A job for the girls

By Cpl Simone Liebelt

IT WAS a sad day for Sgt Deanne Ihle in Baghdad recently – back home in Brisbane her little girl started her first day of pre-school without her.

The single mum is in daily contact with her four-year-old daughter Breanna by phone, and although she wasn’t there for Breanna’s big day, she didn’t miss out altogether. Her family promised a video of the day.

“It’s really hard being away from Breanna,” Sgt Ihle said. “It’s also hard for her because she watches TV and knows that I’m in a dangerous place. She says to people, ‘my mum is in Iraq and there are lots of guns, so kids can’t go there’.”

The 1MP Bn sergeant is the senior female MP at the Australian Embassy in Baghdad and is responsible for searching every female who enters the compound.

“Due to local custom, men can’t conduct searches on females, so that’s why we’re here,” she said. “There have been occasions in Baghdad where females have been detected with suicide vests on, so you can never assume that it won’t happen with a woman.

“Even though many of the women don’t speak English, they usually just hand me their bag and put their arms out because they know what’s required, which makes my job easier.”

She also regularly searches female casualties that come through the compound’s vehicle checkpoint in ambulances, as the Embassy is located near the 10th Combat Support Hospital – believed to be the busiest casualty department in the world.

The workload is shared with her female MP partner, Cpl Claire Mortell, the only other female belonging to Secdet 8.

While they work on rotating shifts, Sgt Ihle said there was always time for some good-natured stirring with the other soldiers.

She has become affectionately known as the “Embassy Nanna” by her colleagues after she recently turned 30. The average age of the soldiers around her is 21.