Women at War

The effect of combat rations on bowel habits in a combat environment

Reviewed by: The Gun and the Pen: Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner and the Fiction of Mobilization Peter S. Kindsvatter The Gun and the Pen: Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner and the Fiction of Mobilization. By Keith Gandal. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-19-533891-1. Illustrations. Notes. Index. Pp. xii, 271. $55.00. Keith Gandal, professor of English at Northern Illinois University, provides an intriguing and compelling reassessment of three of the "Lost Generation's" most famous works of fiction: Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises (1926), F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (1925), and William Faulkner's The Sound and [End Page 979] the Fury (1929). While focusing primarily on these novels, Gandal does not ignore other works of fiction by these authors and others in developing his assessment. Through a multidisciplinary approach, using literary criticism, biography, and historical sources, Gandal dismisses the long standing and commonly perceived notion that these novels are antiwar, their authors motivated by disillusionment and alienation brought on by the horrors of the Great War. In reality, Hemingway had only a brief exposure to the front lines as a noncombatant and the other two authors never reached the combat zone. What alienated and disillusioned them was not the war but their personal rejection by the U.S. Army's mobilization system. Gandal therefore discards the label of "antiwar novel" or even "post-war novel" in favor of "post mobilization novel," for it is the authors' negative experiences with the mobilization process, not the war itself, that are reflected in the plot, characters, and themes of their novels. Fitzgerald received a commission and eventually a promotion to first lieutenant in the Infantry, but never left the stateside training camps and by all accounts was a mediocre officer. Faulkner sought a commission in the air corps but was rejected as too small, eventually joining the Canadian air force but never making it to Europe. Hemingway's poor eyesight prevented his becoming a pilot. He did serve as a Red Cross ambulance driver and was hit by shrapnel in Italy while delivering cigarettes and chocolate to the troops, a rather unheroic wound. All three believed that they deserved better. Adding insult to injury, these Anglo-American authors saw Jewish and ethnic, or "hyphenated," Americans faring better than they did in the mobilization process, often receiving desirable promotions, assignments, and commissions. Here Gandal sheds light on the U.S. Army's relatively benevolent treatment of Jewish and ethnic Americans. The well-known cultural biases in the Army's intelligence tests and the real discrimination against African-Americans bolster the perception of nativism and anti-immigrant sentiment during the war, but in reality the military could not afford to discriminate against immigrants and first-generation Americans who made up a third of the population. While the tests were indeed biased, U.S.-educated ethnic and Jewish soldiers fared as well as their Anglo-American counterparts and received equal consideration in selection for jobs and officer training. The characters and their words and actions in the novels Gandal examines reflect the authors' negative wartime experiences, or "mobilization wounds." Male Anglo characters find themselves in competition with ethnic Americans (like Gatsby), usually with successful military backgrounds, for the female Anglo characters. The Anglo male characters, who have unsatisfactory or no military experience, generally fail to win over the principal Anglo female character. Nativist and anti-Semitic language is at times explicit in these novels. By looking at these novels and their authors in historical context and in light of their personal experiences, Gandal provides a radically new and convincing critique. These famous works are not so much antiwar as antimilitary, based on the negative experiences of the authors with the Army's mobilization process. Gandal, [End Page 980] citing British writers Siegfried Sassoon and Robert Graves, who unlike the authors in question did experience the harsh realities of war, acknowledges that an antiwar literary genre does exist. Perhaps his next contribution will be an examination of the novels and memoirs of America's lesser tier of post-World War I authors, war veterans such as Hervey Allen, Thomas Boyd, and William March, to determine the extent to which...

