In the line of fire

[Breogan]

In the line of fire


While officially barred from ground combat, female soldiers in the Middle East now serve perilously close to the action

Catherine Philp

High up in the camouflage-draped watchtower, Gunner Georgina Bell sits motionless, her eye steady over the sights of her machine gun, pointing straight down the road leading up to the British air base outside Basra. For hours at a time, she keeps guard in the sand-scorching heat, watching for the giveaway signs of an explosives-packed car – the lone driver, the nervous sweating – that would force her to a snap decision. “If I genuinely thought it was a suicide bomber, a warning shot’s not going to do any good,” Bell, 24, explains. “You try to take out the individual first.” In other words, kill him before he kills you.


Across on the other side of the sprawling base, as the evening sun sinks in the sky, Lieutenant Lucy Butler, 25, is readying her troops for the night’s mission. Two hours from now, she will set out to lead a snaking convoy of supplies through the bomb-rigged streets of Basra to the British battle group based at Saddam’s old palace. The convoy is the only road traffic that runs between the two bases, and each time it goes out, it is attacked. On its last run, a week earlier, three young infantry soldiers guarding it were killed by a home-made bomb planted in the road. They were combat troops; Butler, technically, is not. “It’s all semantics, really,” Major David Poole, Butler’s commanding officer, says as he watches the troops buzz around preparing for departure. “Lucy will be mortared, blown up and shot at tonight. That’s enough combat for most people.” ...

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In the line of fire - Times Online