Sisterhood of War: Minnesota Women in Vietnam (review)

Sisterhood of War recounts the experiences of nurses serving in the military during and after the Vietnam War, while addressing the complexities of being a woman at war, a nurse at war, and a Vietnam veteran at home. The book draws from interviews Kim Heikkila conducted with fifteen women who served as nurses during the Vietnam War. Certainly much has been written about Vietnam, addressing a variety of opinions and experiences with the conflict, and many informative and important oral history projects have sought to preserve these complicated stories. Heikkila’s book highlights an experience that is not necessarily unknown, but she recounts the women’s stories in a thorough, methodical way, placing the small, everyday details of the women’s lives into the broader context of war and military service. In the process, she creates an interesting and layered narrative. Additionally, Heikkila recognizes that the women she interviewed do not view their experiences in and of Vietnam as being bound to just the 1960s and early 1970s. Indeed, one of the strengths of her book is the range of time it addresses, covering the women’s lives before, during, and after their service.

The book begins with an examination of what drew the interviewees to nursing and eventually to the military. Certainly, Operation Nightingale, the Army Nurse Corps’s (ANC) extensive 1960s campaign to recruit nurses to serve in Vietnam, helped to plant the idea in women’s minds. Nursing, thanks to idealized views of the field promoted by the ANC, appealed to many. It was a career that was both practical and did not challenge traditional notions of “women’s work.” However, the choice to join the military was decidedly more fraught. Women recounted joining, despite protests of their families and criticisms of their communities, out of a sense of obligation to their country. As nurses and soldiers, the interviewees felt that they had something to contribute. Heikkila is careful throughout the book to present the women’s stories as nurses without ever losing sight of the fact that they were also soldiers at war. In this context, she goes on to examine the trauma all the women experienced while treating severely wounded soldiers in an unknown country and an unimaginable situation. As nurses, the interviewees often put their patients before themselves, to the detriment of their own well-being. With these extremes, interviewees also faced many contradictions. Women were a prized commodity for men at war, boosting morale and providing a “touch of home.” Being seen as an angel protected the women in some ways but placed unreasonable expectations on them also, such as maintaining their appearance despite the demands of nursing. Heikkila is adept at providing a space for the interviewees’ stories in a way that acknowledges these varied experiences.

The second half of the book analyzes the women’s experiences returning to the United States after their deployment in Vietnam. The anti-war movement’s vitriol toward vets, the government’s contradictory or false reports about Vietnam, and the military’s advice to returning soldiers to remove their uniform before leaving base caused the women to feel angry, betrayed, and humiliated. Heikkila also considers how the trauma experienced by interviewees during Vietnam affected them at home. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was common among the women interviewed, and many suffered severely for years. During and after the war, interviewees made little of their own suffering, which made reaching out for help that much more difficult. In the face of the Veterans Administration’s failure to treat women soldiers, especially those dealing with PTSD, the interviewees were largely responsible for their own treatment.

A theme throughout Heikkila’s book is the importance of telling one’s story in order to heal. A support group that all the interviewees participated in helped in this regard and was a pivotal part of both the women’s lives and Heikkila’s work. It served to gather together the women she would eventually interview...