The United States has had a tradition of keeping women out of direct combat roles.  The debate over this stance has been long and heated.  Statistics change over time, but women have served in combat from biblical time to the present.  The proportion of female military personnel varies internationally, with approximately 3% in India, 10% in the UK, 15% in France, 13% in Sweden, 17% in the US, 15.3% in Canada, and 27% in South Africa. In addition to requiring women to enlist, the Israel Defense Forces boasts high participation of women in command roles. Thirty-four percent of those serving in the IDF are women, including 23% of all officers. Ninety-two percent of the IDF's jobs are open to women.

Women serve in the US Military in a variety of roles. In every instance they have proven themselves and their dedication to the country and to other service members is remarkable. The story of Monica Lin Brown spotlights the dedication, courage and resolve.

Early On in the Texas Sun

From humble beginnings in Texas, no one would have predicted the courage of Monica Lin Brown in the face of explosions and terrorism.  She was born on May 24, 1988, in Lake Jackson, Texas.  Lake Jackson is a city in Brazoria County, Texas, United States, within the Greater Houston metropolitan area. It is the proverbial small town with a population of around 28,000.

It is a gritty, blue-collar area. In 1942, a portion of Lake Jackson was first developed as a company town for workers of the Dow Chemical Company while it developed 5,000 acres. The planned community was designed by Alden B. Dow of Midland, Michigan, for workers in support of a new plant of the Dow Chemical Company, which his father owned. The City of Lake Jackson was incorporated on March 14, 1944, and voted for home rule ten years later in 1954. This was not a glamorous area, and wanting to escape it was a natural sentiment for a young girl with visions of a better life.

She was three when her parents divorced. Her brother Justin was a year older. Her mother worked night shifts as a nurse in hospitals in the Houston, Texas area. After her mother was seriously injured in a car accident, her grandma moved in to raise the kids. Brown attended nine schools in eleven years.  Not ideal, but she played tennis, volleyball, softball, was a cheerleader, and ran cross country. Running was her passion. She said, “Running is like meditation for me, I can just think, without anyone talking to me.”

Brother Justin knew early on that he wanted to go into the military. Monica graduated from high school a year early, when she was 17. After graduating from high school, Monica and Justin moved to Lake Jackson, Texas, to be near their father’s mother.  Monica had become interested in radiology through an aunt who was an X-ray technician.

Accompanying her brother to the Army Recruiter’s office in November 2005, she found that she could obtain healthcare training in the Army. The available school was for a Healthcare Specialist or Combat Medic.

You are in the Army Now!

Monica Lin Brown went through basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, then transferred to Fort Sam Houston, Texas (San Antonio), for AIT (Advanced Individual Training), the 16-week 68W course. The first eight weeks was to pass the National EMT certification test.  The second eight weeks is Army combat medic training.

It was there that Monica met a drill sergeant whose impact would help define who she would become in the Army. Brown said, “She was high-speed and airborne-qualified. Her independence and strong personality set her apart. I wanted to be high-speed like that. She was from the 82nd and had that maroon beret and the Airborne patch. I knew I wanted to be like her.”

After AIT and Airborne School, she was assigned to the Forward Support Company which was attached to the 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry, 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division.

Less than two years after joining the Army, her unit started preparing for deployment to Afghanistan. On February 7, 2007, she arrived at Forward Operating Base Salerno. At that time, all medical facilities were in tents. At first, she didn't leave the base. She said, "The first actual patient I worked on was an Afghani man with a gunshot in his leg. My reaction was 'My gosh, this is a real person and these are real injuries, this isn't training anymore.' That's when the switch flipped, and I think everything changed over from training to me really liking my job."

About a month into the tour, a small outpost requested a female medic. Any treatment of an Afghanistan woman had the be done by another woman. Brown got the assignment. The outpost was little more than a cluster of tents and no running water. Brown's aid station was an 8-by-5 foot area barely big enough for a stretcher. "I loved it," she said. She also went on some resupply and humanitarian missions.

