That's what Colonel Mary Hallaren said in 1942 when an Army recruiting officer asked why she thought she should sign up to serve in World War II. That same spunky spirit has prompted American women to take part in every major war in the nation's history. These are some of their stories, from a young Massachusetts woman who cut off her long hair and disguised herself as a man to fight in the American Revolution more than 200 years ago to female pilots flying combat missions in Iraq in 2003. For many years women's contributions in the military weren't mentioned much in history books. Until recently, women had trouble even being allowed to serve because of a long-held belief that the military should be for men only. But that didn't stop thousands of women from pitching in to nurse wounded soldiers in the Civil War. Nor did it discourage the thousands who signed up as Navy yeomen office workers in World War I. As women proved themselves during wartime emergencies, more opportunities began to open up. During World War II, servicewomen did a much wider range of jobs, including being mechanics, technicians, code experts, and aviators. By the Persian Gulf War in the early 1990s, servicewom...