The participation of Soviet women in the Afghan conflict was not particularly publicized. On numerous stelae and obelisks in memory of that war, stern male faces are depicted.

Nowadays, a civilian nurse who had been ill with typhoid fever near Kabul, or a military saleswoman, wounded by a stray shrapnel on the way to the combat unit, are deprived of additional benefits. Officers and private men have privileges, even if they were in charge of a warehouse or repairing cars.

However, there were women in Afghanistan. They did their job properly, endured the dangers of life in war and, of course, died.

HOW WOMEN GET TO AFGHANISTAN

Women soldiers were sent to Afghanistan by order of the command. In the early 1980s, up to 1.5% of women in uniform were in the Soviet army. If a woman possessed the necessary skills, she could be sent to a hot spot, often regardless of her desire: "The Motherland said - it is necessary, the Komsomol answered - yes!"

Nurse Tatyana Evpatova recalls: in the early 1980s it was very difficult to get abroad. One of the ways is to formalize through the military registration and enlistment office for service in the Soviet troops with deployment in Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Mongolia, Poland. Tatyana dreamed of seeing Germany and submitted the necessary documents in 1980. After 2.5 years, she was invited to the military registration and enlistment office and offered to go to Afghanistan.

Tatiana was forced to agree, and she was sent to the operating room and dressing nurse in Faizabad. Returning to the Union, Evpatova gave up medicine forever and became a philologist.

Ministry of Internal Affairs officers could also get to Afghanistan - there were also a small number of women among them. In addition, the Ministry of Defense recruited civilian employees of the Soviet Army to serve in a limited contingent. Civilians, including women, signed contracts and flew to Kabul, and from there to duty stations around the country.

WHAT THE WOMEN HAVE TREATED IN HOT SPOTS

Female military personnel were sent to Afghanistan as translators, cipher officers, signalmen, archivists, and employees of the logistics bases in Kabul and Puli-Khumri. Many women worked as paramedics, nurses and doctors in front-line medical units and hospitals.

Civil servants received positions in military organizations, regimental libraries, laundries, worked as cooks, waitresses in canteens. In Jalalabad, the commander of the 66th separate motorized rifle brigade managed to find a secretary-typist, who was also a hairdresser for the unit's soldiers. There were also civilian women among the paramedics and nurses.

IN WHAT CONDITIONS THE WEAK SEX SERVED

The war makes no distinction by age, profession and gender - a cook, a salesman, a nurse, in the same way, came under fire, exploded on mines, burned in wrecked planes. In everyday life, I had to cope with the numerous difficulties of a nomadic, uncomfortable life: a toilet booth, a shower from an iron barrel with water in a tarpaulin-covered fence.

“Living rooms, operating rooms, outpatient clinics and hospital were housed in tents. At night, fat rats ran between the outer and lower layers of the tents. Some fell through the shabby fabric and fell down. We had to invent gauze curtains so that these creatures did not fall on the naked body, recalls the nurse Tatyana Evpatova. - In the summer even at night it was above 40 degrees - covered with wet sheets. Already in October, frosts hit - they had to sleep right in their pea jackets. Dresses from heat and sweat turned into rags - having got chintz from the military store, we sewed simple robes. "

SPECIAL ORDERS - A SUBTLE CASE

Some women coped with tasks of unthinkable complexity, where experienced men gave up. Tajik woman Mavlyuda Tursunova at the age of 24 arrived in the west of Afghanistan (her division was stationed in Herat and Shindant). She served in the 7th Directorate of the Main Political Directorate of the SA and the Navy, which was engaged in special propaganda.

Mavlyuda spoke her native language perfectly, and more Tajiks lived in Afghanistan than in the USSR. Komsomol member Tursunova knew many Islamic prayers by heart. Shortly before being sent to the war, she buried her father and for a whole year she listened weekly to the memorial prayers read by the mullah. Her memory did not disappoint.

The instructor of the political department, Tursunova, was given the task of convincing women and children that the shuravi are their friends. A fragile girl boldly walked around the villages, she was allowed into houses for female half... One of the Afghans agreed to confirm that he knew her as a small child, and then her parents took her to Kabul. To direct questions, Tursunova confidently called herself an Afghan.

The plane in which Tursunova flew from Kabul was blown off on takeoff, but the pilot managed to land on a minefield. Miraculously, everyone survived, but already in the Union Mavlyuda was paralyzed - she caught up with a shell shock. Fortunately, the doctors managed to get her back on her feet. Tursunova was awarded the Order of Honor, Afghan medals "10 years of the Saur revolution" and "From the grateful Afghan people", the medal "For Courage".

