american students attended because the school board really did provide all of the same materials that the white schools offered. and what is even more interesting for most people when they visit is they find out that after graduating from elementary school, african-american students attended integrated middle and high schools while they certainly were no supporters of segregation and obviously saw injustice of having to attend separate elementary schools, the african-american community also was very proud of their schools because these were excellent facilities, so while there was support for the idea of integration, there was resistance, especially from the teachers and the local chapter of the naacp who feared the loss of the institutions and the loss of those jobs. watch all events from topeka saturday at noon eastern on c-span2 book tv and sunday at 10:00 on c-span3.

president obama spoke griefly about the gray case today after maryland officials announced chargers against the baltimore police officers involved with his arrest. following the president's comments, we'll show you what former florida governor and potential presidential candidate jeb bush had to say about the situation in baltimore. as well as broader issues surrounding the city's protests and riots. >> it is absolutely vital that the troourt come out on what happened. to mr. gray and it is my practice not to comment on the legal processes involved, that would not be appropriate. but i can tell you that justice needs to be served. all evidence needs to be

presented. those individuals who are charged are obviously also entitled to due process and rule of law, and soings you know, i want to make sure that our legal system runs the way it should, and the justice department and our new attorney general is in communications with baltimore officials to make sure that any assistance we can provide on the investigation is vooied. but what i think the people of baltimore want more than anything else is the truth. that's what people around the country expect. and to the extent it's appropriate this administration will help local officials get to the bottom of what happened.

in the meantime, i'm gratified we've seen the constructive thoughtful protests that have been taking place, peaceful but clear calls for accountability that those have been manage over the last couple days, and in a way that's ultimately positive for baltimore and positive for the country, and i hope that approach to nonviolence protests and community engagement continues, and finally, as i've said for the last year we are going to continue to work with the task force that we put together post ferguson and i'm going to be talking about mayors who are interested in figuring

out ways to rebuild trust between community and police and focus on some of the issues that were raised by the task force right after this meeting and our efforts to provide greater opportunity for people in these communities, all those things will be continuing top priorities for the administration, and we'll probably have more announcements and news about that in the days and weeks to come. first, it's important to reflect on the fact that a young man died a tragedy for the family and this is not just a statistic, but a person who died. secondly, a lot of people lost livelihoods because of this. we have respectful of private property. the begin ingning allowing riots to happen was disturbing. you can't just push over that and go to the grand societal problems. i do think that public safety is the first priority for any city

or any government jurisdiction, and, in this case, a lot of people will suffer because of what happened, and hopefully orders going to be restored. thirdly, i just say i think it sends the wrong signal not to have a baseball game with people in it. i just -- i think we need to recognize that you -- life does not just get parolized when tragedies occur. you can't allow that to happen because it causes more to happen. now that that's out of the way, i think the tendency particularly on the left, is to claim blame -- to create a set of reasons why this happens and the president's view on this started well, by talking about one sentence in his response about the decline of families and urban core america and i think that's absolutely true. there's a lot broader issues to

go along pathologyiespathologies, and i believe conservatives have the better approach. he has approach says conservatives have not offered up enough money to give me to be able to create programs to let people be successful, and what point to we go past 10 trillion a trillion a year. at what point to you conclude that the top-down poverty programs failed? we have to be engaged in the debate as conservatives and say there's a bottom-up approach starting with building capacity so people achieve earned success and having higher expectations and higher accountability and dramatically different kinds of schools, and things that allow those to survive in a difficult time. the difficult thing for those

born in poverty today, if you're born poor today, by the time you reach 18 it's possible you'll never have a job in your entire life. i mean, that's the world we're moving towards. of dramatic disruptive technologies putting the first rung higher and higher and higher. if we don't change we're going to have a tremendously different america of that what created its greatness. we'll have bigger challenges than what we can imagine so having the conversation in the broader sense i think is not appropriate completely today but i hope conservatives don't feel compelled to pull back. we do not need to be defensive, but it's the failed progressive policies we have to address and offer compelling alternatives to. be. >> circling back on the rioting, specifically, and you're not going to run for municipal office, but mayor julianneny