This handbook provides a straightforward account of how women have served in combat roles and explains the ongoing controversy surrounding efforts to legalize combat assignments for female service members. Women have been excluded from combat roles for most of American history. During conflicts such as the American Civil War, a few women enlisted as men; in some cases, their identities as women were not discovered until after their deaths. Today, the nontraditional battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan have no clearly defined front lines, and many female soldiers have found themselves face-to-face with the enemy. Yet despite the realities of modern warfare, the subject of women serving in combat roles remains highly controversial. Women in Combat: A Reference Handbook examines the historical background, current dilemmas, and global context of this contentious issue. The author explores both sides of the argument, presenting information from leading sources and gleaned from personal interviews. Statistical data, primary source documents, a directory of organizations, and print and electronic resources offer additional insight.

Military medical personnel, including nurses, face a wide array of emotional and psychological issues while deployed. Understanding the challenges military nurses face in the deployed setting may prove useful in effectively preparing nurse leaders for future disaster responses in the military and civilian sectors. The purpose of this metasynthesis is to answer the following research question: What are the experiences of U.S. military and allied nurses deployed to medical facilities in combat operations and support areas since 9/11/2001? A qualitative metasynthesis was conducted to determine commonality of combat-related deployment experiences for U.S. military and allied nurses. After development of the research question, this metasynthesis included 4 steps: (1) perform structured literature search, (2) critical appraisal, (3) reciprocal translation, and (4) synthesize findings. Studies were limited to the years 2004-2023 to focus the search on Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom-related deployments. Reference review of studies retrieved through database search also contributed to the final sample. Screening criteria included: (1) qualitative or mixed methods studies, (2) sample comprised of U.S. or allied country medical/nursing personnel, and (3) care primarily occurring in a fixed facility located in Iraq, Afghanistan, or Kuwait. Studies focusing on reintegration after deployment or air evacuation personnel/nonfixed facility settings were excluded. A total of 11 studies met inclusion criteria. Critical appraisal was conducted on all studies. Data analysis utilized an inductive and iterative process. Reciprocal translation and meta-ethnographic techniques were used to identify words/phases that contained significant meaning and to identify themes/subthemes. Themes formed that described commonalities across nurses' experiences. Three primary themes arise from critical examination of military nurses' deployment experiences: (1) "care in a combat zone," (2) "leadership in a combat zone," and (3) "personhood." The subthemes address experiences or concerns related to an individual participant's role as a "care giver," "leader," or "person." The 3 themes formed by this qualitative metasynthesis represent a holistic view of a military nurse in a deployed setting. Military nurses' deployment experiences relate to their multiple role(s) as a clinician, officer, and human being. By better understanding military nurses' past deployment experiences and related themes, nurse leaders and individuals can better prepare for supporting staff in future combat operations. The complexities of "caring," "leading," and "personhood" may contribute to emotional distress among deployed military medical personnel.

While increasing attention has been paid to the negative ramifications of military service on female veterans, little is known about the factors that support positive adaptation and posttraumatic growth (PTG) in this population. This study examined how military-related risk factors (combat exposure, sexist hostility), outcomes (posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms), and psychological strengths (self-efficacy, self-esteem, psychological flexibility, prosocial intentions, gratitude, hope, and meaning-centered coping) contribute to PTG among Israeli female combat and noncombat veterans. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 808 Israeli female veterans (combat: n = 450; noncombat: n = 358) who completed self-report measures online. Combat veterans reported significantly higher levels of combat exposure, sexist hostility, posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, and PTG as compared with noncombat veterans. Among combat veterans, posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms were negatively associated with PTG. In regression models, among combat veterans, psychological strengths (especially self-efficacy, prosocial intentions, hope, and meaning-centered coping) were associated with higher PTG beyond military-related risk factors. Among noncombat veterans, only hope was significantly associated with PTG. These findings highlight the dual nature of trauma in military service, both as a source of distress and a potential catalyst for growth. Psychological strengths serve as robust correlates of PTG and may offer promising targets for interventions aimed at fostering recovery and personal development among female veterans. Strength-based approaches that cultivate hope, meaning-making, and interpersonal capacities may enhance healing and resilience following military trauma. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Alcohol misuse is common among military veterans affected by posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression; however, research to date has provided mixed evidence concerning differential associations among PTSD and depressive symptoms in relation to alcohol misuse. Further, most available studies have examined primarily male samples or have dichotomously grouped participants as either having or not having an alcohol use disorder. Our study sought to explore relations among 2 aspects of alcohol misuse (that is, alcohol-related problems, and quantity or frequency of alcohol use) and symptoms of PTSD and depression in independent samples of female and male military veterans. Canadian military veterans (1271 men and 72 women) completed a battery of self-report questionnaires as part of a broader health status assessment conducted by Veterans Affairs Canada. Linear regression analyses suggested depressive symptoms accounted for unique variance in reported alcohol-related problems and quantity or frequency of alcohol use among male veterans. Additionally, PTSD hyperarousal symptoms accounted for unique variance in reported alcohol-related problems. In contrast, among female veterans neither PTSD nor depressive symptoms were found to account for significant variance in measures of alcohol-related problems or quantity or frequency of alcohol use. Findings suggest differing mechanisms are involved in influencing alcohol misuse among male and female veterans. Accordingly, female veterans may benefit from specialized assessment and intervention approaches to prevent and treat alcohol-related disorders, rather than applying the same strategies commonly used with male veterans. Comprehensive results, implications, and directions for future research are discussed.

