A Marine’s Life: Deployment Photos

I’m home sick from work today.  I’m not throwing up or anything, but my voice is worn out and I’ve developed chest congestion overnight.  Today I can barely talk and being in a customer service line of work, there are numerous tasks I cannot effectively accomplish without speaking to people, either the VA, students, my peers, or my supervisors.  Days like today are difficult for me because I very much feel my voice is a significant part of who I am.  I’m not a brooding person in the corner who quietly learns and rarely speaks up to ask questions or provide insight for others.  I engage others at all different levels to speak on matters that interest me, to teach our work study students, to walk students through the benefits process, and as a general part of socialization.

To say I love talking is an understatement.  I remember learning the word ‘locqacious’ in the 5th or 6th grade and feeling empowered by this word.  My dad had joked before about me being a Chatty Cathy, but I feel like I can’t help myself.  Talking, for me, is a great way to know my presence is importance and I receive as much satisfaction listening to others, in most circumstances.  There are people I truly love to talk to; we talk about numerous issues we find socially relevant and even our day-to-day analysis of our goals, progress, and achievements is rewarding for me.

And as I’m desperately trying not to talk today to give my barely there voice a rest, I felt compelled to write.  Writing is but another way to talk and so my voice is still shared with others.

On March 1st, my 31st birthday by the way, I will be “celebrating” my ten year anniversary of returning home from my first Iraq deployment.  The cruel irony is that fighting continues to be a problem in that area and the news is reporting unconfirmed information that 45 individuals in Iraq were burned to death. The nearby base, Al Asad, is where I deployed on my second tour.  More information is coming out today that this new wave of violence might involve organ harvesting.

While I wasn’t meaning to delve into the recent horrors, I know it’s important to state the new wave of violence that has taken root in areas like Iraq, Libya, and other nations.  It is this spread of violence that makes me miss my military service.      Particularly, as Marines, we are taught to go out and fight battles.  We are honest in our assessments of hating garrison life and deployments that mimic that existence.  We like being war fighters.  We don’t expect others to understand that mentality.

Anyways, I did promise deployment photos per the subject heading of this blog entry.  It’s not that I’ve intentionally ignored sharing this part of my life, but thinking, when is the best time to invite you into that world.

An acquaintance and I flying to or either back from Qatar, December 2004.
An acquaintance and I flying to or either back from Qatar, December 2004.
I promise I'm not the only Marine who enjoyed getting their photo taken in front of huge piles of Iraq money.
I promise I’m not the only Marine who enjoyed getting their photo taken in front of huge piles of Iraq money.
Getting ready to convoy over to Camp Ramadi.
Getting ready to convoy over to Camp Ramadi.
This photo was taken during my day trip to Camp Ramadi for our Humvee driving test.
This photo was taken during my day trip to Camp Ramadi for our Humvee driving test.
Myself and the rest of the day crew shift.
Myself and the rest of the day crew shift.
Myself and two Marine acquaintances I knew back then; this photo was taken in Qatar.
Myself and two Marine acquaintances I knew back then; this photo was taken in Qatar.

cheryl_night02

As I look back, there are a lot more smiling photos of me from this time period despite the fact this deployment was more dangerous than the second.
As I look back, there are a lot more smiling photos of me from this time period despite the fact this deployment was more dangerous than the second.
Myself at the mall in Qatar (December 2004)
Myself at the mall in Qatar (December 2004)
Posted on by She_wears_dogtags 0

Marisol Salgado: From Enlisted Marine to Marine Corps Officer

It’s almost ten at night here, but I am working through some homework. One of my upcoming objectives is to write a paper on female recruiting for our nation’s military after 9/11. Tonight, I decided to scout around the Marines website and to my shock and pure joy, I found out one of the recruits from my platoon is now a Marine officer.

I highly doubt she would remember me. I was much more timid back then than I am now, but that’s something we can talk about another time. I wouldn’t say I socialized much with many of the women in my platoon; you run through a lot of skill sets during training and my downtime was spent mostly writing letters to family and friends back home. I would also clean my rifle, but there were girls that were more dedicated than I was at their training. They would practice drill and knowledge in their free time and their efforts paid off immensely. Back then, I was not as diligent in my studies as I am now. I was more captivated by the thought of just finishing boot camp. However, it was always interesting to watch how other recruits interacted with each other. There were a couple who just seemed to be a perfect fit for the Marine Corps.

