ROCKLAND – The civilian car was like hundreds Sgt. Annette “Annie” Marcotte had encountered on the streets of Moghol Kheyl, Afghanistan – an old piece of junk.

As the Maine Army National Guard soldier’s convoy of three Humvees approached the vehicle, the car’s driver followed protocol and moved to the side of the road, allowing the U.S. troops to pass.

From the gunner’s turret of her lead Humvee, the 5-foot-3-inch Marcotte noticed no signs of danger.

Then came the explosion.

When the third Humvee had passed the small, blue Toyota hatchback, the driver backed it into the Humvee, detonating a bomb.

For the next two weeks, Marcotte visited three comrades in the hospital. They were badly burned and had shrapnel embedded in their faces and arms.

“I missed a vehicle,” Marcotte, now 21, said as she reflected on the June 2006 incident. “I missed a vehicle, and I have to live with that, with the guilt.”

Marcotte of Rockland is one of about 250 women who serve in the Maine Army National Guard and is among approximately 165 female soldiers who have deployed overseas, according to Maj. Gen. Bill Libby, adjutant general of the state’s National Guard. Women have gradually assumed a more prominent role in the male-dominated U.S. military and more than 200,000 women now serve in the active-duty U.S. armed forces.

Forty years ago, in the Vietnam era, women were restricted to medical units and hospital facilities. Today 90 percent of military career fields are open to women, including combat support.

While women are legally barred from “combat” roles, which include infantry units and special forces, service members and politicians alike say females see battle – every day.

Warning shots

One week after her fellow soldiers were wounded, Marcotte was back in her turret.

Again the lead gunner in a convoy, the sergeant said she had to get back to work, despite her legs shaking for the entire mission.

“When the gunner who was in the middle [Humvee the day of the incident] found out I was going out, he said, ‘I should go too. I can’t have a girl show me up,'” Marcotte said.

Linda Underwood, Marcotte’s mother, said her daughter always pushed boundaries growing up. Whether trying to beat a record time in track or earning a few more minutes before curfew, Annie was constantly testing her limits, Underwood said.

Three months after arriving in Afghanistan, after the attack on her convoy, Marcotte finally told her mother about her role as a gunner.

“I’m the mom that feared for her safety and wants to protect her, and the mom who is so proud of her, but wants to keep her that little girl,” Underwood said, blotting away tears. “She hasn’t told me everything that went on over there, but I know it has changed her. We are sending really young people over there who are growing up way too fast.”

On her first mission back on the road, Marcotte’s convoy encountered a motorcycle whose driver refused to pull over and allow the Humvees to pass. The soldiers, already on edge, grew anxious as the rider approached. Marcotte followed protocol – show the gun, shout, then shoot. The driver halted after Marcotte fired warning shots directly in front of the motorcycle.

The gunshots sent many of her fellow soldiers into shock, while others readied their weapons to return what they mistook for incoming fire.

“The gunner in the other vehicle ended up puking,” Marcotte said. “A lot of the others went into shock and were hooked up to IVs once we got them back to base.”

Marcotte received an Army Combat Action Badge for her actions that day.

Women in combat

If females are banned from combat positions in the U.S. military, then why have 106 women lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan and another 578 returned home wounded?

“There are no clear front lines anymore,” said Sen. Olympia Snowe in an interview last week. “The distinctions that we are engaged in today preclude [women] from serving in combat efforts, but they can be attacked in convoys, IEDs, they can come under fire, serve as military police, drive Humvees and fly military helicopters and planes.”

While Libby said he supports restricting women from units where the primary goal is to seek out and kill the enemy, the adjutant general admits that all of his soldiers are in combat when boots hit the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. Terms like “front line” are outdated given today’s warfare because the enemy is everywhere, Libby said.

Underwood agrees.

“If you live in a situation every day where someone is shooting at you or bombing, then you’re on the front lines,” Underwood said.

Five years after the initial occupation of Iraq, U.S. troops remain in the Middle East, many having served two and three tours in the hostile territories. Despite a 4 percent decline in female recruiting in all military branches from 2000 to 2006, which an Army spokesman chalked up to “the war effect,” Sen. Susan Collins said the increased strain on men has created opportunities for women.

“We simply don’t have a sufficient number of troops,” Collins said in an interview last week. “Our Army and Marine Corps are too small, and an ironic consequence of that – perhaps unexpected – has been more roles are open to women than what probably would be the case if we were in peacetime.”

‘Just Annie’

Marcotte was never satisfied with just defeating the girls.

She would train with the boys during high school track. She held herself to male training standards in boot camp. But in the Guard, her male comrades dismissed her top physical condition as nothing special.

“They say ‘It’s just Annie, she’s one of the boys,'” Marcotte said with a laugh.

Several male soldiers who were interviewed said women should adhere to the same physical fitness standards as men.

The Guard’s physical fitness testing is prorated for age and gender. To achieve top points for the 1 1/2-mile run, a woman in the Maine Air National Guard ages 30 to 34 must clock in under 11 minutes, 55 seconds, while her male counterpart must finish in less than 9 minutes, 48 seconds. Men in the age bracket must complete 52 or more push-ups in a minute, whereas a female need finish only 40.

Aside from “good-natured grousing,” Libby said he has never heard male soldiers take issue with the test scoring standards.

In 1998, the British armed forces required male and female recruits to undergo the same physical training, according to the British Broadcasting Network. The BBC reported that women were twice as likely to suffer injuries.

“In order to get respect from some of the guys, you have to put up competition,” Marcotte said.

Another serious complaint among female troops is the difficulty of losing weight after pregnancy. While it’s acceptable for males to have children, many female soldiers feel they must postpone parenting until after their service time is complete, said Army Spc. Logan Fredette, 29, of Standish. Many career-oriented female soldiers fear they are disappointing their superiors if they become pregnant.

“You’re an asset to the Army, but if you become pregnant, you’re no longer as valuable,” Fredette said.

Libby said a woman’s decision to postpone a family until after enlistment is entirely self-imposed. While a female soldier is not available to the Guard during pregnancy, a man recovering from a serious injury could be out for the same period of time, and the unit adjusts, Libby said.

Women are allowed 42 days of recovery leave after giving birth before returning to active duty service, according to an Army spokeswoman. New moms also are given four months before being asked to deploy overseas and six months to achieve weight and physical fitness standards, she said.

After three children, Army Spc. Sheila Hendrickson-Day, 31, of Waterville said maintaining an acceptable fitness level is difficult, especially for a single parent.

“My day starts at 6:45 a.m.,” Hendrickson-Day said. “By the time I get my kids to school and I go to school, because I am a full-time student, where is my time to do physical training in between day care, school and struggling to find quality time with my kids?”

Pushing boundaries

When Marcotte was a child, her mother told her she could accomplish anything.

Her daughter chose the military.

The U.S. is not ready for mandated female service, Underwood said. Nor should women enter designated combat roles, especially since she felt her daughter’s comrades were extremely protective of her during her gunner days.

But she hopes more women will follow the example set by her “little girl.”

“Women like you are pushing these boundaries that need to be pushed,” she affectionately told her daughter.

trobbins@bangordailynews.net

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