Women at War

Women at War does not do for military women what Grossman’s On Killing (1) does for military men, but it’s a good start. The book’s editors, affiliated with the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, gathered a gifted group of practitioners, researchers, and military-experienced women to contribute chapters, using previously published and unpublished data sources. The resulting book is a comprehensive compilation of the psychiatric and physical and general medical needs of military women preparing for, deployed in, and returning from combat zones since 2001. The authors also identify gaps in knowledge and indicate areas in need of exploration, documentation, and dissemination in order to further the health of women as more direct combat roles open to them.

The book is written in the context of the relatively recent announcement that combat roles are opening to women for the first time in the history of the U.S. military. The paradox of military women having been officially excluded from combat roles is that the intention was to protect women from the dangers of direct warfare. Because women were not recognized as experiencing combat, fewer people recognized the need to study and plan for their psychological and general medical needs in combat (as has been done for men), thus placing women experiencing combat at increased risk of negative impact from direct warfare. The editors therefore sought not only to establish a resource for the physical, medical, and psychological care of military women preparing for, currently serving in, and returning from combat zones but also to support the erosion of a paradox interfering with provision of state-of-the-art preparation and care for these women.

Each chapter was written by experts from diverse backgrounds commenting from different perspectives. Pragmatic clinical pearls are interspersed in the chapters for use by medical, psychiatric, psychological, social worker, nursing, and occupational therapy providers working in health care settings ranging from private civilian to government-run and combat environments. Future research implications are described throughout the book, making it relevant for military science and clinical health care researchers. For the reader who has an interest, Women at War is an excellent read from cover to cover.

This is the clinical value of the book: with only approximately 300,000 female combat veterans deployed since September 11, 2001, it is rare but significant to treat one, unless you work in a location with a high-density cohort such as near a military installation or in a Veteran’s Health Administration facility. Therefore, this book is a great addition to a resource library for providers who are looking for a general resource to understand the issues of treating women with military experience since 2001 and their families.