Charlie Troop was running combat patrols and in April 2007 its medic went on leave. At that time women weren’t supposed to be assigned with front line units, but then PFC (Private First Class) Brown was the only available medic. Charlie Troop received orders to go on a Search and Capture mission. They would be out for five nights. The patrol consisted of four up-armored Humvees and one Afghan National Army (ANA) pickup truck.

Having spent the night just outside the small village of Jani Khel, Charlie Troop was informed on Wednesday morning, April 25, 2007 that two Taliban activists lived in the village. They spent the day searching the village and found nothing, the bad guys had gone. At dusk they started moving out of the village.

PFC Brown was riding in the Humvee with the Platoon Staff Sergeant (SSG) Jose Santos. She didn’t hear the explosion, but the .50 cal gunner on her Humvee yelled down “Two one’s hit. I see smoke and a tire rolling through the field.”  The trail Humvee, with five soldiers inside, had rolled over a pressure plate IED (Improvised Explosive Device) causing a fireball as its fuel tank and fuel cans ignited.

PFC Brown immediately  grabbed her medical  bag and her weapon and opened the door. The .50 cal gunner yelled down “Shut the door”, as incoming machine gun fire started pinging the Humvee. They were caught in an ambush. As the .50 cal gunner turned around and started putting suppressive fire at the enemy, SSG Santos yelled “Let’s go Doc”. With SSG Santos a couple steps ahead, they ran through the heavy silt of the riverbed about 300 meters through machine gun and rifle fire to the burning vehicle.

Four of the injured had crawled or been thrown from the vehicle, the fifth, Specialist Larry Spray was caught inside by his boot and was on fire. Sergeant Zachary Tellier managed to pull him out. All five of the soldiers were stumbling, burned and cut. Specialists Stanson Smith and Larry Spray were critical. Spray had severe burns and Smith was in shock from a severe laceration on his forehead blinding him. Brown and one of the less injured grabbed Smith by his body armor and dragged him into a ditch about 15 yards away.

The other vehicles were turning around to form a crescent formation and began to return fire. As soon as they got to the ditch, the enemy started dropping mortar rounds around them. Brown threw her body over Smith, shielding him and yelled to another soldier to “cover up” the other casualty, as more than a dozen rounds landed around them.

Then the ammunition inside the burning Humvee started exploding, 60mm mortars, 40mm grenade rounds and rifle ammunition. Again, Brown lay over the wounded. Lieutenant Robbins, the Platoon Leader, moved his Humvee near the injured and was incredulous that Brown had survived. He said, “I was surprised she didn’t get killed and she’d been there for 10 to 15 minutes or longer. There was small arms fire coming in from two different machine-gun positions, mortars falling, a burning Humvee with 16 mortar rounds in it, chunks of aluminum the size of softballs flying all around. It was about as hairy as it gets.” SSG Santos drove the ANA pickup over to get the wounded, he would later recall that bullets were flying within inches of Brown, but she was focused on the casualties.

Brown’s calm demeanor under fire was noted by Lt Robbins, “She was focused on the patients the whole time. She did her job perfectly.” Brown and SSG Santos hoisted Smith onto the truck, while Spray crouched behind the back window and Brown dived onto a bench in the back. There, she put pressure on Smith’s head, which was bleeding heavily, and also held the hand of Spray, who was charred and shaking.

Moving out of the ambush and across a riverbed, Brown set up her Casualty Collection Point.  Smith was bleeding heavily and slipping in and out of consciousness, Spray had extensive burns on his legs, chest and back. Brown bandaged Smith, started IVs on both, and covered Spray’s burns with gauze and put him in a hypothermia bag. She soon had them stabilized and prepped for medevac, but it was another 45 minutes before the helicopters arrived.

Eighteen year old Monica Brown recalled; “When the medevac bird was taking off and everything was quiet, my ears were still ringing. I couldn’t hear anything. I was walking through the field back to the Humvees, through shin-high green grass, blowing because the bird was taking off. I remember thinking, ‘Did that just really happen? Did I do everything right?’ When I got back to the trucks the guys were all hugging me and thanking me.”

