Windsor Park Library hosts free screening of women in combat documentary “Lioness”
December 29, 2011
By Bonnie Fletcher, Texas Veterans Commission, Austin
On Dec. 6, the Windsor Park Branch Library in Austin, Texas, held a free December Community Cinema screening of the combat documentary “Lioness.”The documentary tells the story of the first group female soldiers in U.S. history, to be sent in direct combat, which currently is in violation of official policy.
Told through intimate accounts, diary excerpts, and archive footage, the film follows five women who served together for a year in Iraq. The documentary reveals the unexpected course of events that began with using U.S. women soldiers to defuse situations with local civilians, but resulted in the women fighting in some of the bloodiest counter-insurgency battles of the war.
Together, the women’s narratives and scenes from their lives back home form a portrait of the emotional and psychological effects of war from a female point of view. “Lioness” is one of the first films to show the reality of the role women in the military are playing in Iraq, capturing a historical turning point for American society.
Though thousands of women have been involved in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, they have done so while serving in combat support roles as medics or logistics officers because defense policy prohibits women from being assigned to any unit smaller than a brigade whose primary mission is direct combat on the ground.
Ironically, the current policy was adopted in 1994 and stated that “women should be excluded from assignment to units below the brigade level whose primary mission is to engage in direct combat on the ground.” The policy also states that “direct combat takes place well forward on the battlefield.”
After the showing of the film there was a question and answer panel which contained representatives from the Texas Veterans Commission and Operation Outreach. The representatives gave their thoughts on the film and shared multiple resources and organizations that are available for women Veterans.
For more information on this documentary and up-coming screenings, go to http://www.lionessthefilm.com/.