Kirsten A. Holmstedt is an author and journalist who has written two books about American servicewomen fighting in Iraq and their experiences. Holmstedt's first book, Band of Sisters: American Women at War in Iraq, was released in 2008; a year later, she followed with The Girls Come Marching Home: Stories of Women Warriors Returning from the War in Iraq. Holmstedt began her research as a Creative Nonfiction Writing graduate student at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where she worked closely with servicewomen stationed at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune as they returned from Iraq.