1LT Ashley I. White-Stumpf - First Female USSOCOM Casualty

[jhungary]

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine send me a photo, and this is how I start writing this article.

It reads

1st Lt. Ashley I. White Stumpf

(Bronze Star) - (Purple Heart)

US Army
KIA 22 October 2011
Kandahar (Possibly misspell), Afghanistan
CST - 2/75 R.R
"Quiet Professionals"

My friend who just got out of the Army, send me this photo and ask me did I think it is genuine. Headstone read 2/75 R.R. Denoted that the unit 1LT Stumpf served is 75th Ranger Regiment.

When I first saw this picture, I ask my friend, why not, but then he come back with a message saying "Yeah, but LT Stumpf was a woman"

as far as I remember, there were 2 women I know had passed the Ranger School, and I do not remember there were any women who actually were inducted into 75th Ranger Regiment, which would make her a part of USSOCOM community.

Then I look at the tombstone, I noticed that it spell Kandahar wrong (It instead spelled Khandahar), and also the TOD (Time of Death) is noted in 2011, which is 2 years before US Army open combat position to women, I immediately thought it was a joke or a fake. But then, for whatever reason, I have decided to look deeper into Lt Stumpf anyway.

1LT Ashley White-Stumpf

Born Ashley White, on September 3, 1987 to Robert and Deborah White, a member of Joseph Catholic Church, went to Marlington High School in 2005, Kent State University in 2009, joined ROTC program with Kent States University. Commissioned as 2LT with the Medical Service Corp (MOS 67X) and Completed Medical Services Officer Basic Course at Fort Sam Houston, Texas and the U.S. Army Basic Airborne Course at Fort Benning, GA. Airborne Qualified. She was assigned to C Company, 230 Brigade Support Bn, NC National Guard. Married Captain Jason Stumpf in 2011.

She was Killed in Action (KIA) on October 22, 2011.

Now, nothing suggested anything with the Ranger. But when I dig deeper. I realise the word CST before 2/75 R.R means Cultural Support Team. Which as usual, abusing my security clearance. I started to dig deeper on what CST is all about.

Cultural Support Team

Cultural Support Team is a all female team that mainly attached to the Joint Special Operation Command (JSOC), CST comprise with volunteer from all branch of Military (Army, Navy, Marine, Air Force and so on) And volunteer is put thru a "100 days of hell training" alongside Deployable Ranger and SEAL team member. The Team then spread out with deployment circle with any JSOC deployed special force team, and accompanied them on Mission.

All CST member are Special Operation Capable and Airborne Certified. Can be and did deploy in Direct Action mission in conjunction with Special Force Unit.

CST is created to gather information on otherwise not capable with cultural conflict, SpecOp Team, mainly (and in many case, only) comprise of men, would not be capable to communicate with female they encountered in the field, and while most male these people encountered is head strong, female on the other hand, was proven time and again to be a good source of Information. A CST team deploy with Special Warfare Operator would take advantage on this cultural gap and benefit both US Armed Force and local population.

On the evening of October 22, 2011, LT White-Stumpf was deployed with a Ranger Team in a direct action mission, the team was ambushed and LT White-Stumpf was killed alongside 2 of her Ranger Comrade. Sgt. First Class Kristoffer Domeij (14th Tours) and Pfc. Christopher Horns (1st Tour).

On that, the struggle between CST and their JSOC counterpart is still murky, 8 years on. For the CST, those are 1 year off-deployment, once that year has ended, they were send back to their parental unit, and thus, "losing" the link to JSOC and US Special Force community. On the other hand, soldier on each side would know the difficult they face, and the taboo it offered. For which, even today, with the general acceptation of Female in Front line, Female serving with Special Force is still some kind of Taboo. As my understanding is that some "Old Guard" seems to be hostile about that and don't want to create a "G.I. Jane" Situation, on the other hand, Women that served in the CST themselves would know that they have to earn their spot on the chopper. Which mean as far as it goes, they cannot let their fellow soldier down.

As for me, a former Ranger School alum, This is what I will say to these ladies.

Hoorah, Ranger Leads The Way.

Author : Gary Locke
Captain, US Army, 1999-2006 Ranger School, Airborne School, US Army Intelligence Corp.

