Story and photos by Spc. Jessica Rohr

135th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, 3rd Infantry Division PAO

Task Force Marne Soldiers and civilians celebrated Women’s History Month, March 19, by honoring heroes who often go unrecognized. This year’s theme is “Writing Women Back into History.”

“Patricia Biank, my mother, is a great lady that I admire on so many levels. She inspired me, because she did things that were against the grain, that were [not] expected by society and the Army,” said Lt. Col. Maria Biank, the G-6 director for 3rd Infantry Division. “My mom taught me that the value of Family is absolutely priceless.  My mom taught me the value of working hard and never giving up. I am very proud of my mom and her accomplishments; she was and still is a loving mother who I consider my friend … all because of her example as Army wife, mother and nurse.”

Five Task Force Marne Soldiers spoke about the influential women in their lives, mothers, grandmothers, wives and daughters, who shaped them into the Soldiers they are today.

The observance took place at the Division Headquarters on Contingency Operating Base Speicher, and included personal testimonies, singing and an acknowledgement of female entrepreneurs, philanthropists and educators. 

Twelve female Soldiers and civilians stood before the audience and proclaimed, “I am proud to be a woman because of the contributions of …,” and each stated prominent women in different categories, such as the business woman Margaret Whitman, the former president and chief executive officer of eBay from March 1998 to 2008.

The celebration also included a tribute to the arts and music. Sergeant Tracey Masdeu, from the G-1 section, out of 3rd ID wrote and recited a poem titled, “A Woman”. The poem expressed the strengths of a woman.

“I was trying to encompass everything that embodies a woman,” said Sgt. Masdeu. “Like her struggles to be equal, because it took so long. She didn’t have the right to vote. Her place was in the home. I tried to go from there and come up with something that would be both inspirational and tell people a little bit more about women and their struggles and just the force that they are.”

American women aren’t the only ones who have overcome struggles, and the TF Marne Equal Opportunity Office wanted to convey that by introducing everyone to Fawzia Elmtalab, an Iraqi medical adviser for TF Marne’s Division Surgeon Office.

Portrayed as a live interview between her and a military journalist, she shared her early-life as a young nurse, and soldier in the Peshmerga, but how hate and prejudices led her to become a refugee. She escaped that life and moved to the United States in the late 1970s. She raised her family in Minnesota, where her husband and three children wait for her safe return home.

The ceremony closed to the tunes of John Lennon and the ceremonial cake-cutting.

Captain Dale Sharp and Capt. Ricky Swenness, physicians’ assistants with the Division Special Troops Battalion, 3rd ID, performed the song “Women” by John Lennon.

The TF Marne Commander Maj. Gen. Tony Cucolo, and Command Sergeant Major, Command Sgt. Maj. Jesse Andrews, attended the event and helped close it out by cutting the cake with the ceremony participants.

“My first impression of the observance was, it is very delightful to be here today and honor the females that are inspiring to us,” said Spc. Latisha Towns, Forward