HOW MANY THEM WERE

To this day, there is no accurate official statistics on the number of civilian and military women who participated in the Afghan war. There is information about 20-21 thousand people. 1,350 women who served in Afghanistan were awarded orders and medals of the USSR.

The information collected by the enthusiasts confirms the deaths in Afghanistan from 54 to 60 women. Among them are four warrant officers and 48 civilian employees. Some were blown up by mines, came under fire, others died from illness or accidents. Alla Smolina spent three years in Afghanistan, served as the head of the office in the military prosecutor's office of the Jalalabad garrison. For many years she has been scrupulously collecting and publishing information about the heroines forgotten by their homeland - saleswomen, nurses, cooks, waitresses.

Typist Valentina Lakhteeva from Vitebsk voluntarily went to Afghanistan in February 1985. A month and a half later, she died near Puli-Khumri during shelling of a military unit. Paramedic Galina Shakleeva from the Kirov region served for a year in a military hospital in Kunduz and died of blood poisoning. Nurse Tatyana Kuzmina from Chita served for a year and a half in the Jalalabad medical center. She drowned in a mountain river while rescuing an Afghan child. Not awarded.

Didn't arrive for the wedding

Heart and feelings cannot be turned off even in war. Unmarried girls or single mothers often met their love in Afghanistan. Many couples did not want to wait to return to the Union to get married. The canteen waitress for the flight crew, Natalya Glushak, and the communications company officer, Yuri Tsurka, decided to register the marriage at the Soviet consulate in Kabul and left Jalalabad with a convoy of armored personnel carriers. Soon after leaving the checkpoint of the unit, the convoy ran into an ambush by the Mujahideen and came under heavy fire. The lovers died on the spot ... In vain the consulate waited until late for the couple to register their marriage.

But not all girls died at the hands of the enemy. A former Afghan warrior recalls: “An employee of the military organization in Kunduz was shot to death by her boyfriend, the head of the Special Department from Hairaton. He himself shot himself half an hour later. He was posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Banner, and an order was read about her in front of the unit, calling him "a dangerous speculator-currency dealer."

(Based on materials from the magazine "History from the" Russian Seven "June # 6, 2018)

CONDITIONS OF SERVICE AND WORK IN KABUL

During the period of my service in Afghanistan, and he was in the 81-83 years, the 109th agitational detachment, in which I happened to serve, was stationed in the Bala-Gissar fortress. The fortress itself was located on the nearest mountain on the outskirts of Kabul, in which a guard battalion was stationed, and below, next to residential quarters, there was a garrison of military units, incl. 345 airborne regiment, garrison guardhouse, garrison prosecutor's office, etc. By that time, life was more or less well-equipped. Modules for living were built by military builders: these are single-storey prefabricated panel houses, with a common corridor and separate rooms equipped with air conditioning, in which 3-4 people lived. So it was at the very headquarters of the army, which was located on the other outskirts of Kabul in the Taj Bek palace (Amin's palace). Female military personnel and employees of the SA lived in these so-called women's modules (something like women's dormitories). The peculiarity of these two places in Kabul was the presence in them of decent-sized pools, the water into which came from the mountains. In summer, on weekends, not only officers, but also women could be seen sunbathing around the pools.

Opposite the location of the propaganda detachment in one building, built by the British at the beginning of the 20th century, were the warehouses of the 40th Army TSP (technical means of propaganda). Employees of the SA worked for them at that time: Vera and Valentina. They always came to visit us, we celebrated our public holidays together. And we had no problem with photography materials and photo printing. Through them we received paper for our printing house, which printed propaganda materials. True, they had to fly to Tashkent to get the paper and deliver it to Kabul on the IL-76. During my service, I had the opportunity to fulfill this mission twice.

