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Pendleton News
Females on the front lines?
Lance Cpl. Paul Robbins Jr.
FALLUJAH, Iraq - No women in the infantry is a hard and fast rule - except when cultural sensitivities dictate that men just shouldn't do certain jobs.
Namely, searching women.
Marines are charged with providing security here while not tweaking public sensibilities. That's why female Marines are mobilized with 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 8. The six members of Female Search Force occupy entry control points throughout the southern sector of the city.
"Female searchers have an important role," said Capt. Sean K. Butler, 36, commanding officer of Weapons Company, "They allow us to search Iraqi women and children as they come through the ECP."
While Iraqi men are searched by the battalion's male Marines, women and children pass through an alternate search area, hidden from the eyes of male Marines and civilians.
"It's out of respect for Iraqi culture," said Butler, from Mount Shasta. "In this society, men and women don't associate as freely as we do in the states."
The female searchers also help search vehicles coming through the ECPs.
Although not their regular job, the female searchers enjoy their role in the city's security and the opportunity to work in support of a Marine infantry battalion.
"It's great to be able to interact more with the infantry Marines," said Lance Cpl. Christina J. Humphrey, 22, a motor transport operator now temporarily assigned to the Female Search Force.
The female searchers have been working with the regimental combat team for more than three months - and have established themselves as valuable assets to the battalion's operations, Butler said.
"They have a keen understanding of what their role is and they go about their job as professionals," he said.
Humphrey, a Seattle Marine, says she's proud of her role and its support of the mission.
"I've always wanted to do something that mattered," said Lance Cpl. Georgia R. Shirley, a 21-year-old motor transport mechanic, currently a member of the Female Search Force, "and now I'm able to do that here in Fallujah."
Cpl. Catrina Lansberry, 31, a member of the female search force attached to Regimental Combat Team 8, looks through the handbags of Iraqi women at an entry control point in Fallujah. Female searchers handle all women and children coming through an ECP, dealing with the cultural sensitivities of the Iraqi people. Photo by Lance Cpl. Paul Robbins Jr.