said in the first person that throws a rock is arrested, that's it. do you agree? >> completely agree the broken window policy is proven successful. it's not -- you don't -- you don't have to take it to the extreme of having police brutality, but a certainty of punishment to create order and security. who are the people that get hurt by this? it's the shop owner. it's the person who may lose their job in a business now that can't reopen. it's the nursing home. it's the church. these are people -- this is the community that you know, creates the vibrancy to allow for communities to be successful are always hurt the most in these kinds of events so i think the mayor's record when he was -- mayor of new york, creating strategy for the police department was the right one. to see the full remarks from president obama and former governor bush, log on to our video library any time at

cspan.org. >> road to the white house coverage continues next week and monday, dr. ben carson announces canadadidacy for the republican nomination in detroit. see his remarks live at 10:00 eastern. tuesday, mike huk bee, former governor's campaign kicks off in hope, arkansas live at 11:00. >> remarkable partnerships, iconic women, their stories in "first ladyiesladies," the book. >> she saved the portrait of washington which was one of the things that endeared her to the entire nation. >> whoever could find out where francis was staying, what was she was wearing what she was doing, what she looked like, who she was seeing, that sold papers. >> she takes over a radio station and runs it. i mean, how do you do that?

and she did it. >> she exerted enormous influence because she would move a mountain to make sure her husband was protected. >> first ladies, now a book, published by public affairs looking inside the personal life of every first lady in american history. based on original interviews from c-span's first lady series, and learn about they're lives ambitions, families and unique partnerships with their presidential spouses. first ladies, presidential historians on the lives of 45 iconic american women, filled with lively stories of fascinating women who survived the scrutiny of the white house sometimes at a great personal cost often changing history. c-span's first lady is an entertaining and inspiring read now available as hard cover or e-book, through your favorite bookstore or online book seller. we now return to women in combat event for first hand

accounts of women who engaged in areas where male service member contact may be inappropriate. this part of the day long event runs 50 minutes. >> easier for you if i sit here or go to the podium? that make a difference for anyone? okay. i'll sit here. this, for me is a privilege first of all, privilege to be on stage with all of you. second of all it's a privilege to talk about a book that's out. as you know, you spend wo years with something that's your baby, and it's just you and the laptop, and now it's out in the world with all of you. it's nice to see it again. this, for me has been two years of cross country travel, holiday inn express stays, and conversations with some of the most seasoned military leaders

to talk about what happened in 2010 and 2011 that led to women on the battlefield alongside operations. this, to me, began with a question that led to more questions that after months and months and months finally led to answers, which was i was hosting an event and a marine said it was 2012, and a marine said it's like that lieutenant who died on a night raid in afghanistan last year. i said what? you know, what was a female soldier doing on a night operation in afghanistan who were these people? why were they there? how do we not know about them as a country? those sets of questions led me on a jourpny and what i learned after conversations with folks

like admiral olson and lots of soldiers who executed some of the most difficult missions of the united states military is that in 2010 admiral olson had an idea, and in 2011 there was a poster, and there were people starting -- end of 2010, going into the start of 2011, who answered the call, female soldiers become part of history join special operations, on the battlefield, in afghanistan. and my personal journey with this started in ohio at the home of mr. and mrs. white, lieu lieutenant white's parents. i sat in their room, which had been ashley's in the spring of 2012 -- sorry, 2013 at this point, and i asked them about their daughter. they told me about this mission they had done -- she had done and the kind of person she was and what became very apparent

very quickly was it was not her death that defined her but her life. and that she was one of those rare people who never talked to you about what she could do just let her action speak for themselves, and who was one of those people who was much happier doing her job and then going home to her husband than doing her job and tell you about everything she had just done and in the corner of the room where we sat, i saw a lined piece of paper with all written in black letters, you are my motivation. i thought, if somebody has that left at their grave site more than a year after they've passed, then we should really know who that somebody was. and as it turned out, there was this whole team of women that done this extraordinary thing. they had answered the calml to serve, not once, but twice, and i focus specifically on ashley and her team because ashley's death was the moment that

through this program that was really built for the shadow is much more into the public spotlight, but it was also because of who she was. so the call went out, more than 200 people answered the initial package. this is now march of 2011, and may of 2011 about 55 to 60 of the women are chosen after 100 hours of hell, as it was called at camp macaul and women were chosen trained in june and july, and deployed by august seeing the combat that fewer than 5% of the united states military sees alongside men on their tenth and 11th and 12th deployment, and some of the rangers alongside whom the women that ashley served with were people who had -- if you added up the number of months they had been in battle, you talked about three and four years straight. so you could imagine some of the