And we, the officers of the propaganda detachment, met very good friends: they are the Salakhitdinov family - Alisher and Olga. Alisher Salakhitdinov, a graduate of Tashkent University (originally from Termez), in 1979, along with the introduction of troops into Afghanistan, ended up serving in the 201st division, which was stationed in Kunduz (northern Afghanistan). He served in special propaganda as a senior instructor of the political department of this division for 2 years, because he spoke Farsi and was trained in this specialty at the military department. After his dismissal, he ended up at the Kabul Polytechnic Institute as an assistant-translator for a Soviet teacher who worked there. Olga, originally from Belarus, worked in the Kabul military hospital as a cook. In Kabul, their paths crossed and, although Alisher's parents were against this marriage (after all, he is Uzbek), they joined their ties by legal marriage in the Soviet embassy in Kabul. In 82, they had a son named Alautdin. They lived in the "Soviet microdistrict" - this is the area of ​​Kabul, where our builders erected the usual block five-story buildings with all the amenities. The houses were specially built for our civilian specialists who worked in Afghanistan. But specialists from other countries also lived there. So during the celebration of May 1, 1982, a married couple from India, who also taught at the Polytechnic Institute, found themselves at the table in Alisher and Olga's apartment.

Leaving Kabul on September 27, 1983, I saw my friends for the last time, with whom fate brought me in Afghanistan. At parting, Alisher presented a Sharp calculator with the words: “It might come in handy when you write your Ph.D.…” And on the case with a needle it was “written”: “For a long memory of Volodya Ramus from Alisher and Olga. Kabul, 09/27/83 ”Where are you my friends now? How was your destiny? Maybe we will meet again?

Ramus Vladimir Fedorovich, retired lieutenant colonel

1-4. Civilian and military women who participated in the Afghan war.

5. Dorosh Svetlana Nikolaevna, Mnurse.Born on July 12, 1963 in the village of Slavyanka, Mezhevsky District, Dnepropetrovsk Region, Ukrainian SSR, Ukrainian.
She lived in Dnepropetrovsk and worked as a nurse at the ambulance station.
On a voluntary basis, on February 19, 1986, through the Amur-Nizhnedneprovsky RVC of Dnepropetrovsk, she was sent to work in Afghanistan.
On July 24, she died in a shelling of a car.

6. Lykova Tatiana Vasilievna, an employee of the Soviet army, sent to the war by the Ministry of Defense. Born on 01.04.1963 in Voronezh, Russian.
On November 13, she was enrolled in the military registration and enlistment office for military service in Afghanistan, in Kabul received a referral to the post of secretary of secret records at the headquarters of the 15th special brigade of Jalalabad and on November 29 she died in an airplane blown up while flying from Kabul to Jalalabad it took only 16 days).
She was awarded the Order of the Red Star (posthumously), the medal "To the Internationalist from the Grateful Afghan People."

7. Strelchenok Galina Gennadievna, warrant officer, paramedic. Born on May 18, 1962 in the village of Begoml, Dokshitsy District, Vitebsk Region, BSSR, Belarusian.
She lived in the Minsk region and worked as the head of the feldsher-obstetric station in the village. Balashi, Vileika district, Minsk region.
She was drafted into the Armed Forces of the USSR through the Minsk RVK on 10/18/1984.
In Afghanistan since December 1985.
She was killed in action on December 29, 1986 near the city of Herat while repelling an attack on a convoy.
Awarded the Order of the Red Star (posthumously). Awarded posthumously by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus A. Lukashenko of December 24, 2003 No. 575 in the Minsk region "On rewarding internationalist soldiers with the medal" In commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan ".

8. Alisher and Olga Salakhitdinov in the propaganda squad. Seeing off to the Union of Art. l-ta Knyazeva Eduard. (In the center in everyday form).

10. After the presentation of the Order of the "Red Star" to E. Knyazev. In the center - the typist of the special propaganda department of 40 OA.

11. The Salakhitdinov family: Olga, son - Alautdin, Alisher

12, 13. Girls from the TSP warehouse (technical means of propaganda). 02/23/1982

14. Kabul. 05/01/1982 g.

15.1982 March. Kabul, army headquarters. Seeing off to the Union of the head of the special propaganda department p / p-ka Mitkin P.M. and meeting the new boss.

On numerous stelae and obelisks in memory of that war, stern male faces are depicted.

Nowadays, a civilian nurse who had been ill with typhoid fever near Kabul, or a saleswoman of a military trade organization, wounded by a stray shrapnel on the way to the combat unit, are deprived of additional benefits. Officers and private men have privileges, even if they were in charge of a warehouse or repairing cars. However, there were women in Afghanistan. They did their job regularly, endured the hardships and dangers of life in the war, and, of course, died.

