Soldier Girls (59 page)

Toward the very end of this project, I developed a confusing shoulder problem and thought I might not be able to write anymore. Pete Emerson helped me heal. Thank you, Pete. My good friends Jane Cahn and Eleanor Wright listened to me talk for hours about this book; I am deeply grateful for their support. I am thankful for the prayers and the kindness of the amazing Deborah Fisch. My close friends Gillian Silverman, Mary Caulkins, Belle Zars, Liza Prall, Peter Heller, Lisa Jones, and Rebecca Rowe have been constant sources of love and strength, and each of them read early drafts or talked me through this journey. Pete, thank you especially for the moral support, for your astute comments on my first draft, and for putting all those exclamation points in the margin! To Vicki Novak, Jeremy Snyder, Lydia Ballantine, Rachel Ballantine, and Valerie Beck: Teddy and I are eternally grateful to you for being there for us in all kinds of ways. Last but not least, I want to thank my parents, Marie and Larry Thorpe, as well as my siblings, Lorna and Brian Thorpe, and their spouses, Marcus Sueiro and Donna Marie Thorpe. I feel incredibly lucky to be going through life with such a warm and loving clan.

© MAREA EVANS

HELEN THORPE
's journalism has appeared in
The New York Times Magazine, New York
magazine,
The New Yorker, Slate
, and
Harper's Bazaar
. Her radio stories have aired on
This American Life
and
Soundprint
. She is the author of
Just Like Us
, winner of the Colorado Book Award, and lives in Denver.

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ALSO BY HELEN THORPE

Just Like Us:

The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America

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Jacket photograph retouching by David Wu

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Thorpe, Helen.

Soldier girls : the battles of three women at home and at war / Helen Thorpe.

pages cm

1. United States. Army—Women—Biography. 2. Women soldiers—United States—Biography. 3. Afghan War, 2001—Women—United States—Biography. 4. Iraq War, 2003–2011—Women—United States—Biography. 5. Indiana. National Guard—Biography. 6. Afghan War, 2001—Campaigns. 7. Iraq War, 2003–2011—Campaigns. 8. Women veterans—United States—Biography. 9. Single mothers—United States—Biography. 10. Women—Indiana—Biography. I. Title. II. Title: Battles of three women at home and at war.

UB418.W65T56 2014

956.7044'342092520973—dc23     2014000658

ISBN 978-1-4516-6810-0

ISBN 978-1-4516-6812-4 (ebook)