When Janey Comes Marching Home: Portraits of Women Combat Veterans

by Laura Browder, Sascha Pflaeging

While women are officially barred from combat in the American armed services, in the current war, where there are no front lines, the ban on combat is virtually meaningless. More than in any previous conflict in our history, American women are engaging with the enemy, suffering injuries, and even sacrificing their lives in the line of duty.

When Janey Comes Marching Home juxtaposes forty-eight photographs by Sascha Pflaeging with oral histories collected by Laura Browder to provide a dramatic portrait of women at war. Women from all five branches of the military share their stories here--stories that are by turns moving, comic, thought-provoking, and profound. Seeing their faces in stunning color photographic portraits and reading what they have to say about loss, comradeship, conflict, and hard choices will change the ways we think about women and war.

Serving in a combat zone is an all-encompassing experience that is transformative, life-defining, and difficult to leave behind. By coming face-to-face with women veterans, we who are outside that world can begin to get a sense of how the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have shaped their lives and how their stories may ripple out and influence the experiences of all American women.

The book accompanies a photography exhibit of the same name opening May 1, 2010, at the Women in Military Service to America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, and continuing to travel around the country through 2011.

Genres: Nonfiction, Military Fiction, Biography, Womens, War, History, Memoir

168 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2010

Reviews

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This turned out to be more interesting than I thought it was going to be. This was an inward look at women who have served in the various branches of the US military.

This book contained tiny snippets from many different women. They all had a different story to tell because what they brought to the military table and what they took away from the experience varied greatly. These many women spoke conviction and complete candor on why or how they joined, what their expectations were, how it affected their families and what their experiences were. Sadly, they had to endure a lot from their own male peers and leaders. I was a little shocked that some of their trials came from their own people. I appreciated the honesty in which they talked about the things that touched them the most, both good and bad.

I am grateful there are strong women who felt the call to serve.

[Daniel Bensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent insight into the experience of women in the modern military. There are some great voices here.

[Becki Iverson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent book about women in a "non-traditional" field. The stories told in this book are SO important to share, for multiple reasons: to show what women can contribute in the world of combat, to show that women have a wide range of opinions between them, for the humanity women bring to such a stark environment, to demonstrate the strength women are capable of, and to elucidate reasons to think more carefully before we go to war. As in any industry, employing an increasing number of women changes the work environment drastically, in this case for the better. There are many things the American military gets right, but there are many ways it can also improve, and adding a real female voice to that change process is a huge step forward to making it a better institution for us all. This is an easy read but an emotional one, and anyone who wants to support our troops or advocates for war owes it to our soldiers and to themselves to read this. It's a powerful book and a necessary one. I absolutely loved it.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the audio book and it was not what I was expecting. I was expecting this book to be fully about the challenges military women face upon returning home from combat from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq or even other non-combat areas. Instead this book is about the challenges military women face throughout their entire experience with the military.

While this book started off slow it finished with a powerful punch.

The stories of women leaving their children to be deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq or elsewhere and then having to reconnect with their children, or rather having to wait for their children feel comfortable enough to reconnect with them, upon return was gut wrenching.

The stories of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment and the one woman's story who was reprimanded for reporting it made me sick to my stomach when the accused perpetrator wasn't disciplined while the woman victim was just hard to hear.

I enjoyed this book and I definitely recommend it.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although it was a bit hard to keep track of each speaker on audio (some of the readers sounded similar), the content was often interesting if a bit repetitive. It's not a subject I know much about, but still there were some surprising stories. What sticks with me most is how hard it is to adjust to civilian life after combat deployment. One woman explains her frustration at civilians by wondering "why aren't they moving faster? Don't they know there's a war on?". Something like that. The variety of perspectives talked about illustrates just how impossible it is to generalize about women in the military on any subject. Some love the war, some are terrified of it, some want to go home to their families, others just want to stay with their unit. Some enjoy escaping the responsibilities of parenting, some are driven crazy by the guilt of leaving their children in someone else's care. It's an army of individuals, and it's important to remember that.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did you know their are women platoon leaders who've lead in combat in Iraq and Afganistan? Me neither. The book comes out of a photography exhibit of women in the US military who have served mostly in Iraq and Afganistan, though some have been in long enough to have served in Korsovo. Each chapter has the excerpts from women on a particular topic like why they joined (sometimes patriotism, sometimes because they needed to turn their lives around), motherhood, coming home from a war zone, etc. Their tone on a whole is how they've loved serving despite its difficulties in war time and for women in general. Great book to start getting a sense of how this generation of women are changing themselves and the military.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixing Oral history interviews with portraits of various women who served and deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, this book introduces the reader to various issues that face women who serve in our Armed Forces.

Why I picked this up: Found this book in the stacks when I was shelf reading.

Why I finished it: This short book allows you a glimpse into the life of a female deployed soldier.

It drove me nuts that there wasn't an index in the back with the page number of everyone's portrait. The authors split the interviews into parts so that the book was topic based and the portraits where scattered throughout the book.

[Ellison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Features a collection of tales of female soldiers as they share their experiences in war theatres. Engaging and insightful, at times sad.

[Christine Sundberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was very interesting learning about the women interviewed in this book. Some chapters were exciting, other chapters were sad. So many veterans, not just women, lose their families and come home with some sort of wound...whether it be physical or mental. I did not particularly care for the writing style. Very short, fragmented sentences. At first I thought the author was just doing a very careful job of recording the interviews word-for-word, but the interviews all had the same choppiness to them.

[Aisha Manus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Initially it felt like the other books I had read about women in Iraq or Afghanistan but then the tone changed and it became real. I liked that it wasn’t just a few points of view with the same narrative but how everyone was so different and exactly like the women I knew when I was in. I think this is an excellent representation of women in the military during this time frame. I would recommend for those who want a varied perspective.

[Rushell Bennett-Moyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a women veteran, this book really resonates.

[Alli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read through this as part of my research for a grad school project. However, had I known about it earlier, I would have read it sooner. As a former Naval officer who spent her time split between serving onboard ship and serving at a shore command, the lives of many of these women were just not something I was in a position to truly understand. I am glad to see that books like this are out there, letting people know and see that the impacts of war and military service on women are just as important but not always the same for women as they are for men. One of the hardest things for me since I left the Navy after 12 years has been really seeing that many in the civilian world have no concept that women sacrifice just as much as men to serve their country, even if they aren't always the ones put directly in harms way, and can and do face many of the same problems when coming home that men do, without nearly as much support or recognition.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recommend these interviews with women who serve in the armed forces and were deployed in Iraq/Kuwait/Afghanistan. Not in depth analysis or philosophizing, but insight into daily life, their combat experiences, and how they view themselves as soldiers. The portraits add a lot too.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book-- listened to it as an audiobook, so I was slightly thrown off a couple of times when a few of the interviews were used more than once, but that would be my only reason for not giving it the 5 stars. Wonderfully fresh new point of view-- I'd love to hear/see more books like this!

[Elliot · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't completely sure of the format of the book (felt a little disjointed), but I really enjoyed the stories and perspectives. This is such an important topic and I wish this would get more attention.

[Coyner Kelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I give this high marks because of its subject. The format-- a coffee table book-- can be awkward -- but it is terrific for social reading by friends and kids.

[Ashley]

Interesting concept and story idea, but I didn't love the format of the book- I wish each soldier had their own photo and told their own story as their own story, not necessarily snippets of their story by category.
Glad I read it though, yay for randomly walking through library stacks :)