How women ended up in Afghanistan

Women soldiers were sent to Afghanistan by order of the command. In the early 1980s, up to 1.5% of women in uniform were in the Soviet army. If a woman possessed the necessary skills, she could be sent to a hot spot, often regardless of her desire: "The Motherland said - it is necessary, the Komsomol answered - yes!"

Nurse Tatyana Evpatova recalls: in the early 1980s it was very difficult to get abroad. One of the ways is to get formalized through the military registration and enlistment office for service in the Soviet troops stationed in Hungary, the GDR, Czechoslovakia, Mongolia, Poland. Tatyana dreamed of seeing Germany and submitted the necessary documents in 1980. After 2.5 years, she was invited to the military registration and enlistment office and offered to go to Afghanistan.

Tatiana was forced to agree, and she was sent to Fayzabad as an operating room and dressing nurse. Returning to the Union, Evpatova gave up medicine forever and became a philologist.

Ministry of Internal Affairs officers could also get to Afghanistan - there were also a small number of women among them. In addition, the Ministry of Defense recruited civilian employees of the Soviet Army to serve in a limited contingent. Civilians, including women, signed contracts and flew to Kabul and from there to duty stations around the country.

What was assigned to women in hot spots

Female military personnel were sent to Afghanistan as translators, ciphers, signalmen, archivists, and employees of logistics bases in Kabul and Puli-Khumri. Many women worked as paramedics, nurses and doctors in front-line medical units and hospitals.

Civil servants received positions in military organizations, regimental libraries, laundries, worked as cooks, waitresses in canteens. In Jalalabad, the commander of the 66th separate motorized rifle brigade managed to find a secretary-typist, who was also a hairdresser for the unit's soldiers. There were also civilian women among the paramedics and nurses.

In what conditions did the weaker sex serve?

The war does not distinguish between age, profession and gender - a cook, a salesman, a nurse, in the same way, came under fire, exploded on mines, burned in wrecked planes. In everyday life, I had to cope with the numerous difficulties of a nomadic, uncomfortable life: a toilet booth, a shower from an iron barrel with water in a tarpaulin-covered fence.

“Living rooms, operating rooms, outpatient clinics and hospitals were housed in canvas tents. At night, fat rats ran between the outer and lower layers of the tents. Some fell through the shabby fabric and fell down. We had to invent gauze curtains so that these creatures did not fall on the naked body, - recalls the nurse Tatyana Evpatova. - In the summer, even at night it was above plus 40 degrees - covered with wet sheets. Already in October, frosts hit - they had to sleep in pea jackets. Dresses from heat and sweat turned into rags - having got chintz from the military store, we sewed simple robes. "

Special assignments are a delicate matter

Some women coped with tasks of unthinkable complexity, where experienced men gave up. A Tajik woman Mavlyuda Tursunova at the age of 24 arrived in the west of Afghanistan (her division was stationed in Herat and Shindand). She served in the 7th Directorate of the Main Political Directorate of the SA and the Navy, which was engaged in special propaganda.

Mavlyuda spoke her native language perfectly, and more Tajiks lived in Afghanistan than in the USSR. Komsomol member Tursunova knew many Islamic prayers by heart. Shortly before being sent to the war, she buried her father and for a whole year she listened weekly to the memorial prayers read by the mullah. Her memory did not disappoint.

The instructor of the political department, Tursunova, was given the task of convincing women and children that the shuravi are their friends. A fragile girl boldly walked around the villages, she was allowed into the houses of the female half. One of the Afghans agreed to confirm that he knew her as a small child, and then her parents took her to Kabul. To direct questions, Tursunova confidently called herself an Afghan.

The plane in which Tursunova flew from Kabul was shot down on takeoff, but the pilot managed to land in a minefield. Miraculously, everyone survived, but already in the Union Mavlyuda was paralyzed - she caught up with a shell shock. Fortunately, the doctors managed to get her back on her feet. Tursunova was awarded the Order of Honor, Afghan medals "10 years of the Saur revolution" and "From the grateful Afghan people", the medal "For Courage".

How many were there

To this day, there is no accurate official statistics on the number of civilian and military women who participated in the Afghan war. There is information about 20-21 thousand people. 1,350 women who served in Afghanistan were awarded orders and medals of the USSR.

The information collected by the enthusiasts confirms the deaths in Afghanistan from 54 to 60 women. Among them are four warrant officers and 48 civilian employees. Some were blown up by mines, came under fire, others died from illness or accidents. Alla Smolina spent three years in Afghanistan, served as head of the office in the military prosecutor's office of the Jalalabad garrison. For many years she has meticulously collected and published information about the heroines forgotten by their homeland - saleswomen, nurses, cooks, waitresses.