Platoon 4030, Oscar Company...We had some incredible drill instructors!
Platoon 4030, Oscar Company…we had some incredible drill instructors!
Marisol was one of the 12 recruits in our platoon who dared to smile for her boot camp yearbook photo.
Marisol was one of the 12 recruits in our platoon who dared to smile for her boot camp yearbook photo.

Please note that in this photo from the Marine Corps Facebook page, she is wearing a different cover [hat]. I had heard about changes to authorize the formerly male cover and dress blues jacket for women and it’s interesting to see that changes are taking place during my lifetime. I’ve always thought the male version of the cover and jacket looked much better than our “flight attendant” looking uniform items. I found the MARADMIN (Marine Administrative Message) about the cover change, if anyone wants to check it out.

Photo courtesy of https://www.facebook.com/marinecorps
Photo courtesy of https://www.facebook.com/marinecorps

Please check out her story; it’s so exciting to know she made the transition from enlisted to officer. I hope this career path is something she enjoys for many years to come and many others can be inspired by her chosen profession.

Posted on by She_wears_dogtags 2

National Geographic February 2015: Controversy and Insights

My mother-in-law subscribes to National Geographic and I always try to sneak a peek at what National Geographic is covering when I go to her home. It was quite a surprise recently when I found their February 2015 edition, which showcases a veteran on the cover for their “Healing Our Soldiers” article.

It’s an interesting read about traumatic brain injury. I don’t want to delve too much on the article as I feel everyone who reads this blog should read it for themselves. Each person will have his or her own interpretation regarding what’s presented–shock, disgust regarding this sort of trauma, intrigue,etc. Please read the article. It’s fascinating as everything else I typically find in National Geographic.

What I wish to speak to you all about today is the cover and imagery presented. I’ve already highlighted information I found interesting.

The alterations are mine (made on PicMonkey).
The alterations are mine (made on PicMonkey).

The biggest frustration of mine with the article is the statement: Healing Our Soldiers.

An organization such as National Geographic should be well aware that we are not all soldiers, especially when it takes the time to portray a Marine on the cover. The generic term of ‘soldiers’ is an antiquated way to look at veterans and service members as a homogenous group. We are not all soldiers. I, in particular, get ticked when people call me a soldier. I am a Marine. I earned my title of Marine. I don’t make this statement to downgrade a Soldier’s service. He or she worked to become a Soldier. I worked to become a Marine.

If National Geographic wants to look collectively at us [all persons who have served this nation’s military] as a group, ‘veterans’ works well for those who left the armed forces or ‘service members’ to look at the group including those actively serving.

My coursework reminds me to look at what is being done right in the article as well. National Geographic decided to show two non-Caucasian men, retired Marine Gunnery Sergeant Aaron Tam and Army First Sergeant David Griego, and one female, Marine Gunnery Sergeant Tiffany H. I don’t know whether the average American realizes the lack of true front lines exposed female service members and non-infantry males to many of the same dangers typically encountered by infantry service members. Improvised explosive devices, a cheap weapon to manufacture, were a common problem on the supply routes and a frequent danger for individuals on convoy operations. With this information in mind, consider the fact individuals who are motor transport, supply, combat camera, and the band [at least speaking for the Marine Corps, because they are augmented to units or fill security roles] fill roles both on and off base. Some female service members, as well, served at entry control points and or as part of female engagement teams in villages. Much of the press I’ve seen focuses almost exclusively on the experiences of young, Caucasian infantry males, by comparison. The individuals in the article seem to be particularly older, probably mid 30’s to early 40’s guessing based on their appearances and respective ranks.

This article is not without controversy though. When I discussed the article with my peers, I was informed one of the service members has had allegations made against him. This information made me give the magazine a second look. I must admit I’m embarrassed I didn’t realize one of the Marines had a goatee in uniform. I had completely overlooked all the service members’ small photos and instead focused on the ones of them in their masks. Corporal Chris McNair, retired (per the article’s description), is pictured in close up below [picture from National Geographic’s website]:

Screen Shot 2015-02-11 at 9.02.41 PM

However, this controversy is not what my peer was referring to in our discussion. I didn’t see an article with background information but quite an inflammatory response as follows when I typed in search terms looking for further information. Please bear in mind, the language is not mine and I cannot verify the accuracy of the information provided. However, the reaction is worth noting. I don’t think someone would post this sort of response to the ‘Stolen Valor’ Facebook page without there being at least some level of truth based on how disrespectful it is for anyone to claim certain service experiences (Brian Williams’ current debacle comes to mind) or fake military/veteran status.

