Life is tough for veterans, especially female veterans. They have much to deal with and much to heal combat, physical and psychological wounds, sexual harassment and assault, trauma, stress, chains of command, the VA. Now more than ever these veterans are facing their problems head on. In this inspiring new book, Kirsten Holmstedt, trusted chronicler of women soldiers and veterans, tells the ups-and-downs stories of veterans struggling with the aftereffects of military service.
Kirsten Holmstedt grew up in Mystic, Connecticut. She graduated from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Journalism and from the University of North Carolina Wilmington in 2006 with a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Creative Nonfiction Writing.
Ms. Holmstedt was finishing her first year of graduate school in the spring of 2003 when the war in Iraq started. Living in Jacksonville, North Carolina, near Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Ms. Holmstedt was in an ideal location to initiate her research of women serving in combat for the first time. Over the next several years, she traveled throughout the United States and spent hundreds of hours interviewing female soldiers, Marines, airmen, and sailors.