Source:
CNNA U.S. soldier killed in Baghdad last week marked the fourth death of an American female service member this month, a toll that hasn't been topped since June 2005.
Eighty-two service women have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to the Pentagon.
In 1994 the U.S. military began allowing women to serve in posts other than front-line infantry, special operations and artillery units.
The highest monthly death toll -- four troops and a Defense Department civilian -- came in June 2005.
The Thursday death of Spc. Kamisha J. Block, 20, of Vidor, Texas, from a "nonbattle-related cause" was the fifth time that four female service members have been killed in a month, the Pentagon reported. It also happened in October 2003, November 2003, September 2006 and January 2007.
Read more:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/08/21/iraq.main/index.html
Oh and get this story:
The first female from Southeast Texas to die in Iraq perished as the result of a friendly fire incident, a local newpaper reported. The Department of Defense announced the death today, saying it was still under investigation.
Spc. Kamisha Jane Block, 20, died last Thursday in what military officials formally called "a non-combat related incident." But her family told the Beaumont Enterprise that she died in a friendly fire incident.
"She was shot in the chest by friendly fire," her aunt, Kathy Byerley, told the newspaper. "They haven't told us anything else — the rest is under investigation. We just want to know the truth about it."
Her body returned home today. She was just the 88th female military fatality in Iraq, or 2.2% of the total.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003628654
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