skepticism that greeted them when they had to take people out with a different training cycle, a different selection process, and, by the way, they are female. what surprised me about what i learn learned, the finest, the fittest, men alongside who women considered the biggest privilege of their career to go and serve alongside, they actually welcomed the women who were coming maybe not initially, but at the end. as they said, as long as they delivered each night and paid their rent, we wanted them out there, and in fact rangers said to me they should have been on the fourth and fifth and sixth deployment, not the tenth 11th and 12th. so much the conversation is what are the men's reactions, but oftentimes, i surprise people by saying, if they could help them find the things and the syringes that they were seeking, that was the most important because what had led admiral olson and

general mcchrystal and others to put out the call for female soldiers was not a social nicety or a gentder norming, but a battlefield necessity. male soldiers could not access female soldiers they needed to speak with. that was the driving force behind the request for forces that came in. we need women out there because if you cannot talk to half the population, you are missing things that are out there. you are missing people that are out there. that was what led to the call that female soldiers become a part of history. now, there has been what impressed me and struck me the most is no matter what year or class they serve, there is a bond we've never gotten to see among female service members because they were recruited as a team and trained as a team, and deployed as a team, even though they were going out to different bases in ones and twos. they have a spirit of bonding

and sisterhood i've never seen among female service members and honestly as a country we have not had the chance to see and what's funny and incredible and remarkable about them is that if you read the "band of brothers," talking about why he wrote the book was the way the soldiers interacted with one another, and i say the same thing. sit in a room with them, they are divorce counselors, marriage therapists, and career job advisers, and confessors, and biggest boosters imaginable and only they know what they've seen and experienced, and as long as they live, i don't think anybody else will understand their -- what they did what they saw, what they experienced, and how much it meant to them. i got to a point about eight months in, i felt like i could answer every question i was asked. almost because i felt like it was a script. you know, this is the best job i ever had. these were the people who mean the most to me. i would have done this over and over again if somebody had let

me. this was the mission that mattered, and to me this story is not about politics. it's about purpose. it's a hero's story that we have not yet heard as a country and that we really should. it is about people who only wanted to do something that mattered at the center of an incredibly long war doing a mission that had real value to some of the most important people deciding what happened in this war, and people who only wanted to serve alongside the best of the best. this was their chance. you had the finest, fittest most fierce, and feminine women who answered the call to serve. i had to quickly show in the heat of battle they were female. so they would board the bird, go to the house, deal with what the rangers would clear or whatever would happen on the mission

would happen and then women would go up to deal with the women and children they were working with, and they would quickly take off the helmets to show they were women. because otherwise under body armor, kit, and night vision it's hard to know who is male and female. so this, to me, was a story about a team that came to love one another and their mission in the way that we as a country had not seen. who were by and large accepted by people who simply wanted to get off target and complete their mission in the best way possible. and i did feel very strongly that particularly in the case of ashley white, this was somebody who had made a mark that no one paid attention to because upon her death, the lieutenant general head of special

operations army command goes to her small town in ohio and said make no mistake about it, these women are warriors setting a standards for what it means to be a female in the united states army the finest army in the world, and he talks in a very public and moving way about what they had done and why it mattered. and the next day at her funeral the colonel from ranger regimen gets up to give the speech about the man in the arena which many of you know as teddy roosevelt's speech, saying this is written for a man, but it actually could have been for this female soldier. he says, ashley, your ranger brothers are out there continuing the mission. you will not be forgotten. i have to tell you that no one in this book who spoke with me did it because they thought they should do anything that had been -- that should be remembered. they spoke with me because they did not want their teammate forgtsen.

because it was a member of the north carolina national guard which she was. but as mrs. white told me that was not what she died doing. she died on a mission she believed in alongside the best of the best, and we are incredibly, incredibly proud. so all of that was behind the story of how i came to write this book and the last -- the two last things to leave you with on the book, and then i can't wait to talk about panel, which is that this was an incredible team of all stars and not just ashley's team. spend the night with, you know, say you get cst you know, 1 to eight in a room. look around, you won't believe your eyes that there are all these incredibly powerful women we just don't know who are serving in the united states. second of all, and ashley's

team, there was a west point track star, another west appointment every who played high school football all four years and wanted to stop after the first year, but people told her that girls cannot play football, she kept playing, concussions be damned, and she wanted to be in glee club but she didn't want to give anyone the satisfaction of being right and then you had one former intelligence officer who served in bosnia who helped the fbi bust drug gangs in pennsylvania. you had another guard member on her third deployment in the war on terrorism. you had another soldier who had driven trucks in iraq. all of these people wanted to be there. more than they wanted to do any other mission that they had ever done. at the end of the first weekend of interviews done with the white family, i asked mrs. white, what would it mean to you if a little girl told you she wanted to be like ashley?

