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DO FEMALE SOLDIERS CONSIDER THEMSELVES
VETERANS? -- "Only women themselves will
achieve the recognition they deserve.
No one will do it for us."
Commentary here...
http://ezinearticles.com/
?Do-Female-Soldiers-Consider-
Themselves-Veterans?&id=401147
Commentary below:
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Do Female Soldiers Consider Themselves Veterans?
By Susan Shannon
Women do not really consider themselves veterans. I have come to this
conclusion after having felt isolated for years as a female veteran. I
wondered, "where are all the other woman veterans"? We come back from
war, and if we get out, we disperse to our lives and never reconnect.
Why is that? Why haven't we formed organizations like the men have with
the VFW, the American Legion, VVAW (Vietnam veterans against the war)?
I really think it is because women have not been in combat or lets say
they haven't been trained in combat roles. As the combat line blurs or
is nonexistent ( as in Iraq) in modern warfare, the traditional combat
roles become obsolete. today in Iraq women are traveling in convoys,
patrolling streets, manning check posts just like the man. The are IN
combat every day.
However, we still think of war in old time terms where soldiers line up
on two sides and move toward each other in hand to hand combat or tank
combat. That doesn't happen much these days. Most wars that happen now
are guerrilla type wars. You never really know where or who your enemy
is and everybody has to be ready to defend.
Will this change the way women are seen in the military? I think because
women have traditionally been in rear echelon roles, they don't think of
themselves as veterans. Our entire society traditionally views only the
combat soldier as a veteran. There is even a hierarchy within the
community of veterans as to who is the real veteran. Some combat
soldiers have little respect for those who are not in direct combat as
evidenced by the use of acronyms such as REMF (rear echelon m f). Who
can blame them? They faced death daily, saw their friends kills, were
wounded. Their experience is to be respected and admired. But I also
think that a lot of women feel like their roles in war are not as
important because they were not in direct combat. They feel that they
should just go back and shut up because the only real soldier is a
combat soldier.
Many women have families to go back to, children to take care of so they
tend to just move on and put the experience in a box. Women are not
people who celebrate violent victory over any enemy. They are not
trained to do so. Men are programmed to feel good about prevailing over
an enemy.
Women have, in the past, been in support roles in war. Their jobs are
just as important and without them, the combat soldier couldn't do their
job. However, they are not given the recognition they deserve.
Only women themselves will achieve the recognition they deserve. No one
will do it for us. We will need to form national organizations to serve
our needs. We will have to demand the specific services women need. It
is women who demand that the lack of support for the children of
soldiers and veterans rectified. (We forget children also go through war
along with their parents, but there is no room for the needs of children
at the VA hospitals and Vet Centers) We can follow the courageous
example of Diane Carlson who fought for years to get a statue of female
veterans in Vietnam. We have to look to the women who helped bring the
women veterans memorial at Arlington National Cemetery (that few realize
exists). We need to gather together as a group to support each other,
recognize each other and demand that this nation do the same.
Susan Shannon served in the Persian Gulf War as a flight nurse in aero
medical evacuation. Her job was to fly wounded soldiers to hospitals
around the region. No longer in the air force, she is currently an
emergency room nurse who wonders why women veterans are invisible in
this country.
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Larry Scott
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