Screen Shot 2015-02-11 at 6.33.49 PM

Posted on by She_wears_dogtags 0

Fall 2014 Semester Recap

6 February 2015

I am constantly working to organize my blog and to keep it up-to-date. Imagine my surprise when I realized I never posted how my first semester of graduate school ended!

Below is a much condensed version of my original post that became buried in my mountain of “to do’s”.

~C

p.s. I have about three concrete t-shirt ideas I’m almost ready to move forward with into samples. I didn’t want you all to think that goal fell by the wayside. I needed time to get the creative juices flowing. As part of that planning, I will share with you the story of a local female service member who is tackling the subject of female service in a similar and slightly different fashion. I’ll write a little more about her here soon.
————————————————————————————————————-

Rocking a 4.0....the discipline paid off!
Rocking a 4.0….the discipline paid off!

The pressure of this semester is finally alleviated! This first semester was exciting, draining, insightful, and amazing. It’s hard to imagine it’s gone by as quickly as it has, but I made it. The month of October made me pretty nervous my grades would be in the dumps; I tried to tack on some extra post work activities, but one day of traveling to Phoenix taught me, I don’t have the energy to “do it all.” At the same time, I also balanced additional work responsibilities so I quickly reached my limitations of sanity. I can only handle so much sleep deprivation before I’m either a sobbing mess or just this side of angry and desperately want to punch someone in the face. (Note: I won’t, but the desire is still there.)

I was hardly a 4.0 student for my undergraduate degrees, so I am excited my hard work paid off. A significant portion of my success happened behind the scenes and I’d like to share that information as well.

1. Do Your Homework

This one probably goes without saying but it’s hard to be successful if you don’t invest the time and energy to know the material. For my graduate program, my work entails a significant amount of reading. One of my courses provided more reading materials than we had to keep up with, but my instructor reminded us to focus on key pieces to get the most out of our experience. As well, there were some days where I had to reread a couple articles several times before the material made sense. The plus side is I was also better prepared to engage in classroom discussions and I do feel more confident as I get older sharing my opinion. The feedback I receive in gauging how well I understand the material and can apply it to my future goals.

2. Utilize Your Support Network

My husband as you may know is a full time undergraduate student and a VA contracted work study. He and his parents helped throw a lot of support my way as I tackled this semester. Our daughter enjoyed lots of extra time visiting her grandparents and my husband picked her up almost exclusively this semester. He also did a majority of the cooking, when we weren’t enjoying fast food outings, and kept the house relatively tidy. I also enjoyed the good company of my friend,Jennie, who listened intently to my stories of graduate school. It’s fun that we enjoy discussing human behavior as much as we do. It’s never a dull moment with us.

3. Keep Your Eye on the Prize

This semester was tough. We were short staffed at my work and I took on extra overtime on numerous occasions just to stay on top of my regular responsibilities. However, I stayed up late when necessary to excel in my schoolwork and I cut back on social outings when necessary. I cut myself some slack for those days when I fell behind on eating well, working out, keeping a clean house, and the laundry. The reward for letting go and being persistent in other areas paid off in discovering potential areas of research and ending the semester on a high note.

Posted on by She_wears_dogtags 0

Couples & Stress: Our Version

Recently, my husband and I volunteered to be participants in a study on couples and how they cope with stress.  Normally, I would suspect it would be difficult to encourage him to participate but there was a $70 cash incentive, which easily paid for some extra dining out this month.  We are such bad foodies…any opportunity to go out to eat makes us happy.  We love our food adventures.

What I wanted to mention though and I hadn’t thought of it at the time of the study, is our military experiences are not a source of stress in our relationship.  We both are there for each other through our health-related issues like our chest pains and other such issues.  We can talk about dealing with indirect fire on our deployments, our thoughts on poor leadership and the consequence it has on military service members (such as the Camp Bastion attack in 2012), and some of the sexual harassment I dealt with during my service.

