Cpl. Jennifer San Martin, 24, a lioness attached to 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5, who is from Katy, Texas, searches an Iraqi woman as she travels through the checkpoint in Haditha City, Iraq, Saturday. Her guardian angel, Cpl. Tracy R. Hauk, 21, a lioness attached to 3rd Bn., 23rd Marines, who is from Fenton, Mich., provides security as she conducts the search. Female Marines are pulled from units and participate in a 10-day Lioness training evolution to teach them how to correctly search Iraqi women.

Photo Date Taken: 3/22/2008

Unit: 1st Marine Division

Photo ByLine: Cpl. Shawn Coolman

Photo VRIN: 080322-M-3455C-LIONESS-01.jpg

Photo Size: - 174KB (download high-res image)

Cpl. Jennifer San Martin, 24, a lioness attached to 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5, who is from Katy, Texas, searches an Iraqi woman as she travels through the checkpoint in Haditha City, Iraq, Saturday. Her guardian angel, Cpl. Tracy R. Hauk, 21, a lioness attached to 3rd Bn., 23rd Marines, who is from Fenton, Mich., provides security as she conducts the search. After completing a 10-day training exercise, the Marines are qualified to become Lionesses and search Iraqi women, which the male Marines are unable to do.

Photo Date Taken: 3/22/2008

Unit: 1st Marine Division

Photo ByLine: Cpl. Shawn Coolman

Photo VRIN: 080322-M-3455C-LIONESS-03.jpg

Photo Size: - 162KB (download high-res image)

Cpl. Kimberly A. Martin, a lioness attached to 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5, searches an Iraqi woman in Haditha, Iraq, May 1. In Iraqi culture, men are forbidden to search females, so female Marines are attached to infantry units to perform the searches on Iraqi women. It's a unique mission that many female Marines look forward to while deployed to Iraq.

Photo Date Taken: 3/22/2008

Unit: Regimental Combat Team 5

Photo ByLine: Cpl. Shawn Coolman

Photo VRIN: 080322-3455C-3RDBN4THMAR-LIONESS-002.jpg

Photo Size: - 451KB (download high-res image)

Cpl. Kimberly A. Martin, a lioness attached to 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5, searches an Iraqi woman in Haditha, Iraq, May 1 as the woman travels through a checkpoint. Lionesses are female Marines that are trained for the task and then attached to infantry units for the sole purpose of searching Iraqi females. In the Iraqi culture, men are forbidden to search females.

Photo Date Taken: 3/22/2008

Unit: Regimental Combat Team 5

Photo ByLine: Cpl. Shawn Coolman

Photo VRIN: 080322-3455C-3RDBN4TMAR-LIONESS-003.jpg

Photo Size: - 460KB (download high-res image)

Cpl. Kimberly A. Martin, a lioness attached to 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5, searches an Iraqi woman in Haditha, Iraq, May 1. Lionesses have the responsibility of searching Iraqi women at traffic control points because men are forbidden to search women in Iraqi culture. Before arriving to Haditha, the Lionesses went through training at Camp Ripper, Iraq.

Photo Date Taken: 3/22/2008

Unit: Regimental Combat Team 5

Photo ByLine: Cpl. Shawn Coolman

Photo VRIN: 080322-3455C-3RDBN4THMAR-LIONESS-001.jpg

Photo Size: - 486KB (download high-res image)

AL ASAD, Iraq - Cpl. Nicole K. Estrada, a 21-year-old from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., who is a field wireman with Communications Company, 1st Marine Logistics Group bandages a Marine during a Combat Life Saver class as part of Lioness training.

Photo Date Taken: 2/27/2008

Unit: 1st Marine Logistics Group

Photo ByLine: Lance Cpl. Cindy G. Alejandrez

Photo VRIN: lioness080227M1750A009.jpg

Photo Size: - 184KB (download high-res image)

Private First Class Mary H. Walters, a 19-year-old field wireman from Blackfoot, Idaho, inserts a tube inside the nose of Cpl. Monica S. Mendoza, 20 from El Paso, Texas, a Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear defense specialist during a Combat Life Saver class during Lioness training.

Photo Date Taken: 2/27/2008

Unit: 1st Marine Logistics Group

Photo ByLine: Lance Cpl. Cindy G. Alejandrez

Photo VRIN: lioness080227M1750A066.jpg

Photo Size: - 345KB (download high-res image)