carolyn carroll, the last woman i talked about. i was in new orleans with lynn ashley, and we were at the program at the world war ii museum. and when i was -- i was in the new orleans airport after i had left lynn and the program, and i came up behind this woman with this huge pack on her back. and it was the camo, you know, from the desert storm and all. and there was a zipper unzipped on the back of it, and i came up to her and i was just buying a bottle of water, and i said, oh, excuse me, would you like me to zip your zipper? she was very gracious. and i waited for her because i thought, oh, here is a woman who i might be able to interview. when she came out of that little store, we stood and talked. and i tell you, she was the most interesting, wonderful person and so gracious to then, later, let me interview her over the telephone. she had a son in iraq, as mine was at the same time with the first cavalry division. while she was in afghanistan, he was in iraq. so it shows you what people go through in multiple roles of being

in 2005 colonel carolyn carroll deployed to afghanistan. she worked closely with american soldiers and special forces. she was executive officer of a nato unit for the canadian army. she was acutely aware of the dangers that were inherent in iraq and afghanistan war zones. she said, there's a chance that every time you go out, there's a chance you might not come back. now, all these women who have served in the u.s. military have traveled many ground miles and can point to their military service in thousands of miles on maps. however, their journey along the road of military history has far outdistanced all physical miles and leads, clearly, into the future. even so, women are still fighting for equality in the military and as u.s. citizens. all of these military women who we interviewed could not be included in this today's program, of course, due to time constraints, but they have of earned our respect -- they have earned our respect and admiration. ..

another military woman accustomed to standing her ground was the colonel carolyn carroll. for many years the army did not permit single women to have underage children and joined the army. at that time, carolyn was a 19-year-old divorced mother and wanted to enlist in the army. the army recruiter advice her welcome to join the national guard and then you can transfer to the army. so carolyn was planning to enlist in the national guard and then do what he said but then she discovered that this recruiter had never submitted her application paperwork to the army as he said he would, nor her test scores, as he said he would come and he had some plans of her own. so carolyn learned she could enlist in the civilian of kwai your skills program, go to basic training two or three weeks and return to the guard unit as an e3 with two years of college or experience. further, she learned that she could use six months on the job training and then receive an automatic promotion to e4. when the first opportunity arose, carol lynn moved forward with her plans and joined the national guard.