Women Veterans: ‘Invisible Warriors’ on Your Campus

D you have a hidden group of women at your school whose needs aren’t being addressed? You do if your student body includes women veterans. Following reintegration, military women don’t think of themselves as “veterans.” Whether through denial or pride, they believe that they don’t need special assistance. Often their service is misunderstood or discounted. “My experience was that for many years, I didn’t identify with being a vet,” said Michelle Cyrus, diversity office at the Center for Diversity and Social Justice at Central Washington University (CWU), who left the Army after five years to raise a family. At the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) conference held in Phoenix in March 2012, three student affairs professionals with ties to the military spoke about the issues surrounding women veterans. They also suggested ways to help schools to become more veteran friendly. Other panelists were Katrina Whitney, senior director of the Empowerment Center at CWU and Rafael Lozano, veterans’ benefits enhancement program manager at The Evergreen State College WA. Speaking from their experiences, the trio also shared the results of a study they conducted. Cyrus, whose husband was and whose son is now in the military, wishes she had been able to stay in the service long enough to retire from it. Lozano served in the Air Force. Whitney was a military dependent whose father served in the Navy. Statistics tell the story More than 230,000 women now serve on active duty; they are 14% of all active duty soldiers and 18% of National Guard/Reserve members. Women are 20% of new recruits. Of 23 million living veterans, 1.8 million are women. Military culture prides itself on being “hyper-masculine,” said Whitney. “It’s very male-oriented and driven.” The close-knit, sexist culture erects barriers for women who want to be respected for doing their job. It also contributes to women’s invisibility. To better serve the veterans they currently work with, the trio conducted a study of some 40 women, all veterans from World War II forward, to assess their military experiences. It included women from different branches and ranks, as well as enlisted personnel and officers. Most interviews were in person. Not all of the veterans were originally from Washington State; for many it was their last station so they stayed there after discharge or retirement. Their experiences differed significantly depending upon a woman’s role. “The military makes a distinguishing difference between an officer and enlisted, and between ROTC and active duty,” said Cyrus. Women officers reported very positive experiences about their time in the military, although they noted their having to do more and be better than the men to earn respect. Many of the enlisted women reported more negative experiences, including sexual trauma. “When you come in as enlisted, you’re nothing,” she said. When you’re told what to do, you do it even if it means scrubbing the floor with a toothbrush. There were also significant differences between the experiences of women and their male peers. Motherhood and children played a big role in determining whether the military experience was positive or negative. Currently 11% of women in the military are single parents, compared with only 4% of their male peers. Women who were officers chose to have children later in life, while the enlisted women chose to have them during their service. “We see the same kinds of things happening to women that appear in the corporate world,” said Cyrus. Many postpone childbearing until they’ve reached a certain level. Women face unique challenges Improvements in battlefield medicine mean today’s veterans receive very different injuries from those who were in Vietnam and earlier. Many return with “invisible” injuries such as traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) rather than visible physical effects. There’s been a change in women’s roles, too. In the past, women who served in war zones were nurses who operated away from the front lines. Now women are being sent into villages to build relationships with the locals in high combat zones, putting them at risk for the same injuries as their male counterparts. Women with less education have a greater risk of experiencing PTSD. But female soldiers are also returning from combat with NoveMbeR 2012 Volume 21, No. 11 Our 21st year of service