Typist Valentina Lakhteeva from Vitebsk voluntarily went to Afghanistan in February 1985. A month and a half later, she died near Puli-Khumri during shelling of a military unit. Paramedic Galina Shakleina from the Kirov region served for a year in a military hospital in North Kunduz and died of blood poisoning. Nurse Tatyana Kuzmina from Chita served for a year and a half in the Jalalabad medical center. She drowned in a mountain river while rescuing an Afghan child. Not awarded.

Didn't make it to the wedding

Heart and feelings cannot be turned off even in war. Unmarried girls or single mothers often met their love in Afghanistan. Many couples did not want to wait to return to the Union to get married. The waitress of the canteen for the flight crew, Natalya Glushak, and the officer of the communications company, Yuri Tsurka, decided to register the marriage at the Soviet consulate in Kabul and left Jalalabad with a convoy of armored personnel carriers.

Soon after leaving the checkpoint of the unit, the convoy ran into an ambush by the Mujahideen and came under heavy fire. The lovers died on the spot - in vain they waited until late at the consulate for the couple to register their marriage.

But not all girls died at the hands of the enemy. A former Afghan warrior recalls: “Natasha, a military service officer in Kunduz, was shot by her boyfriend, the head of the Special Department from Hairaton. He himself shot himself half an hour later. He was posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Banner, and an order was read about her in front of the unit, calling him "a dangerous speculator-currency dealer."

On February 15, 1989, Soviet troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan. And 8 years earlier, the first trial took place over eleven Soviet soldiers accused of gang rape, followed by a "sweep" of all witnesses to the crime - three Afghan women, six children aged six to ten and two old people.

Afghan women with children on a road to Jalalabad. Photo by A. Solomonov, 1988

On February 14, 1981, in the morning, a group of the reconnaissance battalion of the 66th motorized rifle brigade of the 40th army, consisting of eleven people under the command of senior lieutenant K., patrolled one of the villages near Jalalabad.
Combing the aul, in one of the large adobe yards, the soldiers saw a flock of sheep, which they decided to capture for a barbecue for the Day of the Soviet Army. Noticing young women in that courtyard, one of the sergeants at first thoughtfully said: "Good, young boys", and then threw off his overcoat, and with the words: "... bi them, guys!", Attacked one of the women.
The gang rape of three Afghan women by eleven Soviet soldiers lasted for about two hours in front of children and old people. Then the sergeant commanded: “Fire!”, And was the first to shoot at the woman he had just raped. Having shot women, children and the elderly, by order of the group commander, the soldiers piled eleven corpses in a heap, threw them with rags and firewood, poured fuel from the BMP onto this heap and set it on fire.
.

Afghan women and children in traditional dress. Photo by Marissa Ros, 1988

Unfortunately for the "shuravi", the twelve-year-old brother of one of the killed women hid, survived and told about everything to his fellow tribesmen. What caused popular unrest - a mass rally was held at Kabul University, and mourning was declared at the Afghan Academy of Sciences. In order to avoid riots and disrupt the organized jihad, in Kabul, Jalalabad, Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif and Kunduz, a curfew was imposed from 18.00 to 7.00, with intensive patrolling of the central streets of these cities during daylight hours on BMP and armored personnel carriers.
An investigation was announced, which was led from the Soviet side by the first deputy commander in chief Ground forces, the chief military adviser in Afghanistan, General of the Army Mayorov, from the Afghan side - the head of the Government of the DRA Keshtmand and the head of the KHAD (Afghan state security), the future president of the country, Najibullah.
The surviving boy confidently identified the sergeant, a group of eleven Soviet servicemen was arrested, confessed everything, the incident was reported to Moscow.
However, this emergency happened not only on the eve of the Day of the Soviet Army, but also on the eve of the XXVI Congress of the CPSU, and Moscow, represented by the Minister of Defense of the USSR Ustinov and Chief of the General Staff Ogarkov, brought to General Mayorov the opinion of the Chairman of the KGB of the USSR Andropov that this was an atrocity against civilians under Jalalabad was performed by spooks dressed in Soviet uniforms.