LAY SUMMARY This study explores how gender and sex shape the military-to-civilian transition (MCT) for women. Thirty-three Canadian women Veterans were interviewed about their military service and post-military life. MCT research often emphasizes discontinuities between military and civilian life, but women Veterans’ accounts highlight continuities in gendered experiences. Military women are expected to fit the male norm and masculine ideal of the military member during service, but they are rarely recognized as Veterans after service. Women experience invisibility as military members and Veterans and simultaneously hypervisibility as (ex)military women who do not fit military or civilian gender norms. Gendered expectations of women as spouses and mothers exert an undue burden on them as serving members and as Veterans undergoing MCT. Women encounter care and support systems set up on the normative assumption of the military and Veteran man supported by a female spouse. The study findings point to a needed redesign of military and Veteran systems to remove sex and gender biases and better respond to the sex- and gender-specific MCT needs of women.

During the early modern period, women played important roles in supporting and participating in the military activities of kingdoms throughout Europe. Their experiences ranged from camp followers who accompanied armies on campaign to women who took an active part in sieges to elite women who helped provision troops in the field. This chapter provides an introduction to women's military experiences during the period 1450-1650. It gives an overview of women's military activities, the restrictions that shaped their involvement in various states' war efforts, and the impact of warfare upon their lives. Queens who did not have husbands, had to rely on male commanders to lead their troops in battle. Beyond caring for the soldiers’ domestic needs, women also carried out important functions in maintaining and enhancing the armies’ supplies through their work as sutlers. Officers' wives also participated in organizing and overseeing the care of the sick and the wounded. Keywords:camp followers; early modern armies; Europe; queens; soldier's wives; sutlers; women's military activities

Brain imaging studies in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have implicated a circuitry of brain regions including the medial prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, parietal cortex, and insula. Pharmacological treatment studies have shown a reversal of medial prefrontal deficits in response to traumatic reminders. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is a promising non-pharmacologic approach to the treatment of anxiety and pain disorders. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of MBSR on PTSD symptoms and brain response to traumatic reminders measured with positron-emission tomography (PET) in Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) combat veterans with PTSD. We hypothesized that MBSR would show increased prefrontal response to stress and improved PTSD symptoms in veterans with PTSD. Twenty-six OEF/OIF combat veterans with PTSD who had recently returned from a combat zone were block randomized to receive eight sessions of MBSR or present-centered group therapy (PCGT). PTSD patients underwent assessment of PTSD symptoms with the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS), mindfulness with the Five Factor Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and brain imaging using PET in conjunction with exposure to neutral and Iraq combat-related slides and sound before and after treatment. Nine patients in the MBSR group and 8 in the PCGT group completed all study procedures. Post-traumatic stress disorder patients treated with MBSR (but not PCGT) had an improvement in PTSD symptoms measured with the CAPS that persisted for 6 months after treatment. MBSR also resulted in an increase in mindfulness measured with the FFMQ. MBSR-treated patients had increased anterior cingulate and inferior parietal lobule and decreased insula and precuneus function in response to traumatic reminders compared to the PCGT group. This study shows that MBSR is a safe and effective treatment for PTSD. Furthermore, MBSR treatment is associated with changes in brain regions that have been implicated in PTSD and are involved in extinction of fear responses to traumatic memories as well as regulation of the stress response.

