Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting Brooklynite Luis Carlos Montalvan, a veteran of the Iraq War who came with Philip Napoli to see our exhibit In Our Own Words: Portraits of Brooklyn Vietnam Veterans. Mr. Montalvan’s assistance dog Tuesday was a wonderful visitor to the museum!
Here Luis Carlos Montalvan and Aaron Glantz, author of The War Comes Home: Washington’s Battle Against America’s Veterans speak with Laura Flanders:
I’m very much looking forward to reading this new book from the Palgrave Studies in Oral History series:
Last night, on Channel Thirteen, I saw a documentary called Lioness about women Iraq war veterans. I was totally turned off by the title until I learned that “Lioness” is actually the Army term they use in Iraq and Afghanistan when they need units of women for particular tasks like body searching Muslim women, for example.
The main point of the film is that in the current wars, military women are serving in combat situations even though Congressional law prohibits women from combat – which means that women are serving in combat but not being trained for combat duty, nor are they being appropriately recognized for their combat experience.
I’m not sure when Lioness will air again in New York but the DVD is for sale for $20 (less than 2 tickets to a movie in the theater).
We’re currently planning a panel discussion here in conjunction with the In Our Own Words exhibit called Women Veterans: Citizen-Soldiers in Changing Times. Women who served in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan will talk about their experiences: Thursday, March 5, 2009, 6:30pm.
Let us know if you know women who served who would be interested in joining the panel.
