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Two years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and for the first time in its 229-year existence as an independent nation, America is fighting a war with a military machine that is dependent on women.
The women span a universe of backgrounds. There are women like Ranbir Kaur, a 19-year-old part-time college student from the obscure San Joaquin Valley town of Earlimart. By summer's end, Kaur expects to trade her textbooks for an M-16 rifle and head for Iraq.

And there are women like Elizabeth Vasquez, 49, who has been to Iraq and seen up close what war is like. These days she often sits on her Vallejo houseboat, sipping coffee, her eyes clouded with memories of things she'd rather forget.




More than 200,000 women are on active duty in the U.S. armed services and an additional 150,000 serve in the National Guard and Reserves - an estimated 100,000 of them have served in the Iraq combat theater so far. Women make up 19 percent of the Navy, 15 percent of the Army, 20 percent of the Air Force and 24 percent of the Army Reserve.

nothing happened except i gave away 1k to my friend kristen! yay