Preface: I have been writing this and sending this since the second week of December and finally got to a place where I can see some of my photo’s and send it all on a good computer network. Sorry for the delay. I hope you all had a great Christmas! – Katherine 

Friday, December 9, 2011

I can’t believe its December already. I’ve tried not to pay attention to time and just focus on my job as ‘one of the guys’ with ‘Task Force Arctic Wolves’ out here in the Panjawi outer reaches of Kandahar Province. It worked. The Afghanistan Class of 2011 is getting closer to going home and I’m finally looking at dates on a calendar.

Anyway, as a woman in a combat Infantry Division’s AO it’s hard to know how other female soldiers react or how they are treated by the men so I can only talk about my small view of things and my snapshots of day-to-day life on an outpost in Panjwai or on a FOB in Shah Wali Kot and of course, on missions ‘outside the wire.

I have to be honest, unless you get into the latrine and shower set ups it’s not something on the front burner for me and I think you’d get a lot of different perspectives depending on the woman and where she is at in Afghanistan. I’ve found if a female soldier is professional and presents herself to be a Soldier First and everything else second, she will get treated like a soldier no matter the unit.

Of course there are times you’ve got to stand your ground, but for me as an Army-Brat, a Veteran of Operation Desert Storm, married to a former Infantry Officer I’ve learned since childhood that ‘This Man’s Army’ as they used to call it has really became an ‘All-American Army’ of some pretty tough patriotic men and women from all across our country.

Someone asked me about ‘living under these conditions’ and I have to say that other than going to the bathroom women are living in the same conditions as the men. We all like to have our creature comforts like a clean indoor bathroom and a nice bed to sleep in, but we make do with what we have and if its sleeping on the ground in a Grape Hut on patrol near some Afghan Village, sleeping in a bunker-made into cubby hole rooms with cots, or if it’s in a concrete building at a government district center we appreciate it all the more.

You could say ‘conditions’ are no worse than being on a real long camping trip in Yellowstone National Park or someplace in Alaska  – except here the bears are shooting at you!

Seriously though, the living conditions have not been bad, but this is a war zone and I think people forget that. Some places over here have better living conditions than others, but all of us are soldiers and most don’t really see things from a woman vs. man perspective.

Fact is when an RPG is flying towards your convoy, or you are on the receiving end of TIC sporadic small arms fire or an 82mm recoilless Taliban ‘Bottle Rocket’ is trying to make your day – being a male or female American soldier doesn’t matter a great deal and you do your job.

Anyway, what a day this has been! I got a Christmas box from the ‘Blue Star Mothers’ Coastal Carolina! I was so happy to share it with the guys, especially all the candy. It was a perfect time to ship chocolate since it is now about 50 degrees which may not seem cold to some, but going from extreme hot upper 80s-90s to 50 in a short few weeks means B-R-R Cold!

Thanks to everyone back home – you guys are the greatest!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Katherine

 

About Katherine:

Katherine Jenerette is Captain in the US Army Reserve and a paratrooper from North Myrtle Beach, SC. She is serving with the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division ‘Task Force Arctic Wolves’ in the Horn of Panjwa’i in one of the most volatile districts in Kandahar Province (and Afghanistan). She is a former U.S. Congressional Field Representative for South Carolina’s First District and a North Myrtle Beach Planning Commissioner.

 

Photos attached: US Army Capt
Katherine Jenerette

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Filed under: Featured, Inside The KC, Uncategorized by Sonja Eddings Brown, Dec 28, 2011