Staff Sergeant Aaron Best, who was Lieutenant Robbins .50 cal gunner that day, said; “I’ve seen a lot of grown men who didn’t have the courage and weren’t able to handle themselves under fire like she did. She never missed a beat.”

Two days later she was abruptly pulled from the field. She had attracted too much attention. It was that “women in combat” publicity concern.  That concern was not enough for her heroics under fire to be ignored.

The Silver Star

On March 21, 2008, the Army flew Monica’s brother Justin to Bagram Air base to stand beside her as Vice President Dick Cheney presented nineteen year old, five foot two, 120 pound, Combat Medic, Army Specialist Monica Lin Brown the Silver Star, making her the second and last female to be awarded the Nation’s third highest award for valor in combat, since World War II.

The Silver Star Citation reads:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918 (amended by an act of July 25, 1963), takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Specialist [the Private First Class] Monica Lin Brown, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism while serving with as a Combat Medic with the 4th Squadron, 73d Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82d Airborne Division, in action on 25 April 2007, during an enemy ambush in Jani Khel, Afghanistan, in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. Specialist Brown displayed great courage in treating two wounded Soldiers while under intense small arms and mortar fire. Specialist Brown’s heroic actions are in keeping with the finest traditions of military service, reflecting great credit upon herself, the 82d Airborne Division, and the United States Army.

The Citation’s narrative reads:

Private First Class Monica Lin Brown, United States Army, distinguished herself by extraordinary heroism in action on 25 April 2007. On that date, 2d Platoon, Charlie Troop, 4th Squadron, 73d Cavalry Regiment, was on a combat patrol moving to Jani Khel, Afghanistan, for a leader engagement with the village elders. The element consisted of five vehicles: four M1151 Up Armored HMMWV’s (UAH) and one Afghan National Army (ANA) Ford Ranger. They were in a column formation moving north along Route VIPER. In the vicinity of 42S VA263021 the trail vehicle, C23, struck a pressure plate IED on the driver’s side rear tire, which ignited the fuel tank and fuel cans mounted on the rear of the vehicle. The explosion of the fuel tank and cans engulfed the vehicle in an intense fireball. This initiated a planned ambush which commenced after the explosion. The patrol began to take small arms fire from the direction of a kholat to the east, approximately 100 meters away. The small arms fire was impacting around the lead vehicle which was 300 meters north of the IED site. The small arms fire began to concentrate on the IED site as the Platoon Medic, Private First Class Brown, moved on foot to evaluate the casualties. She was exposed to the small arms fire until the maneuver element could swing around and begin suppressing the enemy as she treated the wounded Soldiers. After making an initial assessment and treating in order of severity, she moved the casualties with the aid and direction of the Platoon Sergeant, into the wadi the engulfed vehicle was hanging over. The enemy fighters then engaged the patrol with mortar fire. Private First Class Brown threw her own body over the casualties to shield them as the mortars were impacting 75 to 100 meters away. Approximately 15 mortars impacted within close range of the casualties as Private First Class Brown continued treatment. Private First Class Brown continued treatment in the wadi approximately 15 meters from the burning vehicle, at which time the onboard 60-mm. mortar, 5.56-mm. ammunition, and 40-mm. grenade rounds on board began to explode. Again, disregarding her own safety, Private First Class Brown shielded the casualties with her own body as large chunks of shrapnel and 5.56-mm. rounds began flying through the air from the burning vehicle. The patrol leader arrived on site and found it incredible she was still alive and treating the casualties amidst the extremely dangerous conditions she was operating under. Given the hazards to Private First Class Brown, the platoon sergeant used the ANA Ranger to move the wounded Soldiers and Private First Class Brown to a more protected position. As the truck began driving down the wadi, a large 60-mm. mortar explosion occurred sending shrapnel flying all around where Private First Class Brown had been treating casualties. The platoon leader was dragged by the ANA truck with the casualties as the explosions became incredibly intense and the platoon sergeant moved Private First Class Brown to a more protected position to continue treatment. Private First Class Brown continued treatment of the two wounded Soldiers at the new site as enemy small arms fire began to impact around the new position. Private First Class Brown continued treatment of the casualties as the platoon returned fire in close vicinity of her. She shielded the wounded from falling brass and enemy fire once again, ensuring the casualties were stabilized and ready for MEDEVAC.

