Female patrol finds new ‘sisters’ - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Female patrol finds new ‘sisters’

Marines often speak of brotherhood, but in a remote Afghan village a sisterhood has been born.

Commanders in Afghanistan recently sent out their first all-female patrol to interact with Afghan women, opening a door otherwise closed to Marines operating in that country.

“The women in this region of the world have, what is often called, a secret society,” Cpl. Jennifer Mohler, a combat engineer assigned to Combat Logistics Battalion 3, said in an e-mail. “We can learn so much about what is going on outside of our own forward operating base’s walls, and understanding these things can keep us a few steps ahead of the enemy.”

Mohler is part of the seven-member team that traveled to a publicly unidentified village in southern Afghanistan. They wore brightly colored head scarves with their cammies, but their initial presence terrified those they intended to meet. Many of the women were huddled together and crying when the Marines arrived, Mohler said. Children clung to their mothers and older siblings.

“Once they realized we were women and understood that we had good intentions, they quickly warmed to us and their curiosity overcame their reserve,” said 2nd Lt. Johannah Shaffer, the team’s officer in charge.

“We were able to gather information on how they live, their family relationships, how men, women and children within the same village interact, and the environment in which they live,” she said.

In Iraq, where a program known as “Lioness” has been running strong for about five years, the military has found tremendous value in sending female troops to interact with local women. Male troops there made Iraqi women uneasy during home searches because Muslim culture dictates that men are not to touch women they don’t know.

Insurgents exploit this, hiding weapons and other illicit materials under women’s dresses. The Army first put female soldiers with infantry units taking part in raids, conducting security patrols and manning vehicle checkpoints.

Sensitivity training

Today, predeployment training for Marines incorporates methods for properly interacting with Muslim women. During a recent exercise at the mock Iraqi village aboard Camp Pendleton, Calif., a platoon of male reservists with 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marines, was told by a contracted female role player that if they do not have female Marines to help them search Iraqi women they need to first apologize to the head of the household, usually the father, older brother or uncle. And always conduct the search in another room with a male relative watching, she said.

Iraqi and Afghan women are similar in some ways, Mohler said. While stationed near the Syrian border during a deployment to Iraq, Mohler helped the men search vehicles.

“Just like the Afghan women,” she said, “they would only talk to other females and would share whatever they had, even if it was very little, such as bread or tea.”

Still, some things were much different in Iraq, she said. There, female teams would be out a month at a time, searching Iraqi women traveling “in key parts of the area of operations.”

No Lioness program has been established in Afghanistan, Shaffer said. Her team, formed Feb. 3, has traveled to only the one village. But that one meeting had a positive result, the Marines said.

“After spending a few hours with the women, they were eager to eat and, most of all, they were proud to serve us their tea,” Mohler said. “… When they call you ‘sister,’ they have truly welcomed you into their trust.”

San Diego Bureau Chief Gidget Fuentes contributed to this report.