LIVE ACTION HERO

I immediately envisioned a special edition pony-tailed Barbie doll, complete with accessories like cool sunglasses, army fatigue uniform and boots, weapons holsters---with guns, knives and munitions for combat all tucked in.

Why not? Especially since in our day and age, "female" does not necessarily stand for someone always dolled up and wearing stilettos and fashionable clothing---just like Barbie.

Women, without necessarily chanting the female lib mantra, have indeed come a long way---definitely still faithfully raising their children to be upright citizens, but also putting their lives on the line to preserve our cherished way of life and protect our freedom. So shouldn't our children's toys also mirror that reality?

Well, my new edition doll would be an exact replica of Carolyn.

Carolyn is a full blooded Pinay (Take a bow, her classmates from De La Salle University!) who met her future husband in the US military. We got acquainted with her at a recent chikahan in her parents' house. This time, she looked all woman, quite beautiful with her brown long highlighted hair and subtly-applied make-up.

But the more she spoke and the more we egged her to share her combat field adventure, the bigger she grew in our eyes. Was she 5'5" or seven feet high or taller? Wow, a real live action hero sat right in front of me, and female yet. Too, a Filipina! Can it get any more exciting than this?

Carolyn was a rarity in an army which counted one female for every 30 male company commanders. She was part of the US contingent which surged with the coalition forces into Iraq in 2003---with logistics support as her unit's responsibility.

"We came into Iraq, this huge place," she said, "with 50,000 vehicles and almost 80,000 troops; and had this monstrous traffic jam. We were trying to get a gas refill for our vehicle when I was ordered to clear the traffic, so I did, but I told my driver to stay put." She lost him and managed to reach camp by hitchhiking with three different drivers.

Her craziest stint was at Helmand Province in Afghanistan. "We were 30 days in the middle of nowhere; my first time to be shot at."

Her photos tell a million words about what the US troops go through in war-ravaged Afghanistan.

"But you cannot be afraid. You must think like a soldier, be competent, diligent, disciplined, self-motivated and think out of the box. As long as you know your mission and do things legally and morally, you'll know how to survive. You're prepared for dying by thinking you're not gonna die. But sometimes you wonder if you can trust your equipment."

Does being female make a difference? I asked.

You cannot exploit the fact that you're female. You're a soldier. Period. Be proficient with your weapons. Don't act like a man, but don't forget that you are a woman.

So where has she applied her female skills in the midst of war? She showed her Christmas photos in Afghanistan: Christmas decor all over the wall of a fairly rudimentary facility---with a fake fireplace, fake snowflakes "falling" from the sky and other familiar Christmas decor fashioned out to make her mates feel like it was home, with loved ones. "That's where being a woman helps," she says.

I could not help but think of David, the man after God's heart. In the book of Samuel, King Saul questions David's capability to go against the giant, Goliath.

"You are but a young man,"Saul warned.

Goliath glowered at David, dismissing him as "a little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him" (1 Samuel 17:42). But even before the giant could come near him, David sent his stone hurtling from his sling, straight into Goliath's thick skull. And Israel pillaged the Philistines down to the last warrior and treasure.

The next time you meet someone, hold that first impression. You'd be surprised at what you'd uncover once you get to know her or him better. Almost always, you'd discover gold, sometimes neatly packaged as a live action heroine risking her finesse for our peace.