The Silver Star Medal is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. It is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States.

This award made national headlines, such as the Plain Dealer which captioned the article, “Female Teen Soldier Earns Silver Star.”  The focus was on her sex and age, but she felt that she was just an Army medic doing her job. Monica said she never expected to be in a situation like that and credits her training and instructors for her actions that day. She said, “I realized that everything I had done during the attack was just rote memory.”  Brown said, “Somewhere in the mix, we started taking mortar rounds. It became a huge commotion, but all I could let myself think about were my patients.”

“I did not really have time to be scared,” Brown said. “Running back to the vehicle, I was nervous (since) I did not know how badly the guys were injured. That was scary.”

All the major news services did stories on Monica, but unfortunately notoriety sometimes attracts the wrong kind of attention. Brown was the target of scammers and cheats from  Africa.  This small town girl coped by dropping out of the public eye. She was promoted to Sergeant, before she left the Army.

She is still remembered and referenced in speeches as an inspiration.  In the Memorial Day Keynote Address at the Military Women’s Memorial, May 27, 2024 the role of women was acknowledged, and that Brown is a star, albeit silver, in that firmament.

“In every conflict that has faced our nation, women have answered the call to serve: from Cathay Williams, who rode with the famed Buffalo Soldiers, to the thousands of women who served during the World Wars in the Army and Navy Nurse Corps, the Army Signal Corps, and the Women’s Army Corps.  Over 10,000 women served in Vietnam, and some of those women went on to be the early integrators of the all-volunteer force in the 70s, 80s, and 90s – often facing discrimination, harassment, or exclusion from competitive positions and advancement. Their struggles paved the way for the women who served more recently during the fight against terrorism – women who fought with courage and bravery, like Army Sergeants Leigh Ann Hester and Monica Lin Brown who both received the Silver Star for valor in combat.”

Sgt. Ann Hester

It is worth noting Sgt. Hester’s story. It happened two years prior to Brown’s heroics. Sgt. Hester’s story was told by Military Times: “On the morning of March 20, 2005, then-Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester was tasked with assisting a supply convoy moving east of Baghdad, a job that meant scanning and clearing the route of any improvised explosive devices.  It didn’t take long for the lead supply vehicle to bear the brunt of the onslaught, quickly catching fire and trapping the rest of the convoy in the kill zone. Unshaken, Hester directed her team away from the enemy’s concentrated fire and into a flanking position that exposed multiple irrigation ditches and an orchard the enemy was using to stage the attack. With enemy fire peppering the convoy, the 23-year-old sergeant directed her gunner to send MK19 rounds downrange into a ditch containing more than a dozen heavily armed insurgents….Hester then dismounted her vehicle, lobbing rounds from her M203 grenade launcher and tossing two fragmentation grenades into the trench line before storming the area on foot.  Joined by her squad leader, Sgt. Hester quickly cut through two additional trenches, personally killing three enemies to her front in close-quarters combat with her M4. With the irrigation ditches cleared, a cease fire was called. Forty-five minutes of sheer pandemonium had transpired.”

Hester’s Silver Star Citation reads:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918 (amended by an act of July 25, 1963), takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester, United States Army, for exceptionally valorous achievement during combat operations in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, on 20 March 2005, in Iraq. Sergeant Hester’s heroic actions in Iraq contributed to the overwhelming success of the Multi-National Corps-Iraq mission. While serving as the Team Leader for RAVEN 42B in the 617th Military Police Company, 503d Military Police Battalion (Airborne), 18th Military Police Brigade, Sergeant Hester led her soldiers on a counterattack of anti-Iraqi Forces (AIF) who were ambushing a convoy with heavy AK-47 assault rifle fire, PRK machine gun fire, and rocket propelled grenades. Sergeant Hester maneuvered her team through the kill zone into a flanking position where she assaulted a trench line with grenades and M-203 rounds. She then cleared two trenches with her Squad Leader where she engaged and eliminated 3 AIF with her M-4 rifle. Her actions saved the lives of numerous convoy members. Sergeant Hester’s bravery is in keeping with the finest traditions of military heroism and reflects distinct credit upon herself, the 503d Military Police Battalion (Airborne), the 18th Military Police Brigade, and the United States Army.

