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A Fijian woman member of the British Army deployed in Afghanistan has been recounting life in the battle frontline in a BBC TV special report.
The woman – identified only as Sergeant Sai Walutu – is a member of the 3rd Battalion Parachute Regiment and is based at battalion headquarters in restive Kandahar province.
The BBC report says this is perhaps one of the most remarkable but least noticed changes in our society – the transformed role of women in the armed forces.
BBC correspondent Martin Bell tells of how he met Sgt Walutu and L/Cpl Emma Bradley, who signed on as clerks but just completed a month on operations.
He said the two women joked about their weaponry - L/Cpl Bradley had only a pistol but it was a different story for Sgt Walutu.
"I know the guys would be there for me," she said, "but even so...".
With her rifle, pistol, bayonet and two hand grenades and 150 rounds of ammunition, the Fijian was as heavily armed as any of the men.
On one operation she fired warning shots over Taliban positions, aimed high only because of children in the line of fire between them.
Previously, women were deployed only in support - now they are in combat as well but
Bell says on his recent visit to Kandahar, the largest military base in Afghanistan, he found that women made up one in six of the 2500-strong British force from all three armed services.
The changes are little known outside the forces, but represent a quiet revolution within them.
Women fly the Army Air Corps' Apaches and the RAF's Harrriers. Both of these are attack aircraft.
Their role is to support the ground troops, if necessary, by killing people and blowing things up.
Perhaps more surprisingly, women are regularly deployed on the ground alongside the men.
The reason is that on operations in villages and compounds in Helmand and Kandahar, it is necessary for women to be searched by women.
Women are not enlisted in the infantry, armoured regiments and other units whose purpose is to close with and kill the enemy.
Air Commodore Barbara Cooper, of the RAF, is the most senior woman in any of the three services.