Objective Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and hazardous alcohol use are prevalent among trauma survivors. Despite higher rates of both PTSD and hazardous alcohol use among military combat veterans than civilians, scant research has examined whether military combat experience is associated with drinking alcohol to cope with PTSD symptoms. This study tested the hypothesis that compared to trauma-exposed men without combat experience, men with military combat experience would be more likely to endorse drinking alcohol to cope with their PTSD symptoms. Methods: Interview data from N = 11,474 men who reported at least one lifetime traumatic experience were drawn from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), a face-to-face interview study that recruited a nationally representative sample of adults living in the United States between 2004 and 2005. Results: Among men endorsing lifetime trauma exposure, men with military combat experience (n = 1,386) were more likely than men without combat experience (n = 10,088) to report drinking alcohol to cope (7.22 vs. 2.61% in unweighted analyses, 6.46 vs. 2.37% in weighted analyses). Total number of lifetime trauma types, lifetime PTSD severity, and lifetime alcohol abuse/dependence were significantly associated with drinking to cope in bivariate and multivariate analyses. Military combat experience was significantly associated with drinking to cope in multivariate analyses adjusting for lifetime PTSD diagnosis. Military combat experience was not significantly associated with drinking to cope in multivariate analyses adjusting for lifetime PTSD symptom count. Conclusions: Although military combat experience was significantly associated with drinking to cope in bivariate analyses, multivariate analyses yielded mixed findings: combat experience was significantly associated with drinking to cope in models adjusting for PTSD diagnosis, but not in models adjusting for PTSD symptom count. Findings highlight the importance of assessing and targeting PTSD symptom-related alcohol use, even in the absence of alcohol abuse/dependence. Results from this preliminary study could inform future research on drinking to cope with PTSD symptoms among military combat veterans and other trauma survivors.

Differences in the characteristics and mental health needs of female veterans of the Iraq/Afghanistan war compared with those of veterans of other wars may have useful implications for VA program and treatment planning. Female veterans reporting service in the Iraq/Afghanistan war were compared with women reporting service in the Persian Gulf and Vietnam wars and to men reporting service in the Iraq/Afghanistan war. Subjects were drawn from VA administrative data on veterans who sought outpatient treatment from specialized posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment programs. A series of analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to control for program site and age. In general, Iraq/Afghanistan and Persian Gulf women had less severe psychopathology and more social supports than did Vietnam women. In turn, Iraq/Afghanistan women had less severe psychopathology than Persian Gulf women and were exposed to less sexual and noncombat nonsexual trauma than their Persian Gulf counterparts. Notable differences were also found between female and male veterans of the Iraq/Afghanistan war. Women had fewer interpersonal and economic supports, had greater exposure to different types of trauma, and had different levels of diverse types of pathology than their male counterparts. There appear to be sufficient differences within women reporting service in different war eras and between women and men receiving treatment in VA specialized treatment programs for PTSD that consideration should be given to program planning and design efforts that address these differences in every program treating female veterans reporting war zone service.

