The Mission

Ever wonder what crosses a soldier's mind as she steps into uniform? As she leaves her family behind for months at a time? As a female in a male-dominated military?

The military has its own language, bases, laws, and rules making it a different environment than the one that civilians deal with day-to-day. Americans need to know how women feel about being a minority in our armed forces; how women would express themselves in art and in their own words about their experiences if given the chance.

We searched the book landscape for words by female veterans and found a large void where female service members' stories ought to be. We read biographies and interviews. We saw collections filled with stories written by men, but now we ask the female solider and veteran: what did you think? how did you feel?

In July of 2012 it was announced that women will now be allowed to train and participate in the Marines 86 days of hell training which was previously reserved only for men. At the same time, the Lackland Air Force Scandal broke revealing just how much women are forced to quietly bear grave injustice.  As the walls barring gender discrimination are slowly torn down in society and even more slowly in the military, we ask our female veterans of the past wars and our current missions, to expose the pain, the accomplishment, the root of their military service so we can celebrate the female solider and we can encourage her and the thousands she represents.

This anthology's message is clear: women are essential in the military; their work and sacrifice cannot be overlooked. The military is in crisis with suicide and military sexual trauma being higher than ever; let's listen to the women of our military and let freedom ring in their art and poetry.