Fighting for equality in the military

Eight women, including some PSU students, from various branches of the military, came together with the Student Veteran’s Association on campus yesterday in a panel discussion to talk about the experiences and difficulties unique to women serving in the military.

Over the course of nearly two hours, the speakers addressed questions about family issues, equality, health, sexual harassment and social stigma. About two dozen students, including other females in the military, attended the discussion in the Smith Memorial Student Union Multicultural Center.

Sergeant Jamie Garcia described her ordeal with a sexual harassment case against a superior officer six years ago.

“When I tried to report that,” she said, “I was ostracized. They put it on my record. They interviewed men to see who I’d slept with. A lot of people saw it as going against ‘the code’ when I tried to report it.”

Although she eventually won her case, Garcia said it was not an easy path, but it did make her stronger in the end. “I now know for a fact that I can stand up for myself.”

Some panelists said it is difficult to get recognition for the service they put in as women.

Liz Hatfield, a PSU student, worked as a secretary in the military, and witnessed the frustrations women soldiers had to face. She said sometimes women would not get as much credit for their work as men. “But a lot of the women out there, they worked just as hard.”

“My medical unit was attacked by a sniper once,” said Michelle, a combat medic who served during the Gulf War and whose last name the Vanguard was unable to identify by press time. “There’s a lot of misconceptions about women–‘oh they’re going to cry, they’re going to break.’ In my experience, 99 percent of the time, it was the men who broke.”

Panelists also discussed the issues that arise with having a family, having a spouse also in the military service as well as the positive experiences they were able to take with them. Many said they found a sense of camaraderie and of family in the military.

The panel also discussed their experiences at Portland State, and the difficulties of talking about military issues on campus.

Garcia and others expressed the feeling of being ostracized and stereotyped by many of students they interact with.

“I heard this, ‘Women in the military can’t be good mothers, because they have a hard heart and they kill,'” said Garcia, a mother herself. “And I was just like, ‘Oh my God, where did you come up with that?'”

Others said they question whether or not they should even mention to fellow students that they served in the military and the feelings of having to justify themselves.

Jacob Meeks, president of the Student Veteran’s Association, said there is a feeling of disdain from some on campus even at the administration level. Meeks said that during a recent meeting discussing the possibility of opening a veteran’s resource center on campus, a PSU upper administrator, who Meeks would not name, asked him why the school should treat veterans differently than anyone else?

The speakers gave examples of instructors teaching, what some panelists say is, misinformation about military life, and their discomfort at coming forward to correct it.

“I get in trouble with a lot of my instructors,” Hatfield said, “because I say what no one else will; that they’re biased and full of shit.”