he paused. he said it would mean everything. and she said there was a woman at the funeral, and now, this funeral, as i was saying entire special operations community attended. it was -- there were hundreds of people, all ages vietnam veterans korean veterans, little children holding hands lining the street all coming to salute lieutenant ashley white, with her husband her rotc sweet heart, pushing her to be the best she could have ever been and this woman came up to mrs. white at the end of two days of ceremony just put red roses on her kascasket, and she came up and said, mrs. white you don't know me, but i brought my daughter here today. and i brought my daughter here

today because i wanted her to know what a hero was. and that's why this story matters. because there are hero stories around us we do not see and do not acknowledge, and this was one way to offer a small flute to people who have served and sacrificed and given so much and who really are the hero story we don't yet know and need to. so thank you so much and i look forward to the conversation. i'd like to go down the line tell us your name what mission you did and what years you were there in afghanistan. start with you. >> okay. is this on? >> yeah. >> all right. i'm annie in cst 3, in the group that took over for ashley ashley's group, and i -- what

was the other question sorry? >> what mission you were doing. >> i was on that mission. >>. >> first class megan malloy i was part of the village stabilities operations mission. >> janice cst 2, ashley's mission, first set of all volunteers to go out and do the cst mission, a few here from there as well, and it's hard to listen to you talk about ashley and i see people getting emotional in the audience, and, like, hold it together. oh, and i did the dso mission. >> and so i would start with you, most recent, and work out here. what attracted you to the mission, and who first told you about it? >> initially, cst 2 was the first time i heard about it,

rein i wanted to go then and my commanders would not let me and would not let me -- >> explain to the audience, you had to get -- a one year mission, you needed sign off from the commander because they would be just down one person, right? >> correct. >> yeah. >> and so eventually my commander was gone for a month, and i got my xo who had his responsibility -- >> that's innovative leadership. [ laughter ] >> so she signed off on it and a couple months later i was at selection. as far as what drove me to do it this was -- three previous deployments in iraq, and i honestly did not realize that there was the gender issues as far as i was the only female out on most of them as a medic, they yanked me from whatever unit and we need medics on the infantry deployment, and one of the other battalions needed medics to search female and we

did not have a vet team or anything like that, and, like, you can keep up, and added bonus, you're a medic, so they pulled me right in and no issues, just i went to work, and i was professional and they were professional. third deployment with fifth engineer battalion i served as a medic with route clearance, officially is a position that's off limits to females, but, again, they needed medics, couldn't leave the wire without them so i got pulled for that, and then shortly after i got back, i heard there was all the combat exclusion and like, exclusion? i had been doing this for a while now, and so i heard stories from friends of mine who did it. one before me told me about it, and she talked about k like the sisterhood and about these wonderful things these girls were doing and opportunities that we would have and it just -- and i just jumped on it as soon as i could. it was an awe opportunity, would

do it again in a heart beat. >> that, i do it again in a heart beat heard 750 times in the past two years, right? because -- and that's the thing that struck me was that not just what you have done, but what everyone missed that mission. there were people willing to tank their careers, right, to just keep doing this mission, and there were some i did not meet because it was like one after the other after the other. this was the thing that meant the most. two things before i ask another question, which is medics and i met a lot of the people, long before there was a cst program there was, hey, we need a female to go out tonight you're coming out with us, right? i met so many people who went on missions and were just really glad to see it institutionalized by the cst program. one medic told the story about her commander said, hey, do you want to go out and get bad guys?

