OPERATIONS DESERT SHIELD/DESERT STORM
Women Were There!
The conflict in the Persian Gulf began on Aug. 2, 1990, after talks between Iraq and Kuwait did not resolve grievances over oil pricing. Iraq's president, Saddam Hussein, sent armies to invade Kuwait.
On the day of Kuwait's invasion, President George Bush placed a U.S. economic embargo against Iraq. The United Nations Security Council quickly followed suit. On Aug. 7, after Saddam Hussein refused to remove his troops from Kuwait, Pres. Bush ordered Operation Desert Shield to begin.
Efforts by the U.N. Security Council for a peaceful resolution with Iraq proved futile. On Jan. 15, the council appealed to Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait - nothing happened - at 12 noon the deadline for peace had passed.
On January 16th Operation Desert Storm began. Key Iraqi military targets such as heavily-fortified command and communications centers, missile launch sites, radar facilities, airports and runways, and Iraqi ground forces were under heavy day-and-night air and ground attacks from that day on.
By Feb. 25 thousands upon thousands of Iraqi soldiers abandoned their stockpiles of equipment, weapons and ammunition and surrendered. On Feb. 27 the Iraqi military was scattered and defeated and Kuwait was liberated!
Mobilization for the Gulf war included an unprecedented proportion of women from the active forces (7%) as well as the Reserve and National Guard (17%). It was the largest female deployment in U.S. history.
Over 40,000 US military women served in key combat-support positions throughout the Persian Gulf Region.
Women in Desert Storm did everything the male troops did except engage in ground combat - they could essentially get fired upon - they just weren't, by existing regulations, theoretically allowed to shoot back!However here is an excellent quote on the way it really was:
"I was a female paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division during Desert Shield/Desert Storm. I want to make you aware of the fact that the females in the 82nd were among the ground troops that pushed into Iraq during the ground war...and we most definitely could shoot back."
И вновь про Горгошу забыли упомянуть:
А ведь так хотелось быть такой:
