Female veterans: Military changed our lives

The military helped them to learn pride, trust and service, the women said.

By WILLIAM K. ALCORN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Four local veterans say serving their county in the military defined and changed their lives.

One was an electronic warfare intelligence analyst tracking Russian movements for the Army.

Another trained Air Force personnel to survive on the ground in all conditions and terrain after they had jumped or been ejected from their airplanes.

Two others were administrative specialists. One was chief clerk of the Women’s Air Force basic training squadron; and the other worked for a sergeant major and adjutant handling myriad personnel matters at the battalion level.

What they have in common, besides volunteering to serve their country in the military, and being proud veterans, is that they are women.

There was a time when enlisted women in the military were more rare than now; and often considered by their enlisted male counterparts as less than real soldiers.

Some of that attitude still exists, said Karen Brandt, who spent 29 years in the Air Force before retiring in 2004. There is still the perception among some that a woman must have slept with someone to get promoted, she said.

Men of lower rank didn’t always take female soldiers seriously, said Lynn Johnson Williams, who was on active duty in the Army for three years followed by nine years in the Army Reserve.

However, Mone’ Jackson, said in her job as an intelligence analyst, while most of her counterparts were men, “We [women] were looked at more as soldiers than as women.”

Times have changed, and women in the military have gained in number to the point where Brandt said one in seven U.S. military personnel in the Middle East is female.

And despite the survival of some negative attitudes about women in the military, to a woman, they said serving in the military changed their lives and made them better people.

“It changed my life completely,” said Williams, who admitted she was a “priss” and the “baby of the family” and got everything she wanted before saying to herself, “I’m getting out of here,” and joining the Army as a newlywed.

“It made me learn what pride was and to trust in somebody else,” she said.

“Being in the military helped me get this job, and when I go into veterans’ homes ... I am able to relate to their experience,” said Brenda Polas, an employee of the Mahoning County Veterans Service Commission who served in the Air Force from 1967-71.

“When I decided to go to the military, it was a scandal at my school. I had a scholarship offer and I was a PK [preacher’s kid]. I was just trying to get away from Youngstown,” Jackson said.

“The military gives you a foundation. You’re a soldier, and you know no matter what you’re going to survive. Even if you are afraid, you know you can do it,” Jackson said.

“It was positive, but a lot has to do with the time I was in. I lost a lot of friends during Vietnam,” Polas said.

“I am humbled by all the experiences and training and relationships I had the opportunity to be a part of in the Air Force. When I got off the plane coming home from Desert Storm, I felt so humbled to be able to serve my country,” Brandt said.

Some of the problems that occurred because they were women were, looking back, amusing.

Johnson Williams, who is 6 feet tall, said the Army had a terrible time finding clothing and shoes to fit her. And in the reserves, her gender sometimes worked to her advantage. They didn’t always have adequate facilities for women, so she stayed in a hotel rather than a barracks when she was training.

Another thing the four women have in common was traveling together recently at the second annual conference for female veterans in Columbus, attended by some 500 of the state’s 62,000 female veterans.

The primary purpose of the conference is to educate female veterans about benefits available to them through the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“I do outreach to women veterans. They are less likely to seek medical or mental help than men,” Polas said.

For example, a woman at the conference shared that she had been sexually assaulted in the military, but had never come forward to report it, Williams said.

Also, Polas said, there is still the misconception that if a veteran does not serve overseas, he or she is not entitled to VA benefits.

Mingling with the other female veterans at the conference had a profound affect on the local women.

“I was impressed by all the other women veterans that were there. I saw where they are today and their caring for women who are in the war now,” Brandt said.

“We sat around a table with women we didn’t know, and yet we had something in common,” Jackson said.

“The women at the conference were like family. You could feel the compassion and love and common respect. It made me think about things I haven’t thought about in years,” said Williams.

“The conference gave me a sense of pride to know our service is acknowledged and appreciated by our country,” said Polas, with tears in her eyes.

alcorn@vindy.com