Leonid Brezhnev and Babrak Karmal

Mayorov was hinted that if Andropov's opinion was not confirmed, the general might not be re-elected as a candidate of the CPSU Central Committee at the upcoming XXVI Congress. Perhaps it was "confirmed" would, but the head of Afghanistan Karmal called Brezhnev, who gave instructions to punish those responsible.

A re-investigation was carried out, the facts were rechecked, the conclusions were confirmed - the murder of eleven women, old people and children was committed by the soldiers of the 40th Army in order to conceal the robbery and rape. The Soviet government again apologized to the chairman of the DRA government, there was a tribunal, three of the main instigators were sentenced to death, the rest - to long terms of imprisonment.
They were later released with the removal of their convictions, when on November 29, 1989, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR announced an amnesty to all Soviet servicemen who committed crimes during their military service in Afghanistan.

"There is no competition in some disciplines." Daily Mail cartoon January 16, 1980

How many Soviet servicemen were prosecuted for crimes committed during the Afghan war, and how many were released under the 1989 amnesty, is unknown - the available statistics are very heterogeneous, and until the archives of the USSR military prosecutor's office are opened, any exact figures it is impossible to name.
But this crime was the first, which thundered not only in the voices of the enemy, but also ended in the verdict of the Soviet court. For which General of the Army Mayorov paid the price - in March 1981 he was removed from the list of candidates for membership in the Central Committee of the CPSU, and in November 1981 he was prematurely recalled from Afghanistan.
We would never have known about this case if General Mayorov himself had not mentioned it in his book "The Truth About the Afghan War." The names of those Soviet soldiers-internationalists who raped, and then killed and burned the corpses of three Afghan women, two old men and six children 35 years ago, could not be found from other sources. Are they really that important?

British women serve in one of the most dangerous parts of Helmand province.
They know the Pashtun language, establish contact and communicate with Afghan women.
But even in such harsh conditions, a woman always remains a woman.
There are a lot of cosmetics in the barracks, underwear with lace is hung on the street, the shower is occupied for a long time.
Going to the desert, you must definitely take a cream to protect you from the scorching sun, so as not to get burned.

1. Patrolling: Lieutenant Jessica French visits a community in Helmand province. Her job is to win the trust and support of Afghan women. (AllisonBaskerville)

2. Lieutenant French communicates with local residents. She believes education is the key to a brighter future for Afghan women. (AllisonBaskerville)

3. Shower is one of the few things men and women do here separately. (AllisonBaskerville)

4. Lieutenant French cleans the service pistol Sig Sauer. (AllisonBaskerville)

5. TV night, almost like home (AllisonBaskerville)

6. Washing. As you can see in the photo, not all NATO fighters refuse to fight without washing machines and ice cream ... (AllisonBaskerville)

7. Essentials: Cosmetics and personal care products take pride of place on the makeshift dressing table. (AllisonBaskerville)

8. Comments are superfluous. (AllisonBaskerville)

9. In this case, free time is used most rationally: for sleep. (AllisonBaskerville)

10. Captain Crossley, a medic from University College London hospital, against the backdrop of a military camp and mountains. (AllisonBaskerville)

11. Winning hearts and minds: With the help of her knowledge of the language, Anna was able to enter the village and interest the residents. (AllisonBaskerville)

12. Photos by Allison Baskerville provide insight into not only British service in Afghanistan, but also how local communities survive. (AllisonBaskerville)

13. Captain Crossley on patrol in the Gereshk Valley in Helmand. The squad stops to see if it is possible to enter the village. (AllisonBaskerville)

14. Gathering: Two women prepare to go out on patrol, during which they must visit several villages and teach local veterinary practices. Most often, children are entrusted with caring for goats. (AllisonBaskerville)

15. Lance Corporal Rachel Clayton braids to keep hair less dusty and easier to wear a helmet. (AllisonBaskerville)

16. Captain Crosslimp joins the 3rd Rifle Regiment preparing to patrol. (AllisonBaskerville)

17. Captain Crossley (pictured) says that he often sees admiration on the faces of Afghan women when he comes to the village and takes off his helmet and glasses and speaks to them in their native language. (AllisonBaskerville)

18. Captain Crossley's mother sends her a parcel of rosehip tea and sweets every week. (AllisonBaskerville)

19. Captain Suzanne Wallis oversees future female officers at the military training center in Kabul. (AllisonBaskerville)

20. Rest after drill training. Despite the fact that women are trained separately from men, they insist on equal conditions for final examinations. (AllisonBaskerville)