i knew the answer was yes. [ laughter ] so soon she left her base and i think within a week and a half was out alongside rangers right? going on on these missions. and then the second thing i want to pick up on talk about the combat exclusion policy, when secretary panetta announced the lifting of the combat exclusion policy and it was -- it's in the epilogue of the book five months later there's a press conference, citing all of you, i think it was the general who said at the time, these women are the cst young ones in the cst may have laid ground work for ultimate integration, and specifically cited the cultural supports team work. as a writer, i said, oh no everyone's going to discover this story but the truth was no one was paying attention. you know it was direct credit, obviously, there's so many people soldiers on where each

of you stands, and that history is there, and i think that was really important to know that you all were singled out in the history of this and whatever happened. can you just talk about why you wanted to do it? you said that you immediately knew. did you immediately know in. >> it was a longer process for me. my husband was the first one who told me about this and at the time, we were both in the air force, and he was trying to convince me to switch to the army -- [ laughter ] and he was, like, hey, check out this cultural support team thing, it's awesome special operators, switch to the army, though, that was the pitch. i was, like that's ridiculous, like, you know that's not going to happen, whatever, that's crazy, and he actually flew reconnaissance aircraft that provides overwatch for the teams on the ground. i'm telling you, there's women on the teams, i hear them on the

roods. radios. this is actually happening. i said he was full of -- but a year later, i looked into the program, stalked the website, and i read instructions i'm in the air force reservist, this is cia zis, and no kidding, two weeks later, we got an e-mail from the air force special operations command because i was assigned there at the time and it was asking for volunteers for air force women assigned specifically to fsoc and it was a one-time thing lucky that i volunteered for that specific rotation, but it was literally, i got the e-mail on a wednesday, and then on monday i did army pft, the rug march submitted wednesday, and it took off from there. >> how long until you were deployed? >> i want to say i went to assessment and selection a month later and then went through training two months after that and out the door at two months after that. >> right. >> once the ball was rolling, it

happened quickly, but it was a process. i had this weird cognitive disdance going on, it's not combat and objective would be secured before you bring him in. my husband was like, i see the group moving, there's no rear guard that comes up afterwards. you'll be with the group. [ laughter ] i don't think it was until i was running off the helicopter, oh yes, that's what he was talking about. [ laughter ] >> in fact, everybody had that moment, and i -- there's a lot of expletives in the book, but forgive it but you're familiar with that language. one of the gals who is telling me the story the book opens with, and the gal told me about it, walked in after the first combat mission like, this shit is serious not that she didn't know, but how quickly it happens, and you know you're going to be there, and there's

that moment, like, oh, yeah. >> like, during training, you know the way we talk about it, it was always, like, oh, you know, you walk with the platoon leader, separate from the assault elements. you're not going to be with the people in front, and at the time k like, that's disappointing and the platoon leader is there, 20 feet back from the front squad, but for some reason it was like we had bought into the whole combat exclusion thing, so we told ourselves, like it's not actually combat. the objective's going to be secured. it's not going to be a big deal. >> reality was? >> yeah, i mean, there was -- there were bullets flying, not directly at me, but 50 feet, 100 feet away. the funny thing was the jag that briefed a right before we went into theater this was before the combat exclusion was lifted. he goes, oh, you're not assigned to ground combat, you're ten feet back. like, oh. that's good to know. [ laughter ] >> well that -- one of the

things that i worked on answering, where did the name come from? talked about, you know it was cultural that meant that was the reason, request for forces, and support because we did not want people to think that we -- already were getting criticism it was a back door way into front line roles for women, and that's where the name came from, and you saw the missions now, and it's hard to say, well, you're so far back that, you know, i mean, that's not the way that kind of combat happened. what led you to do this mission, and what did it mean to you in

hindsight? >> so i was a student defense institute in monteray studying and my commander comes up to me one morning, saying your scores are fantastic. he said but i have bad news and he told me about my follow-on assignment and i was just devastated because i wanted something exciting. everybody does after that. i was not scheduled to deploy for another year and a half so i would be on base for a while, and i did not want that. the following week, he comes into the classroom hey, we need to talk. i think i'm in trouble. he sits me down and said, so this flier was on my desk kdesk asking women to serve with special forces. i thought he was kidding for the longest time until the message came out, the message, and i started to apply, and during the application process but branch manager denied me and i feel like every commander up above my company commander just turned me

down. i'd like to echo mary beth in this that that one person who mattered, willing to fight for me, so we took it up to the inspector general, and finally, my branch released me to do this mission. i was -- i had just graduated from the language course before going to selection and it was almost like i had a purpose. it was not just being in the military, but i was going to be a pioneer in a program not started yet. i mean, i think actually the first group of girls went through training as we filled out the packets so it's a brand new concept of putting women on teams and training them and being able to go and fight and in the front lines. to me, that was exciting, and then when we finally got out to afghanistan, it was this whirlwind of everything i

