MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Think female Marines are any safer than their male counterparts in Iraq?
Tell that to Sgt. Alisha L. Harding.
“It just wasn’t our day,” said Harding, reflecting on the fateful day when she and 12 other servicemembers be-came the target of a car bomb in Fallujah, Iraq, June 23.
Harding, along with 11 Marines and one sailor, were traveling to Camp Fallujah in a 7-ton truck when the
vehicle was hit.
“We were on the way back … from working entry control points searching Iraqi women,” said Harding, a multi-channel radio operator with Headquarters Battery, 11th Marine Regiment.
In Iraq, many female Marines are tasked with searching Iraqi women as a show of respect for the local culture and customs.
As Harding and the others approached the first entrance coming into Fallujah, an unknown vehicle containing three people advanced toward Harding’s 7-ton truck. After initially halting at the request of the Marines, the vehicle turned out and left the area.
Suddenly, the vehicle containing a man, a woman and a child and two propane tanks sped for Harding and the other servicemembers, striking the side of their truck.
“I remember distinctly hearing the explosion – a hiss, then the bomb – a big explosion,” said Harding, a native of Kaysville, Utah.
Harding said she then saw a ‘big ball of fire’ coming toward the truck with ‘tons of black smoke.’
“I wasn’t scared or nothing but adrenaline was definitely pumping,” she said.
“My main concern was getting the (hurt) females out of the area,” she added.
Five Marines and one sailor were killed in this incident.
With a contused knee, second- and third-degree burns, Harding rolled out of her truck, grabbed other wounded female Marines and took them to safety behind the truck.
“Then I grabbed more (females) and led them to the other 7-ton in front of us,” Harding said.
Harding said her injuries didn’t stop her from moving forward even after the incident.
“I just put my pack back on and kept going,” she said.
“I’m ready to go back out (to Iraq). It’s my job – it’s what being a Marine is all about,” she said.
Harding encourages other other Marines to stay resilient during deployments.
“Stay strong and keep your mind in the game because you’ll never know what duty you’ll get,” she said.