More Photo of 1LT Ashley White-Stumpf

1LT Ashley Stumpf

Cadet Ashley White, Kent State University ROTC

Night Mission, 1LT Ashley Stumpf

CAPT Jason Stumpf and 1LT Ashley Stumpf Wedding Day 2011

 

[jhungary]

@Levina @AUSTERLITZ @James Jaevid @Davos @waz @Slav Defence @Signalian @Nilgiri @Starlord @WebMaster @VCheng

Do you have any opinion about female serving in the front line? Or a unit such as CST that operate in conjunction with US SOCOM? Write to me here?

 

[khansaheeb]

What a waste of life for a mission that accomplished nothing.

 

[jhungary]

What a waste of life for a mission that accomplished nothing.

Is it for nothing?

There are people who die for their country because of their love to their country, there are people who want to excel, and be the best that they can be. There are nothing to win in a war for the individual that were there, whether you are on the winning side or the losing side. People who have been to war can tell you that.

So it come down to the same question, is it all for nothing? For you? Maybe. For me or people like 1LT Stumpf, we were soldier, we fight a war, we fight not because of the government tell us to, we fight not because of the country ask us to, we fight for the people next to us. and even in death, that bond cannot be broken, and we, as soldier will forever ingrain into this bond. Now you tell me, is it for nothing?

 

[VCheng]

@Levina @AUSTERLITZ @James Jaevid @Davos @waz @Slav Defence @Signalian @Nilgiri @Starlord @WebMaster @VCheng

Do you have any opinion about female serving in the front line? Or a unit such as CST that operate in conjunction with US SOCOM? Write to me here?

First of all, thank you for writing about her. She is to be honored and thanked for her noble service to the nation.

You ask a tricky question. In principle I would have no objection to front line deployments, although I could see certain areas where women can be in supportive rather than primary roles.

 

[waz]

@Levina @AUSTERLITZ @James Jaevid @Davos @waz @Slav Defence @Signalian @Nilgiri @Starlord @WebMaster @VCheng

Do you have any opinion about female serving in the front line? Or a unit such as CST that operate in conjunction with US SOCOM? Write to me here?

Firstly sad to see the lady pass on, RIP.
Next I do feel bro that women have their place in the military but in infantry units etc, I don't believe they belong there, but then this lady proved otherwise;

 

[jhungary]

First of all, thank you for writing about her. She is to be honored and thanked for her noble service to the nation.

You ask a tricky question. In principle I would have no objection to front line deployments, although I could see certain areas where women can be in supportive rather than primary roles.

If I was back in the state, I would probably go visit her grave and leave my own Ranger Tab on her grave. I know it is not the Ranger Scroll (which is the insignia of the 75 RR) but that is what I want to do and this is what I think she deserved.

As for my question. In this day and age, we cannot escape the fact that women are going to have an increase representation in the armed force. And with that, we are going to see more casualty for women in war.

The problem, as far as I can see, is that, there are always going to be some old guard who think this is not good for the army. In this case, team like CST is like what they want to do with the situation, where I can come out and say "Hey I gave you women a chance" but also at the same time, what it does is not enough.

I am not saying we should allow women to serve in frontline combat role willy-nilly, but if they earn the seat to be there, I think we should let them. These program could have achieve a lot, but in reality, many people don't know them exist (Even I don't know them exist prior to just a few weeks ago) and they could have achieve so much, and the story I gather (Which I did not write it down here) is that what they do is actually helping the SOCOM team do their job easier....

But in all, its nice to see LT Stumpf was honoured alongside her ranger companion who died serving the country.

 

[Slav Defence]

@Levina @AUSTERLITZ @James Jaevid @Davos @waz @Slav Defence @Signalian @Nilgiri @Starlord @WebMaster @VCheng

Do you have any opinion about female serving in the front line? Or a unit such as CST that operate in conjunction with US SOCOM? Write to me here?