thought it would be and everything i thought it wouldn't be. >> tell me what you thought it wouldn't be? >> well, you don't know. there was a lot of gray area. going through training we told our mission was supposed to be maybe this, we might be doing some of this some of that, until you finally get out there, and the team you're working with is like, sit down, let us tell you how it's done. then you're like okay, i'm ready, and then you get all your training, and you start to really go and practice and rehearse with the guys, and i thought, like she said, i thought i would be out to engage with women and children, be with the mission commander kind of standing away from everything but that's not how it ever was. there were times when i was gunner, the last three months of deployment, i was a gunner, and then i would also still go into villages to talk to women and chirp and go into their homes,

and it was interesting to talk to them in their native tongue and really bond with them without the use of interpreters, and see who they really were. >> yeah, and well, that is the best person for the job is the theme that comes up over and over again. there were a lot of people i met who were in the story who were in jobs at one point or another coded for men because their commanders said you're the best person for the job, and so you're in it. you know there were people who served as people in roles really from an hr standpoint reserved for men only, but commanders said it does not make sense. you're the best for it. we'll leave the paperwork. one gal said yeah, i -- i have such bad language on c-span. she said yeah, i looked like a

bag for two years because it looked like i had done nothing when this truth she was doing a job that was only supposed to be filled by men, and i think it's a story, look, i mean, obviously, you can think of it what you will, but there's so much leadership in terms of i know what regulations are but this is a war that we're fighting, and you have to be innovative, and you need the best people so they used the best people they had, and they were trying to give them opportunities, and i really do think it's the stories of leaders trying to be as flexible as they could given the rules like the attached thing, right? i mean, they went to the lawyers and so the lawyers said you can attach them to special operations units, but it's perfectly legal and so that's how that happened. i think that was, you know, we can think of it what it will, but that was the need from a battlefield commander in the field who needed a capability for his forces, and that was what was driving the decision while the combat ban was very

much in place with them out there, and i think that secretary panetta and general dempsey acknowledged the technology long surpassed regulation when it came to these women. one of the things i wanted to ask before we went to questions is just how did this mission change you? everybody's changed by the teammates and the men by alongside whom they served. i have dear friends who i keep in touch with, talking about babies now and grad school and whatever life after but we still keep in touch, and i think the other thing is just -- everything else is just a little easier. you know i'm in grad school now, and if i don't get my paper perfect, no one's you know, going to die of there's not bullets flying, like there's just no --

>> the stress level did -- >> it's a little lower. i live in boston, so we had 100 plus inches of snow, and i wore my afghanistan booting tromping around, like it's not a pit, it's not a big deal, but everything else is just, you know, a little easier in comparison. >> yeah. >> it definitely made me think about things a lot differently so i mean, i definitely did a couple deployments before so it was not anything new, but on those deployments, it was a cut and dry mission. go out, do this, if they shoot, shoot back, if they are hurt k fix them. it was this and that. and going into the direct action side, they had kind of the missions -- the stability operations, and she hit it just right. i mean they told us one thing, and when we did the special

operations pre-mission training and they told us something totally different, and then with we got out to the oda, like, oh yeah, no, no. >> this is the team you work with. >> the teams. when we were there they were, like make yourself more important than the working dog because the working dog has a spot on the team to go out. prove yourself to be more important and more valuele than them because that's the only way you'll get a mission. so from then on, and i was blessed with a very absolutely awesome partner out there and we got together and came up with, like, what can we do for the team? how can we gather this intelligence? how can we, you know, how can we gain, you know that bond with the women and children out there so that they are willing to give us information that will potentially help out the team and you -- that really makes you have to think hard. that is not an easy thing, especially not being a creative person, but between the two of us, we had to work on that, and

that helped me immensely with my career ever since this because i'm definitely looking at things a lot differently and in a leadership way, and then, again, the -- i mean the girl i was deployed with down range is my best friend so we call each other every couple days, and we, you know, we talk together, live together we cried together. i mean, it's -- it's a bond, and even just getting together with the others who i never met before, we all share that bond, and it's leek so easy to just come together, and be like, oh yeah, we've all been there done that, and it's a very small group of people. >> three things to think of and that bond i'm telling you, the first time i was in a room with these women, i really thought i was being pranked because as a story teller, you do not get to meet people who really have a connection that we have never seen in a way that we've never known, and that's been so