This article presents preliminary findings on current environmental management practices used by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) at the Grahamstown Military Installation (GMI). These findings comprise interviews with SANDF officials and an analysis of official documents, which include the first and second editions of the Environmental Management Plan for Defence (2001 & 2008 respectively). The study on which this article reports, found that the emphasis placed on environmental protection within defence force activities worldwide has compelled the South African Department of Defence and Military Veterans (SA DODMV) to regulate the management of the environment within its properties. Yet, these efforts have faced numerous challenges that range from financial to human resources deficiencies. Consequently, the military installation at Grahamstown does not have environmentally knowledgeable and qualified personnel to deal with environmental issues. From the analysis of official documents as well as interviews with respondents, it was established that the SA DODMV itself does not have a budget for environmental services. The combination of all these drawbacks has led to the failure of the implementation of the Environmental Management System (EMS) for Defence at this military installation (i.e. GMI) of the SANDF. Undoubtedly, all these challenges have severely compromised the commitment of the SA DODMV to honour its environmental management obligations. Moreover, the deficiencies of all these resources undermine the sustainable utilisation of these national assets (natural resources) entrusted to the defence force. The study reported here proposes an ideal model for the successful implementation of the EMS in SANDF military installations.

Exposure to bloodborne pathogens, namely HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C, remains a risk for healthcare workers. Given the austere and challenging environments in a combat zone, it is unclear to what extent blood and other bodily fluid occupational exposures pose a risk of infection for military healthcare workers deployed to a level III military treatment facility in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. This is a retrospective review of electronic infection control records at the Air Force Theater Hospital in Iraq in which blood and other bodily fluid occupational exposure data were available: October 1, 2005 through May 31, 2006 and January 15, 2007 through April 30, 2007. During the first study period, there were 46 exposures for an average monthly exposure of 5.8 (range, 2-16 per month). The majority of exposures were percutaneous fingersticks (74%), whereas the remainder were splashes (17%) or not documented (9%). During the second study period, there were 19 exposures with percutaneous device and splash exposure encompassing 68% and 32% of cases, respectively. The majority of occurrences were in the intensive care unit (53%) and primarily among nurses (37%). Overall, there were 65 exposures per 1,000 persons during the year review. During the time periods evaluated, a substantial number of blood and other bodily fluid exposures occurred in a combat zone military healthcare facility. This finding is comparable to US civilian institutions. Maintaining programs for preventing, tracking, and implementing postexposure prophylaxis remain a worthy and achievable goal at every military treatment facility, regardless of the austerity of the environment.

This article addresses an underreported aspect of contemporary warring in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): the experiences of women soldiers and officers in the Congolese national armed forces (Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo [FARDC]). It thus addresses an empirical gap in scholarly and policy knowledge about female soldiers in national armies on the African continent, and the DRC in particular. Based on original interviews, the article explores the way female soldiers in the FARDC understand their identities as “women soldiers” and offers new insight into women soldiers’ role and responsibilities in the widespread violence committed against civilians in the DRC. Moreover, it explores how their understanding of themselves as “women soldiers” both challenges and confirms familiar notions of the army as a masculine sphere. Such insight is important for better understanding the gendered makeup of the military and for contributing to a knowledge base for Security Sector Reform in this violent (post)conflict setting.

The past years have seen a proliferation of research about the health and reintegration experiences of military veterans. Many researchers have approached these issues from psychological or sociological perspectives, but studies from the field of communication are noticeably lacking. This entry first contextualizes the issues of culture, identity, and morality to military service before exploring recent communication scholarship in these areas. In the concluding paragraphs the entry suggests opportunities for future research from a communication perspective. Numerous reports, public awareness campaigns, and academic research articles document negative health risks (e.g., alcoholism, depression, anxiety, post‐traumatic stress) as well as self‐destructive behaviors (e.g., suicide, risk‐taking, binge drinking) associated with serving in the military. Most academic research has focused primarily on veterans who have served in combat roles, but not all veterans who have issues reintegrating have served in combat. Few studies have gone beyond describing these issues and sought to uncover communication events associated with these risky health behaviors. The purpose of this entry is to focus on communication mechanisms which may lead to military veteran health issues, examining military veteran health and reintegration in a broad sense.