Ashley's War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield
Apr 2015 · HarperCollins
4.3star
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275
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About this ebook
The New York Times–bestselling account of an elite team of female soldiers is “compelling. . . . In battle as in life, these women refuse to quit” (Christian Science Monitor).
In 2010, the Army created Cultural Support Teams, a secret pilot program to insert women alongside Special Operations soldiers battling in Afghanistan. Their presence had a calming effect on enemy households, but more importantly, the CSTs were able to search adult women for weapons and gather crucial intelligence. They could build relationships—woman to woman—in ways that male soldiers in an Islamic country never could.
In Ashley’s War, Gayle Tzemach Lemmon uses on-the-ground reporting and a finely tuned understanding of the complexities of war to tell the story of CST-2, a unit of women hand-picked from the Army to serve in this highly specialized role. The pioneers of CST-2 proved for the first time that women might be physically and mentally tough enough to become Special Ops.
The price of professional acceptance was personal loss and social isolation: the only people who really understand the women of CST-2 are each other. At the center of this story is a friendship and the shared perils of up-close combat. At the heart of the team is the tale of a beloved and effective soldier, Ashley White.
“An unforgettable story of female soldiers breaking the brass ceiling. . . . This book will inspire you.” —Sheryl Sandberg, #1 International bestselling author of Lean In
“A tremendous story. . . . Very moving.” —The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
“Ashley’s War shares the remarkable stories of one of the first teams of women serving in the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.” —Senator John McCain
In 2010, the Army created Cultural Support Teams, a secret pilot program to insert women alongside Special Operations soldiers battling in Afghanistan. Their presence had a calming effect on enemy households, but more importantly, the CSTs were able to search adult women for weapons and gather crucial intelligence. They could build relationships—woman to woman—in ways that male soldiers in an Islamic country never could.
In Ashley’s War, Gayle Tzemach Lemmon uses on-the-ground reporting and a finely tuned understanding of the complexities of war to tell the story of CST-2, a unit of women hand-picked from the Army to serve in this highly specialized role. The pioneers of CST-2 proved for the first time that women might be physically and mentally tough enough to become Special Ops.
The price of professional acceptance was personal loss and social isolation: the only people who really understand the women of CST-2 are each other. At the center of this story is a friendship and the shared perils of up-close combat. At the heart of the team is the tale of a beloved and effective soldier, Ashley White.
“An unforgettable story of female soldiers breaking the brass ceiling. . . . This book will inspire you.” —Sheryl Sandberg, #1 International bestselling author of Lean In
“A tremendous story. . . . Very moving.” —The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
“Ashley’s War shares the remarkable stories of one of the first teams of women serving in the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.” —Senator John McCain
Ratings and reviews
4.3
23 reviews
Woken't
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March 2, 2018
Soooooooo ... they didn't ACTUALLY fight and, in fact, did nothing that the ACTUAL soldiers couldn't already do, and infinitely better -- notwithstanding the author's exaggerations and flat-out lies. What SJW-driven, wholly deluded, and utterly ridiculous drivel! What morons the people lauding these caricatures of ACTUAL soldiers truly are! Literally disgusting, and shows just how much our standards have actually fallen. When I see women on the front lines, fighting AND dying just like the men, in numbers that reflect their gender's percentage of the population, we'll talk ... and not until. Oh, and don't you girls need to head to the Post Office and get registered with Selective Service? "Zero stars" was never more desperately needed as a rating option, and this should be in the fiction section ...
1 person found this review helpful
Jillian Diner
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May 12, 2015
The ladies stories are inspiring, and it gives you a glimpse into what it might have actually have been like. I highly recommend this book!
4 people found this review helpful
About the author
Gayle Tzemach Lemmon is a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a contributor to Atlantic Media’s Defense One, writing on national security and foreign policy issues. She is the bestselling author of The Dressmaker of Khair Khana and has written for Newsweek, the Financial Times, International Herald Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, CNN.com, and the Daily Beast, as well as for the World Bank and Harvard Business School.
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