The Army's combat arms branches, infantry, armor and artillery, remain closed to women. But the Massachusetts National Guard's 42nd Military Police Company is charged with a mission in Iraq that will require three of its female MPs to log thousands of miles of mounted combat patrols alongside their male comrades.

Second Lt. Kristin Procida, a 24-year-old live wire assigned to the deploying unit straight from officer training, already has led several convoys through the heart of the Sunni Triangle. Procida isn't one to challenge Pentagon doctrine, but she sees little distinction in this war between units that allow women and those that don't.

"Right now in this environment, we're doing the same missions as infantry. We're out there just as much as the infantrymen are," she said.

Her veteran platoon sergeant, Staff Sgt. Timothy Hoke, gives the energetic young lieutenant high marks as a soldier and a leader.

"I think our lieutenant is high-speed. She's out there in the mix. She's not hesitant," Hoke said.

He's just as impressed with his enlisted female MPs: Spc. Sarah Kane of Medford and Spc. Dalila Navarro of Springfield. Kane drives one of the platoon's armored Humvees, and Navarro is a gunner on another.

The headquarters platoon also boasts several fighting women, including the platoon sergeant, Staff Sgt. Ternilia Myers. Five are mothers.

Spc. Ngeri Gordan, an administrative specialist, has put in for leave midway through her Iraq tour hoping to be home for her daughter's second birthday.

"They get a lot of respect from the guys because they are soldiers," said Richard Bowe, the company's first sergeant.

All of the company's women live in close quarters to the men - their only privacy found behind makeshift plywood walls or draped blankets. The showers are the exclusive province of the women every other hour, but the six-stall latrine building is unisex.

"I'm not real thrilled about the bathroom. It's kind of weird," said Cpl. Deborah St. Dennis of South Hadley. "But (it's a) combat situation. Suck it up."

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