important to 14 years of war, right, and so it really is a very tangible thing, that connection to one another, and cst, you know, two can call a cst aide, and they would immediately understand each other. they would be connected to one another, and they would be able to help one another in ways, you know, the members of the teams in different classes would understand one another better than probably anybody else they'll ever work with ever again, and the dogs thing -- so that was actually a very real question, so after ashley died, one of the historians asked her replacement -- this is in the book -- do you want to keep doing this mission? because, you know, after vietnam, the dogs program went away, and we ended up needing to revive it, and she was, you knowlaughed, like oh, we're dogs now, but the

comparison was amountpt, a capability built for a mission. and she said nothing would dishonor her memory more than shutting down this mission. we all want to go back out there and more, right? i'm sure each one of you experienced that and then third thing, life saving what's the information, what's the value you add? i read ranger impact -- not read, but i know of impact awards where they said this person helped us to get this information that we would not have found if this person, this soldier was not there, right? and there were people, there was information, there was -- thrp things very relative to achieving the mission found because of the women there which is why i think you know we're sitting here today why the program continues as long as it did. now, i'm going to ask you that question, and then we'll open it up. how it changed you. >> i think, first and foremost

i'm a lot more confident, and it's not that i was not confident before but now it's just -- it's through the roof. [ laughter ] and i think, too it opened a lot more doors, doors i don't think would have been opened if i did not have the combat experience i have today. for example, a lot of the work i do south america, foreign military commanders invite me into their offices to talk about my combat experience and how to fix his program because of what i've done. had i not been a cst, had i not fought on front lines, i wouldn't stand a chance would not talk to them or have the clout that i do, and i think too, that is the reason why i have the business partners and colleagues that i have because they are willing to put that confidence in me because i was willing to put myself up front and willing to fight and learn, and no matter what it took, and like all the girls, and i speak for all of them, we fought so

hard to get into this program, it took so much energy and effort and mental exhaustion learning something that's completely new to you all the while knowing that you're not getting all of the training that you deserve, but you're going to go out there and put your best foot forward, whatever foot that may be. >> my last thought is that thfgs the most self-selected group of people who chose themselves and who got forwarded the e-mail or handed a flier and told i would never do this but this sounds like it's perfect for you, right? seven and eight and nine time, some of the girls i talked to, i had six people forward to it to me within a 36 hour period because, like, didn't you always want to do something like this? a gal in the book, when she was 19 said she hated being a girl

because everything noble is out of reach,ment mentwanted to be infantry but she was female. here she was about to sign up for another mission, and as soon as she got forwarded the e-mail was, like, oh, no started writing essays she call everyone she knew to help her, and said no one will keep me from this and park myself in front of bank hall inf they do not take me so i want to open it up to questions say, this, for me is a huge privilege and a great responsibility to write a first draft of this history that we as a country should know about heros we don't. so thank you so much. [ applause ]

>> congressional research service and navy veteran. when i was in the service, had i had the opportunity, i would have jumped on it sounds amazing. we heard about how being a woman was a distraction, and what a great reception in the training pipeline, and what was your experience when you joined these special operations teams from the men in the unit. >> i had two vastly different experiences experiences. i worked with two different teams. you could tell the deference in the amount of training men received on working with cultural support teams. in particular the first team didn't even know they had women on their way, but we were already en route so it was very, very difficult to convince them this was the new thing, having women on the team is in.

[ laughter ] and so it was -- it was a constant battle to get on patrol to get respect to become a part of the team, but when they left and the next team came in and took their place, they had been briefed on how to use a cultural support team and how to use them to interact with the women and children and really use us to benefit the overall mission and it was amazing probably the best experience i've had in my life. we were active. we were used. they were professional. we never felt any sort of sexual exploitation or manipulation whereas i feel that a lot of units in the military do have things like that because their women are not as respected as they should be. >> i was lucky. same thing when we were there we were outsiders, but all were not just because i was female. we were -- everybody wanted to know what was going on and who

we were initially, and i think that's just normal. that's happened every time i've been to a new unit, but after that especially once they realized how we could be used and how much information that we could brick in, we were very accepted and really never had an issue. they treated us so well and always, you know went out of the way to make sure i mean, i don't want to say they went out of their way, but treated like they would have nip else. no one carried another's pack or anything like that, or i mean, it was -- it was -- we were very well supported. but not every team was like that. and i completely agree because the teams -- the odas that received the most training from other -- from their parent units and had some idea they were expecting us and what we could do were far better and far more receptive of us and we were able to start working much faster. when you're with a team for three months, you have a very limited time to prove yourself.

