The She Serves website website recently received a significant makeover. In fact, you may not recognize her at first. She’s fun, dynamic, and witty. Simple, supportive, and inspiring. Easy to navigate and chock full of the news that matters most to female veterans.
Thinking about joining the VFW? The new She Serves website makes it super easy. Primarily a recruitment tool, the site clearly spells out the awesome benefits of VFW membership. Not only that, it guides you through the application process showing you exactly how to sign up online as a member-at-large. With sisterhood and camaraderie at its core, the website speaks to female veterans of every generation, inviting each one of you to become an active member in the nation’s largest combat veterans’ organization. After all, you’ve earned it!
For just $35 per year, a member-at-large status offers the Camaraderie, Support, Connections, Advocacy and Distinction that are rightfully yours! Find out more.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service recently announced more than $5 million in grants to aid homeless female veterans and veterans with families. Twenty-six grants in 14 states and the District of Columbia will provide job training, counseling and placement services to reintroduce homeless female veterans to the labor force. See the list of grantees that are helping women veterans get back on their feet.
One of the Navy’s 317 female pilots, Commander Sara Joyner will be promoted to captain this September and is scheduled to report to Carrier Air Wing 14 at Naval Air Station Lemoore, California next summer. She was also the first woman to command an operational fighter squadron known as the Gunslingers, which flew more than 1,880 combat missions. Discover more about Joyner’s accomplishments.
Problems with anger management. PTSD. Homelessness. Suicide attempts. This is just a short list of troubles that the female veteran may have to tackle when she comes home from war. And many times, she feels there is no one to help her. Battling with issues silently, the female vet tries to move past the gruesome realities of war. Adding to the turmoil is the fact many VA medical centers are not equipped to adequately handle the health care needs for the rising number of women veterans. But there’s hope. Read about the dilemmas facing women vets as well as what’s being done to improve their situations.
39-year-old June Moss witnessed many of the Iraq War’s horrors firsthand as the driver in a convoy. Diagnosed with PTSD, she has also endured a series of domestic difficulties and faced financial trouble. Guidance from a therapist helps Moss keep herself together and face the challenges of day-to-day living. Watch slideshow.
Coming home doesn’t have to be so lonely. The She Serves community can help by connecting female vets with one another and helping them access the care every veteran is entitled to! Visit JoinSheServes.org.
Committed to ending homelessness among America’s veterans, the VA has established a new telephone hotline to help veterans find food, shelter, and assistance. Well-trained expert responders staff the hotline 24 hours a day, seven days a week to ensure veterans receive the help they need and deserve. Learn more about this latest initiative to assist homeless veterans.
Did you know that 1 out of 5 individuals coming home from deployments are female? This is a significant number. Who’s looking out for them? To illustrate just how much the VFW cares for the woman veteran, they’ve created a position that ensures these ladies and female veterans from all eras are taken care of. With a goal of ensuring each state signs a pact showing its support for women veterans, every state department now has a Women Veterans Chairperson. This female leader is an invaluable asset to the woman veteran, providing a vital link between her and the VFW. The Chairperson is the department commander’s senior advisor on issues relating to female vets and current members of the US Armed Forces.
Responsible for assisting in the recruitment and retention of female veterans and qualified members of the Armed Forces, the Chairperson will be present whenever there’s a unit welcome home, a special recruiting event, or women veterans forum. Given the contact information for all female vets within her department who’ve joined online or at-large, she helps new members find their niche within the VFW. The Chairperson helps match at-large members to the most appropriate VFW Post and also follows up with first-year members to help them find a new Post if they are not happy with their current one.
The Women Veterans Chairperson’s main job is to serve the female veteran. Think of her as your liaison and friend – a person who will ease you into the VFW and help you extract the most from your membership!
While women are officially barred from combat in the American armed services, in the current war, where there are no front lines, the ban on combat is virtually meaningless. More than in any previous conflict in our history, American women are engaging with the enemy, suffering injuries, and even sacrificing their lives in the line of duty.
This must-read book juxtaposes forty-eight self-posed photographs by Sascha Pflaeging with oral histories collected by Laura Browder to provide a dramatic portrait of women at war. Women from all five branches of the military share their stories here-moving stories that are comic, thought-provoking, and profound. Seeing their faces in stunning color photographic portraits and reading what they have to say about loss, comradeship, conflict, and hard choices will change the ways people think about women and war.
In addition to the book, a documentary film is in the works, and a traveling photo exhibition has recently arrived at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. The exhibition will be in Arlington through September 5, 2010. If you’re a DC local or you have plans to travel to the area over the summer, don’t miss the opportunity to learn about these women and their stories. For a taste of the portraits, check out this slideshow.
When Tish McCullough set out for Branson, Missouri to speak at the Vietnam Women Veterans Conference, she was nervous. An Iraq War veteran, Tish wasn’t from their era. How would these “forces to be reckoned with” perceive her and the message she planned to share? Find out by clicking here.
Feminine yet sporty, this pink cotton VFW cap with adjustable back-strap is only $13.95.