The narrative accompanying the award :

Sergeant Leigh A. Hester is cited for conspicuous gallantry in action against an armed enemy of the United States while engaged in military operations involving conflict with anti-Iraq forces (AIF) as a team leader for Raven 42B, 617th Military Police Company, 503d Military Police Battalion (Airborne) stationed at Camp Liberty, Iraq on 20 March 2005, in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM.

The team’s mission was to assist Raven 42 in searching the Eastern Convoy Route for improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and provide additional security to sustainment convoys traveling through their area of responsibility. While patrolling Alternate Supply Route (ASR) Detroit, Raven 42B was shadowing a sustainment convoy consisting of 30 third country national (TCN) semi-tractor trailers with a three vehicle squad size escort, call sign Stallion 33, traveling from LSA (logistics support area) Anaconda to CSC (convoy support center) Scania. The weather for this ASR patrol was 75 degrees and sunny with a 10 knot breeze from the southwest.

While traveling on ASR Detroit approximately 50 AIF ambushed the convoy with heavy AK47 fire, RPK heavy machine gun fire, and rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) from the southwest side of the road at 1140 hours. The AIF were utilizing irrigation ditches and an orchard for the well planned complex attack. The AIF had cars combat parked along a road perpendicular to the ASR with all doors and trunks open. The AIF intent was to destroy the convoy, to inflict numerous casualties, and to kidnap several TCN drivers or U.S. Soldiers.

The initial ambush disabled and set on fire the lead TCN vehicle, which effectively blocked the southbound lanes of ASR Detroit, stopping the convoy in the kill zone. The squad leader, Staff Sergeant Timothy Nein, directed the squad to move forward, traveling on the right shoulder and passing through the engagement area between the enemy and the convoy. Sergeant Hester directed her gunner to provide heavy volumes of MK 19 and M240B fires into the field where an overwhelming number of insurgents were executing a well-coordinated ambush on the convoy. Raven 42 elements were outnumbered five to one.

The squad continued to come under heavy machine gun fire and rocket propelled grenade fire when Sergeant Hester stopped her vehicle, the middle vehicle, at a flanking position enfilading the trench line and the orchard field where over a dozen insurgents were engaging the squad and convoy. She then directed her gunner to focus fires in the trench line and the orchard field. Sergeant Hester dismounted and moved to what was thought to be the non-contact side of the vehicle. She ordered her gunner to continue to fire on the orchard field as she and her driver engaged insurgents in the orchard field with small arms.

Sergeant Hester began engaging the insurgents with her M203 in order to suppress the heavy AIF fire. Sergeant Hester followed Staff Sergeant Nein to the right side berm and threw two well placed fragmentation grenades into the trench eliminating the AIF threat.

Sergeant Hester and Staff Sergeant Nein went over the berm into the trench and began clearing the trench with their M4s. Sergeant Hester engaged and eliminated three AIF to her front with her M4. They then made their way to the front trench and cleared that as well. After clearing the front trench cease fire was called and she began securing the ambush site. The final result of the ambush was 27 AIF KIA (killed in action), 6 AIF WIA (wounded in action), and one AIF captured.

Job Titles Do Not Limit Heroism

It matters not whether one has a job as military police or as a combat medic.  The circumstances of hostility will place military women at risk, which they know and accept.  Brown and Hester are worthy of remembrance as examples of women warriors.

In December 2010, it was reported Monica Lin Brown was in the Bachelor of Science Nursing program at University of North Carolina-Pembroke and was in the Army ROTC program. Her dream of a healthcare career was aided by the GI Bill and her service under fire. She lives on as an inspiration to girls and women looking at military service and yet maintains her privacy that should not be forfeited by receiving the Silver Star.