some of the teams that never worked with females before did not receive a briefing, had a hard time, and honestly, the girls with those teams went months without going out on a mission. it was -- i know there was a lot of different stories out there with that. >> yeah. i think i had an easier time. one reason was cst2 laid the foundation and proved that we could perform and were added value to the mission, and i was on the da side, a much more well-defined kind of structured role for us and i absolutely had no issues with any of the teams i was with, fantastic super professional and what hit home, we had one particular mission, and our acl, aircraft load, was really light because it was altitude and weather and all the issues, so they were cutting pretty much everybody that they could to -- >> explain to people -- you fight for the seats on the

helicopter to go out on missions, valuable seats. >> right. so they started cutting enablers. they cut combat camera guy, the tpt, the cyops guy, the pj -- pj is a para rescue air force person, two years of training fantastic training, and they are there to do crisis management in case something terrible happens like a chopper goes down, they manage that. they are search and rescue specialist, they cut that from the mission and turned to me to get ready, and i said oh, okay. so that really kind of showed like, the first said you have a specific skill set, you know, we need you on the mission. okay. i'll try not to mess up. that showed how much they value csts. >> that, you know, you hear the stories, but one gal said my biggest fear was not dying but my biggest fear was not dying,

but make king a mistake and letting my teammates down. you hear that over and over again, and they really were on the direct action side, people -- mcchrystal joked in our interview that the n why ranger stood for knowledge, and that was an old joke, but it did because it was a transparent mission set. you helped find the person or thing, and if you did you were more readily a part of the team because you proved your value. as i talked to one ranger, first sergeant who did 13 combat deployments and said a job well done stands out. those girls wanted to be there. they had heart. they had grit. they paid their rent. i think that sort of goes to it. go in the back. >> as the military looks as to

whether or not create or have no exceptions to the combat exclusion role have you been asked about your experience and whether or not, you know looked for your input in thinking about wlrpt there's further exceptions created? seems to me you all you know unlike training you all have actual direct experience that would be very instructive. has anybody asked for that? >> no. [ laughter ] me no, but i've also been out of the military since the end of 2012. perhaps their experiences are a bit different. >> no on my side and honestly, that was something that a lot of us were really frustrated about coming back because we got together and put together about a 14-page aer with everything we thought could have been done better and other things, and to be honest, we were disappointed that that seemed to have gotten filed in a garbage can somewhere, so that was a little

frit ing frustrating, and i heard that from a few others as well, but, no, and, again, also getting back to when we did come back that was because we were not soiped, weattached, it did screw up the officer side, they got offline on their kd time not doing the command time or xo time, and not only did they make a yearlong sacrifice and potentially sacrifice their lives, but a lot sacrificed their careers as well because that's a big chunk of time that because the ctst program is not well-known in the military, so, for example, sergeant seniors look at the board to see if i can be promoted, they don't know what it is, but i wear a special operations combat patch b u, but it's not on the erb because it's not allowed to be of the that's an issue as well. that's off track, but -- >> i was not approached by the military, but because i was in the air force i heart through

the grapevine the university was doing research, so i kind of made the point to reach out to the guy who came up and did a quick interview but i have not heard what the results were or any follow up from that. >> good afternoon. losing my voice here. i'm here with my rotc roommate, and we were taught there's a battlefield battlefield, and in 2002, i was in a small outforce group, and so really, really grateful for this book to be written and for you to share your stories, so thank you. i wanted to ask you a little about what the ladies did before me asked specifically, if you have an office call with the joint chiefs what's the one thing to tell them on the way forward? how did they as senior leaders get it right? what would be your one talking

point to start with? >> well, equality is not sameness, but in this i feel that women deserve the same amount of training no matter how they receive the training that all the men on the battlefields received in the past. think of yourself as a military commander for a second, in the middle of a mission, and the guy to your left and to your right has the exact amount of training you do. change that out to someone with lesser training, you have less confidence in that person. just imagine how much we can amplify women on the battlefield if they just had an equal amount of training. >> something similar where -- i just want the same opportunities that everyone else has, and i'm willing to -- if i need to work harder to get the opportunities, that's fine.

we talked about standards previously, and i absolutely agree with everything about everybody had to say. it's important that the standards are there, but it's important that we make sure that we're using the right standards and not something just based on research done 40 years ago, so i just, yeah i feel like those opportunities need to be there for those of us that want to go out and get them. captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2008 captioning performed by vitac