First British female soldier dies in Iraq (but 2nd overall)

[Tab]

The first British female soldier to die during military operations in Iraq has been named by the Ministry of Defence.

Staff Sgt Denise Rose, 34, of the Royal Military Police's Special Investigation Branch, was found dead from a gunshot at a Basra military camp on Sunday.

An investigation was under way, but it was not believed to be the result of any hostile action, said the MoD.

Her death - days after a Black Watch soldier died - takes the number of UK service personnel to die in Iraq to 70.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3973281.stm

[xultar]

1. Thanks for editing your subject line

Welcome to DU :hi:

[Mandate My Ass]

4. the first 'British' female soldier

last year's was an American soldier.

[xultar]

6. Didn't you read my post, that is what I said. I'm trying to get the author

to edit his/her post

[Mandate My Ass]

9. The poster put the BBC headline exactly as it appears

A british news company is reporting on the first British female fatality. Perhaps they didn't make the distinction you wanted but the headline is accurate.

[kokomo]

10. Navajo Pfc. Lori Ann Piestewa dying for the nation that robbed hers

[daveskilt]

5. not even the second overall - but the first british female soldier

[xultar]

8. You are right about that. I will edit...

[RamboLiberal]

7. Actually I believe there have been more than 20 US female

soldiers who have died in Iraq.

[Beaverhausen]

at least.

hello!!! fix the headline!

[Tab]

11. Just trying to follow the rules of using the headline as is...

But mea culpa for not recognizing the British source might have just been referring to british soldiers; their headline could use some improvement too.

Anyway...

[Mandate My Ass]

12. No need to apologize

You were correct to post the headline as you did. Sorry about all the screaming here. You shouldn't have to bear the brunt because the BBC didn't think of us first while mourning their first female death in Iraq.

[maddezmom]

2. so, so sad

:(

[rawstory]

3. First BRITISH female soldier...

read the article ;)

[Beaverhausen]

13. Tell that to Jessica Cawvey, or Analaura Gutierrez or

any of the other female soldiers listed here

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/casualties/

There wasn't just ONE US female soldier killed.

[Crunchy Frog]

14. There have, I believe, been exactly 27

female American military fatalities. They seem to be occuring pretty consistently at a rate of one female in every 50 fatalities. At http://www.icasualties.org/oif/ you can actually run the fatalities through filters, one of them being sex, so you can see a list of every female fatality, their name, age, unit, cause and location of death.

The vast majority of these fatalities have been hostile. It's my understanding that only about 6 female soldiers died during the whole of the Vietnam war.

[Tab]

15. Stop it already!

I posted the headline as stated per rules.

Someone else said it was the second altogether, so I amended it to be the second.

Now, apparently it's over 20, which I hadn't realized (but aren't surprised about) but the editing period is over and I can't correct it, so please stop with the requests for corrections.

[Crunchy Frog]

16. That post wasn't meant as a criticism of you.

I didn't even see what the earlier stuff was about. I was just giving a piece of information and providing a source for its verification.

I happen to be very interested in the phenomenon of a war in which female soldiers are taking a significant number of casualties, so it's something I've been keeping track of.

Once again, this post had nothing to do with you. I'm sorry you misconstrued it.

[Tab]

17. No prob

Just meant it as a general thing, not to you specifically. The power to fix it has passed.

At any rate, for the Brits it's their first female. Things (milestones) like this hit home.

It pisses ME off because NONE OF THIS SHOULD HAVE FUCKIN' HAPPENED! If we had a real fucking president he would have been smart enough to realize that without the UN you don't have the mantle of legitimacy and without exhausting every avenue (such as giving the inspectors another few weeks or months) you lose the ability to claim you tried everything.

Not only that, but Bush's excuse was he wanted to do it before summer. Hey, Bush, asshole - what if you waited until AFTER fucking summer? Then (1) inspectors would have had the time they wanted (2) you would have had more time to frickin' prepare, and (3) maybe convinced others you were on the right track.

People are whining "Oh, Kerry's plan isn't much different" for getting us out of Iraq.

HEADS UP, ASSHOLES! KERRY WOULDN'T HAVE GOTTEN US IN THIS FUCKING WAR TO BEGIN WITH!!!!

fuckers.

(sigh)

Excuse my French (no offence to the French).

- s.g.

[saigon68]

19. A lot more have PTSD, committed suicide etc

Not all casualties happen on a battle field.

[Crunchy Frog]

20. I realize that, and had no intention of minimizing it.

I'm sorry if I gave that impression.

Many have also suffered severe injuries, lost limbs, etc. Many have been forced to leave children behind, sometimes as soon as six weeks after giving birth. It is a new phenomenon in the area of American combat.

I want equality for women, but I'm not sure I want this kind of equality.

[Demonaut]

21. I knew more women had died

[Nihil]

18. Hmmm?

> Staff Sgt Denise Rose, 34, of the Royal Military Police's Special
> Investigation Branch, was found dead from a gunshot at a Basra
> military camp on Sunday.
>
> An investigation was under way, but it was not believed to be the
> result of any hostile action, said the MoD.

We're not talking about a new recruit here or a "suicide" at a training
base (like the Deepcut barracks murders). This lady had been in the
Military Police for 15 years, the last 9 as an Special Investigation
Branch (SIB) investigator in 1995, conducting investigations into
serious incidents within the military ...

> The statement added: "She deployed as a volunteer to Iraq on 27
> September operating as part of a small team of specialist
> investigators to provide security for the people of Iraq and assist
> in the rebuilding of the country through the provision of a
> well-trained police force."

Wonder what she'd been investigating on her last case?