation in combat. Citing Rebecca Nava's experience, he argued that without such documentation in military personnel and medical records, women face obstacles in proving their combat service connection and obtaining proper disability benefits.
http://www.dav.org/voters/documents/statements/Wilson20090423.pdf
May 22, 2009 10:18 AM
LIONESS won the Military Families award at the 2009 GI Film Festival in Washington, DC.
May 22, 2009 10:04 AM
LIONESS won the Military Families Award at the GI Film Festival on Sunday evening May 17th. More than a hundred people attended the screening which took place at the Carnegie Institution in Washington D.C.
Lioness tells stories that would otherwise have been lost to history.
Jesse Ellison, NEWSWEEK
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