Love My Rifle More than You: Young and Female in the U.S. Army

A no-holds-barred memoir about the experiences Sgt. Kayla Williams with the U.S. Army in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. An Arabic language specialist, William's MOS was Intelligence, and she spent weeks in the desert as the sole woman in a tightly knit band of men. Male soldiers automatically assume enlisted female soldiers are whores, writes Williams. "Why else would they be there?" is the attitude. Williams struggled to make the men in her unit her buddies, but this was practically impossible. Often, when the stresses of combat got to them, they would demand sex from her as a way of alleviating their fears and frustrations, and when she refused to cooperate, relationships became strained. Her male "buddies" continually pestered show more her to show them her breasts. Of course she wasn't foolish enough to do that - they then could interpreted her action as "asking for it." Really, its amazing the woman wasn't raped. One time she was forced to report sexual harrassment. The perpetrator was transferred, and some of the others in her unit resented it. Williams also discusses several of her superiors whom she believed were incompetents, and other female soldiers who made classic mistakes in their dealings with their male colleagues. She did bond with several other women soldiers in Iraq whom she liked and respected. Unfortunately, one of her female buddies was given compassionate leave to go home because her husband was very ill, and William's missed her trememdously. Another was assigned to a unit in a different location. Williams deemed few of the female soldiers assigned near Williams worthy of her respect. My guess is that William's desire to make the men her buddies caused other women, who preferred female buddies, to shrug her off. The men, in their turn, did not understand her. Although Williams uses a great deal of casual profanity and may well offend some readers, this appears to be way many enlisted female soldiers talk, perhaps in a subconscious effort to be accepted as one of the boys. show less

An interesting read, if weakly executed. Kayla Williams was an arabic linguist serving in Iraq and describes her experiences as a female soldier in an almost all-male world. She's not a great writer (and it's not clear what role the other author, Michael Staub, had in the book) but it was still an interesting account about the war in Iraq from a unique perspective. I served in the military as a linguist and much of her experience as a woman in the army was familiar to me, and it is sad to see how litle has changed in the last 10 years.

Young, brash, and plain-speaking Arabic translator takes the reader inside the good the bad and the ugly of both the U.S. Army and the War in Iraq, circa early 2000s. Her observations of American behavior and its effects on the locals makes a good case for peace and against bad management, even as she declares her love of her military life. An excellent book for readers who never thought they'd like a book about the military.

As a woman it happens quite often that you will get downrated by your male coworkers. Why? Not quite sure. Maybe they think you can't handle it for being a woman; you aren't strong enough or not tough enough? It will always a be a big riddle to the female population, why men think this way. But for some reason, we are used it and we still walk our path the way we want it. Getting around the big stones or jump the hurdles. But we do it. They try to talk us down, over and over again. A female reaction in a men's world, especially for Kayla Williams in the U.S. Army, she tries even harder; twice harder.
Her book about her time in the military and a year downrange in Iraq, is good book for those who wanna get a closer look to a female show more soldier life. show less

I picked up this book because it was on sale and I happen to have a thing for memoirs and figured "why not, could be interesting!" This is the first memoir I've read from someone in the military, and I did find it interesting. The writer does not try and hide her flaws and I appreciated that in her writing.

I'm not sure what to think of this. It was interesting to get a first hand account of experiences in Iraq. I don't however think she made any real insight as to what it means to be a woman in the Army during war. ( Maybe this is just my male bias though ).

Een getuigenis van een vrouw in een mannenwereld. Mooi zijn haar woorden op het einde van het boek : "Als de oorlog gebaseerd was op leugens ontneemt dat mij een deel van het gevoel dat we daar iets zinvols gedaan hebben. Het degradeert een deel van het nut van onze inspanningen." Zij voegt er wel aan toe dat een deel van de bevolking door deze bevrijding van de voormalige dictator nu wel kans ziet op onderwijs voor de kinderen.