Free Soldier Girls by Helen Thorpe Page A

the Authorization for Use of Military Force. Barbara Lee, a black woman who represented the Ninth Congressional District in the state of California, had cast the only vote against the bill in either house of Congress. It intrigued Michelle to learn that Lee had grown up in a military family. Michelle tracked down a videotape of Lee’s speech on the floor of Congress and decided that she agreed with the reasons Lee gave for her opposition: Lee said the bill granted an authority that was too sweeping, and cautioned against “an open-ended war with neither an exit strategy nor a focused target.” Lee called the bill “a blank check to the president,” pointing out that it allowed him to attack “anyone . . . anywhere, in any country . . . and without time limit.” Michelle marveled at the fortitude it must have taken for Lee to stand up to all her peers, a black woman in a place dominated by white men. Opposing the war was lonely. On September 20, 2001, Bush delivered a historic speech to a joint session of Congress, and the soldiers at Aberdeen crowded into the common room; they applauded when Bush called for a “war on terror.” Michelle could feel in a tangible way how solitary she was in being troubled by that phrase. She lionized Barbara Lee in secret.
    One day led into another, and no additional attacks occurred. The officers kept some of the ramped-up security measures (people still had to sign in and out of buildings) but revoked others (Michelle did get to change into her civilian clothes and leave the post on a pass). Alfred Turner returned at the end of September—he surprised Michelle by showing up in time to celebrate her nineteenth birthday, which fell on acool, drizzly Thursday. Alfred took her away for a romantic weekend in Baltimore, Maryland, an hour’s drive to the south. They stayed in a bed and breakfast, a rambling Victorian with odd, pleasing nooks. Michelle confessed how grim she found the possibility of war. Alfred responded by saying they should get married, they should have children. Michelle seriously entertained the idea of saying yes, but nineteen seemed too young. College. She wanted to go to college.
    After Alfred left for Germany, Michelle struggled to make sense of the news. Bush’s top advisers were split over how to respond to the attacks: One faction supported the idea of going after Al-Qaeda by attacking their strongholds in Afghanistan, but another faction was lobbying for the invasion of Iraq as well. Nobody held Saddam Hussein responsible for the recent attacks, yet the hawkish faction thought the American public would rally around the idea of ridding the country of one of its archenemies. What preoccupied Michelle was the idea of war itself, rather than the question of where it might be waged. On October 7, Bush authorized air strikes in Afghanistan; he said the bombs were falling on the terrorist camps of Al-Qaeda. Great Britain allied itself with the United States and joined in the attacks. Another spate of rumors flooded the base at Aberdeen. One soldier told Michelle that a woman from Pennsylvania who had recently graduated from their job training program had just been deployed, even though she had joined the National Guard. Was it true? Nobody could say.
    Strangely, the weather remained glorious. In the mornings and the evenings Michelle’s face pinked in the cold air, but the afternoons stayed bright and temperate, out of step with the tidings. Finally it grew so cold that Michelle realized she needed sweaters, and she asked her mother to put some in the mail. A box arrived, and even before she cut through the tape, Michelle could smell the stale cigarette smoke. Her mother flew through a pack a day, and they had always lived in close quarters. Michelle had never noticed before how her clothes held on to the stench. She had been away from home for six months.
    New suitors dogged Michelle. She was young and naive