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Female vets serve with pride
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Donna Burford discusses her military career and the convention in a board room at Oak Hill Renaissance building along with two other women veterans.
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J. Lori Stone of Austintown discusses her military career and the convention in a board room at Oak Hill Renaissance building along with two other women veterans.
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Susan Skrzynski of Boardman discusses her military career and the convention in a board room at Oak Hill Renaissance building along with two other women veterans.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
Two were “lifers,” making careers of the military, and another did a three-year hitch.
They enlisted in different eras, ranging from the 1950s, when women in the military were still somewhat of a rarity, to the 1980s, when the presence of female soldiers was becoming more commonplace.
Susan Skrzynski, J. Lori Stone and Donna Burford shared their experiences after the 2009 Ohio Women Veterans Conference in Columbus. The trio was part of a contingent of 17 from this area who joined about 700 female veterans from throughout Ohio.
Skrzynski, 47, of Boardman, spent 15 months in Iraq from December 2003 to March 2005 with an Army construction engineer unit. She often transported the unit commander to worksites at forward operating bases.
“I drove with my M-16 pointed out the window,” she said.
Stone, 62, of Austintown, spent 33 years’ combined active and reserve status in the Air Force, retiring in 2006 as head of education and training at the 910th Airlift Wing at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna. When she was hired in 1977, she said she was the first enlisted female maintenance training technician in the Air Force Reserve and the first enlisted female reservist in the 910th.
“I just loved the military,” she said.
Donna Burford, 71, of Struthers, joined the Air Force in 1956 and worked as an aircraft dispatcher.
“I am very proud to have been in the military. Once you get it in your blood, you don’t lose it,” she said.
The women reminisced and laughed about their experiences in the military and how some attitudes toward females in uniform have changed and how some have stayed the same.
Skrzynski, a benefits counselor with the Mahoning County Veterans Service Commission, has a 15-year-old son, Jacob. She retired in 2007 as a sergeant first class, and was operations sergeant for the 216th Engineer Battalion at the Ravenna Arsenal.
Though jobs have opened up for females in the military, she said being one of the few female soldiers in her field wasn’t always easy.
“It was perceived in some quarters that I didn’t earn my position. I think I gained the respect of my co-workers with my knowledge of the job. If you are an equipment operator, you are an equipment operator,” she said.
Stone, who regularly volunteers at the Youngstown Veterans Affairs Clinic and is a member of AMVETS Post 112 in Newton Falls, served during the Vietnam War, Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom, but was not deployed overseas during those times.
She enlisted in 1965 but was discharged in 1967 when she became pregnant while she and her husband were stationed in the Philippines. Pregnant women were not permitted in the military at the time, though that, too, has changed.
Stone said that when she was hired as the full-time female maintenance technician at the 910th, she received some “not very nice” phone calls questioning her ability and qualifications to do the job.
“You had to make sure you were qualified and that those being trained were qualified. If you can’t do the job, I can’t deploy with you. That is true of men and women,” she said.
Burford, who is commander of American Legion Post 158 in Struthers, said women in the military in the 1950s didn’t go into battle. “We were pretty much limited to nursing and desk jobs,” she said.
The three were unanimous in encouraging women to join the military.
“Do it. It will give you self-respect, and a sense of accomplishment and pride in yourself and your country,” Skrzynski said.
“Go for it,” said Burford. “Women in the military have a lot more responsibility now. It’s really super.”
The Columbus conference was sponsored by the VA, VA Healthcare System of Ohio Network, Ohio Department of Veterans Services and the Advisory Committee on Women Veterans. The oldest at the conference was 91, the youngest, 23, said Burford.
“It was great being with so many women who have the same thing in common. I can’t wait to go back,” she said.
“I didn’t know what to expect at the conference,” Skrzynski said. “I didn’t have any idea how massive it was. Just to see women veterans from different walks of life. You wouldn’t know them if you saw them on the street, but we all have the military in common. I loved listening to the older women to see the differences in their experiences from mine.”
alcorn@vindy.com