Jhungary,
This is fact that women in front line is considered as taboo.The reason is simply natural biological differences.There was a time that women were not considered eligible enough to perform medical operations.Their research work was not taken seriously.Not just in US, women faced many challenges across the globe.There was even a time that women had no share in property.Hence, woman always had to go through struggle to prove herself.
I believe to let women decide that which profession they would like to adopt and which field in life they would like to choose.Same goes with deployment in army.
There is one thing I want to point out: Now a time has come that freedom of woman is going towards destruction.This means, that there was a time when struggle of a woman was genuine and worthy to be echoed.Now, it is crossing natural order.Woman should adopt what she finds she could do best but then once again she should keep her biological nature in check.One more fact: Woman in past had participated in war but only when no choice was left.Hence, it is not new for women to be engaged in combat but once again she should be assigned where she can find herself serving best.
Regards

 

[jhungary]

Firstly sad to see the lady pass on, RIP.
Next I do feel bro that women have their place in the military but in infantry units etc, I don't believe they belong there, but then this lady proved otherwise;

Well, sometime it's hero make the time, and sometime it's the time who made the hero (Its a Chinese Proverb, not sure if you understand )

May I ask why do you think Women should not be in the infantry unit? Do you think they are not physically fit enough or would distract other from fighting or some other reason?

 

[Indus Pakistan]

Do you have any opinion about female serving in the front line?

If they want to. Why not? I have been training with a female PT instructor in my gym and she is so tough that I struggle to accept that she is 'female'. She could whip most guys on the field. When we say women in the military too many people conjure up this frail female. The truth is most who apply and pass the tests are going to be able to do their jobs.

 

[BringHarmony]

What a waste of life for a mission that accomplished nothing.

Well, if someone says the same about those fallen Pakistani soldiers who fought in 1965 war or 1971 war which achieved nothing on ground for Pakistan, will you agree?

 

[Slav Defence]

Please respect each other.She was someone's spouse and daughter.She was following a faith and she took courage to fight for her land.

Regards

 

[VCheng]

If I was back in the state, I would probably go visit her grave and leave my own Ranger Tab on her grave. I know it is not the Ranger Scroll (which is the insignia of the 75 RR) but that is what I want to do and this is what I think she deserved.

As for my question. In this day and age, we cannot escape the fact that women are going to have an increase representation in the armed force. And with that, we are going to see more casualty for women in war.

The problem, as far as I can see, is that, there are always going to be some old guard who think this is not good for the army. In this case, team like CST is like what they want to do with the situation, where I can come out and say "Hey I gave you women a chance" but also at the same time, what it does is not enough.

I am not saying we should allow women to serve in frontline combat role willy-nilly, but if they earn the seat to be there, I think we should let them. These program could have achieve a lot, but in reality, many people don't know them exist (Even I don't know them exist prior to just a few weeks ago) and they could have achieve so much, and the story I gather (Which I did not write it down here) is that what they do is actually helping the SOCOM team do their job easier....

But in all, its nice to see LT Stumpf was honoured alongside her ranger companion who died serving the country.

Our views are probably quite similar in this matter of who gets to serve and in what roles. The military is only a representation of the society that they protect, and hence the roles are modified in the light of changing social mores as well. This is not an easy debate, and certainly one that is far from clearly decided. Take the example of the issues with transgender service members as an indication of just how passionate differing views can get with such debates.

PS: She is buried south of Cleveland, an area that I go to quite often. I will try to stop by and put down a token of gratitude for her service next time I am down there.

 

[BringHarmony]

There is one thing I want to point out: Now a time has come that freedom of woman is going towards destruction.This means, that there was a time when struggle of a woman was genuine and worthy to be echoed.Now, it is crossing natural order.Women should adopt what she finds she could do best but then once again she should keep her biological nature in check.

This is interesting. Do you know about female soldiers of Hanoi?

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/06/opinion/vietnam-war-women-soldiers.html

 

[khanmubashir]

Is it for nothing?

There are people who die for their country because of their love to their country, there are people who want to excel, and be the best that they can be. There are nothing to win in a war for the individual that were there, whether you are on the winning side or the losing side. People who have been to war can tell you that.

So it come down to the same question, is it all for nothing? For you? Maybe. For me or people like 1LT Stumpf, we were soldier, we fight a war, we fight not because of the government tell us to, we fight not because of the country ask us to, we fight for the people next to us. and even in death, that bond cannot be broken, and we, as soldier will forever ingrain into this bond. Now you tell me, is it for nothing?

Nazi said the same but when .put on trials said they didn't wanted to do it but were.ordered to do so