If this is already here, I will bump it with all my love.

Mary Colvin, a British journalist and Rhode Island native was killed in Syria on Febuary 22, 2012. She died while covering the siege of Homs when government forces destroyed her hotel with a ten round salvo of artillery and tank shells. She worked as a journalist for 27 years, doing possibly the most badass things including surviving battlefields from Chechnya to Tripoli, drinking scotch with some of the world's most infamous dictators, hung out with rebel leaders, survived gunfights without any firearms whatsoever, and while being wheeled into a hospital, wrote a 3000 word report (she lost her eye during that.) At one point, she snagged an interview with Qadahfi, who actually invited her back for another interview. There's more on her wikipedia article and this site:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Colvin

http://badassoftheweek.com/colvin.html

Colvin was so badass..real life journalist female Solid Snake. Rest in peace.