Customer Reviews

Women At Risk: We Also Served

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Women At Risk: We Also Served by Vietnam Era military veteran Noonie Fortin is an informative and inspiring presentation of women who served and helped protect America from before World War II down to the present day. Women in all branches of the military are remembered with tributes, as well as the women who volunteered as civilians. Including clerks, drivers, nurses, USO and ARC volunteers and others, more than sixty women tell their personal stories. A compendium of highly inspirational and patriotic testimonies, Women At Risk is strongly recommended for Women's Studies and Military History supplemental reading lists.

This is THE book to read if you have ever wondered about the women who serve in the United States military! What are they like? Why did they choose their careers? What has their service meant to them? All these questions and so many more are answered in these compelling and evocative stories told by the women who lived them and a writer who got to know them personally and well. Ms. Fortin has the added insights afforded her by her own service to our country, and she has done a remarkable job of helping these ladies from all eras and areas of service tell their important stories. I highly recommend Women at Risk, and if you did not care about these fine women who served and sacrificed, you will after reading this book.

I am so thrilled to personally know the author, and many of the women whose stories are told in this wonderful book, so of course I am biased. But you just absolutely must get this book if you are interested in history, women's issues, or just plain heroines....and that is what each of these women is. Please get it for your daughters if not for yourselves.

Most of us old veterans already know of Noonie Fortin, or at least have heard of her, from her website writings and her best selling book about Martha Raye. I know that is how I discovered her many years ago. Well, there is about to be a whole new generation of veterans and civilians who will discover her writings anew when they read her book, "Women At Risk - We Also Served."

This book captures the historic lives of many wonderful women who served this country in various roles including some in combat zones. Her bios of women, who's service spans a time from WWII through the present time, highlights stories and events that have not been told in this public way before. Her book breaks new ground as it shares personal memories that normally are only communicated between immediate family members. Although the majority of the stories focus on those women in military uniform, it also deals with volunteers who served their country in other ways. Every story is a gem in a treasure chest of pure history.

There is so much love in this book for the women profiled. You can see and feel the care that the author gives to each woman's story. The author does not try to paint all these women as heroes, although many really are in the truest sense of that word, but as real people who made personal sacrifices for their country. Some of these women have also paid a physical and psychological price for their service. This book attempts to recognize their efforts and their many achievements.

This book is well written and lays to rest that old rumor that the author was actually born in a military footlocker! Noonie has a way with her words; making every story feel like you are sitting down with each women in her home to listen to their personal tales in person. The book breaks into many short little chapters that make it a delight to read for people who have small blocks of time - like lunch time or between other life events.

This is a must read book. It is given the MWSA highest rating and recommendation. It is a book that will become a classic on women's history.

2005 Distinguished Honor Award from the MWSA!

Freelance book reviewer Donna Eggett wrote:

Interested in military history? Here's a book to round out your information. With heroes on every page, "Women At Risk" by Noonie Fortin, rolls out an engrossing panorama of brave women who have served their country faithfully, shedding their blood, giving their lives, using their talents, fighting beside and saving their fellows. Covering American history from before WW II to present day, chapter by chapter you meet these brave, resourceful women, including: Jean Hayes, following family tradition as she joined the Coast Guard in WW II; Laura Dunlop, cryptologist during the Korean War; Bernice Whiteside, volunteer Army nurse in Vietnam; Pam Waterston, an Army Heavy Equipment Operator serving in the Persian Gulf, watched, wished, hoped and prayed as she served with her fellow soldiers on ammunition guard duty at the Port of Al Jubayl.

Having given twenty-two years of service, Vietnam Era veteran, First Sergeant Noonie Fortin knows her subject intimately. Fortin interviewed each women personally before including them in this book. Written in simple, potent language, with appealing detail and many photographs, "Women At Risk", provides interesting reading for a wide age spread, middle school through adult. Libraries, schools and individuals will find it a useful reference book. Several practical appendices add to the convenience of this book: bibliography; listing of service organizations; roll call of women looking for military buddies; glossary; an exhaustive index; suggested activities for students.

Women At Risk is astonishing. I've not found any book that gives such a detailed yet wide ranging picture of women in all branches of the United States military as this one does. I came to it with the mind-set of a WW II veteran, a woman who served in the Women's Army Corps attached to the Air Force. I was convinced our way was best-women living in a separate area with female officers, serving in limited jobs such as file clerks, stenographers, dental technicians, librarians, and postal clerks. We could say yes or no to overseas duty, and many of us stayed on the same military post the entire enlistment period. A common complaint was lack of promotions, and few of us had the opportunity to attend a training school. When six of us WACs qualified as airplane engine mechanics, many obstacles had to be overcome before we were allowed to work on the flight line, the first WACs in our service command to do so. We never handled weapons and did not teach males nor command them.

That is not true of the women who came after us, and how tame our lives seem in contrast. As this book shows, these later women were stationed around this country and all over the world as well as aboard ship. They were trained for a variety of jobs vital to our national security, attended many different schools, and attained high ranks. Among other subjects, they taught weaponry to male soldiers. Some of them served in more than one branch of the military. They've won many medals, ribbons, and awards. They've coped with problems we never dreamed of, at least at my airfield: discharges because of suspected lesbianism, rapes, sexual harassment, actual hatred for being a service woman, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Agent Orange.

Though Women At Risk gives a summary of women who served prior to 1945, the emphasis is on women who have served during peace and war after WWII. Those of us who preceded 1945 are credited with being pioneers, of paving the way for the women who served during Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm. But I refuse the accolade. These young women sketched in Women At Risk are a different breed and I applaud them. They took control of their lives, their careers. They earned college degrees by correspondence courses, they studied for advancement in the service by correspondence courses. They served in Reserve units. Though some of them made mistakes, instead of meekly accepting the discharge decreed for them, they took action to correct their mistakes and insisted on being given a second chance. When the military reneged on promises made to them, did these women accept it? No! They either wrote their Commander in Chief, the President of the United States, or lodged a Congressional complaint. In either case, they got the justice due them.

Women At Risk provides a fascinating look at these take-charge women who speak with unusual frankness of their lives in the armed forces. It is a long book, but it is set up so that it can be kept within handy reach for reading when only a short span of time is available. Besides, these stories are so strong they are best-appreciated in small segments. I recommend Women At Risk to anyone who doubts the contributions of women in the military, and to everyone who is interested in women's history.

The book is indexed, and has a helpful glossary. The author, a veteran herself, works tirelessly for the welfare of veterans, but especially "the silent veterans" (women), and Gold Star Mothers...