SEMPER FI LADIES - Photos of the Female Marines who are out at the tip of the spear

Left: Female Engagement Team leader Sgt. Sheena Adams, 25, of Kauai, Hawaii, outside of a clinic in Landay Nawah County on Jan. 31.

Right: Hospitalman Shannon Crowley, 22, of Swampscott, Mass., on Jan. 31.

One of the most popular posts I have made here in the past two years has been the one about female Marines who serve on the FET (Female Engagement Teams) in Afghanistan. See the post at the enclosed link:

http://usnavyjeep.blogspot.com/2010/12/semper-fi-ladies-female-marines-make.html

These female Marines are the real deal and tough as nails. They walk patrols side by side with their male counterparts and accept the risk as they have a mission to complete; To demonstrate to the people of Afghanistan that we are here to assist them and will provide them with access to basic healtcare which has been unknown in many parts of this land.

Foriegn Policy magazine has presented another great photo essay on the ladies who go out into the villages and try to assist the citizens with healthcare, schooling and basic services that only they can offer to the families of Afghanistan.

Take a look at the additional pictures that you will find on the FP website.

Female Engagement
In Afghanistan, a Marine's work is never done.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/07/27/female_engagement

About the Photographer -

Rita Leistner is a photographer and writer based in Toronto. In 2003, she crossed into Iraq on foot, traveling with Kurdish smugglers from Turkey.

She later spent four months embedded with the U.S. 3/7 Cavalry during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

She has won 12 Canadian National Magazine Awards and co-authored two books, Unembedded: Four Independent Photojournalists on the War in Iraq and Ihe Edward Curtis Project: A Modern Picture Story.

She teaches photojournalism at the University of Toronto.