Three Female Journalists on the Front Lines of War Reporting

REALIZED THAT ACTUALLY THERE WERE RULES THAT PREVENTED WOMEN FROM BEING IN COMBAT OR NEAR COMBAT.

AND YOU SAY IN THE BOOK THAT THESE WOMEN PARTICULARLY AND OTHERS WHO WENT TO THE FRONT LINES, THEY ACTUALLY HAD TO PAY FOR THEMSELVES AND GET UP AND GO ON THEIR OWN.

THEY WEREN'T DEPLOYED, NECESSARILY, BY THEIR BOSSES.

OH, MY GOODNESS, THEY DIDN'T EVEN HAVE BOSSES.

THAT MAKES THEIR ACCOMPLISHMENTS EVEN MORE AMAZING, AND THEY CONVINCED THE PENTAGON TO LET THEM CONTINUE TO COVER THE WAR EVEN THOUGH THERE WAS NO OFFICIAL BAN AGAINST IT.

THAT'S WHAT MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR YOU, CHRISTIANE, FOR EVERYONE AFTERWARDS.

THEY NEVER PUT THE BAN BACK ON.

BELIEVE ME, I AM VERY, VERY AWARE OF ALL THE WOMEN WHO PAVED THE ROAD FOR ME AND I PAY TRIBUTE TO THEM, AND I'M SO PLEASED THAT WE CAN TALK TO YOU ABOUT IT.

CAN I ASK YOU, BECAUSE YOU HAD A DISTINGUISHED CAREER OUT THERE YOURSELF.

YOU WERE THERE IN THE '70s, YOU WENT TO CAMBODIA AS WELL, BUT YOU ALSO HAD YOUR OWN ME TOO MOMENT, IF I CAN PUT IT LIKE THAT, AND YOU WENT THERE TO ESCAPE SOME VERY UNPLEASANT PREDATORY BEHAVIOR.

TALK ABOUT YOUR JOURNEY TO BEING A WAR CORRESPONDENT.

MY MASS -- MASTER THESIS WAS REJECTED.

HE HAD JUST RUINED MY MEDICAL CAREER BUT I WOULD HAVE TO FIGURE OUT A NEW LIFE.

IT TURNED OUT ANOTHER WOMAN NAMED SAVANNAH FOA WHO I HAD MET IN INDIA WHEN WE WERE BOTH TRAVELING STUDENTS, SHE HAD GONE TO COVER THE WAR AND SHE TRIED TO GET ME TO VISIT HER.

SO I WENT OUT, FOOLISHLY THINKING, OH, THIS MUST BE THE WAY THINGS WORK, AND SAVANNAH MADE SURE KATE WEBB MET ME AT THE AIRPORT SO I GOT ON THE RIGHT PLANE IN HONG KONG.

I GOT TO CAMBODIA AND REALIZED, WHAT A FOOL I WAS.

IT WAS SO HARD, IT WAS SO DIFFICULT, BUT AT THE SAME TIME IT WAS THE MOST AMAZING THING I HAD EVER DONE.

IT CHANGED MY LIFE AND I BECAME A REPORTER.