We are different in a way because for many military couples, there’s the dynamic of the service member, typically a man, and the spouse or partner, typically a civilian woman.   Oftentimes, the civilian spouse/partner has little to no idea what kinds of things the service member encounters.  There are issues of operational security so only certain things can be shared and unfortunately, as well, there are times service members relay information they shouldn’t have.  There’s a reason why there’s a saying “Loose lips sink ships.”

When the civilian partner is also really young in the relationship (18-20 year old group) and the service member leaves for a combat deployment, there is a lot of discourse.  It doesn’t help as well that when you look biologically at people of this age, there is a lot of emotional development still occurring.  There tends to be a lot of emotional chaos at the same time that surrounds deployments.  In some ways, I’ve experienced my own share.  I had a partner who decided to end a relationship prior to my departure to Iraq and it changed our ability to remain friends afterwards.  I was curt in my email responses that he could not talk to me the same way he did while we were dating.  In the duration of that deployment though, he did send me one letter that revealed a side of him I did not experience throughout our courtship.  I had really wanted to know that I was loved and appreciated in our former relationship and he recognized that he lost something when I decided to date again.

It’s even things like I just explained that I continue to learn are safe subjects to have with my husband.  He made the decision to marry me and I equally made the same decision.  I cannot remember the full conversation in detail but we talked freely about marriage not as the entering into of a religious obligation for a longterm partnership, as others see and are taught the institution of marriage to be.

He is Agnostic and I consider myself a Christian although I do not follow an adherence to certain principles and have made my own share of mistakes according to the teachings of the church.  I don’t admonish people for having premarital sex.  I think it’s more important to teach sexual education as a means of overall health and safety.  It bothers me greatly that society still tends to teach a woman’s worth as attached to her sexuality.  There are mixed messages about being a virgin and being prudish.  There is the social positioning that women should be sexually attractive and yet at the same time, she is equally at risk of begin termed a whore, slut, or some other debasing slang term.  I don’t believe in abortion although I will not interfere with another’s right to one.  For example, a woman who is raped is someone I truly feel deserves the right to choose abortion if she feels she cannot deal with the unplanned pregnancy for mental health reasons.  I also believe abortion is acceptable if a woman’s health is at risk and she is interested in her own self-preservation.  She should not be denied the right to live in order to save her unborn child.  However, I also don’t believe people should get abortions because they neglected to use birth control appropriately.  I am friends with people who have gone through this situation and I think it’s important that we equally understand where each other is regarding this issue.

Anyways, I’ve gone incredibly off topic but I felt it was important to share where my views are a mixture of beliefs (part upbringing, part education, partly influenced by religion).  Getting back to what are forms of stress and happiness for us though…

One of the photos I carried with me on my 2004-2005 Iraq deployment.
One of the photos I carried with me on my 2004-2005 Iraq deployment.

Family issues are #1 a source of stress for me.  I think anyone would agree it’s difficult at times when you have different beliefs compared to your parents, siblings, aunts & uncles, or grandparents.  Everyone was raised in different circumstances according to society’s beliefs at the time of upbringing; influence of friends, families, and other significant persons; specific limitations/abilities of each person; and so on.  We are unique as individuals and our personality types do not always mesh well together.  Trying to keep everyone happy is a big job and I do realize it’s not my responsibility anymore.  When I was younger, I tried really hard to be a kid who got good grades, stayed out of trouble, and overall, worked to meet the expectations of others.

In late June/July of 2005, after coming back from my first deployment, I realized it was a burden I no longer wanted or could carry.  I wasn’t just exhausted from pleasing everyone, but felt downright destroyed.  My relationship with my dad had fallen apart after trusting him to manage one of my student loans, which went to collections.  My relationship with my extended family felt strained because I was eager to serve my country and they were more concerned that I didn’t volunteer again for another deployment.  There were many other issues I encountered, but the most important thing I learned that year was knowing I was hurting myself by putting everyone else first.  I stepped back from a lot of people.  It was a scary thing to do but I knew that I wanted to finally live for myself and find my own path, even if it took years to get there.

In doing this stress survey, the issue “discovered” to be a shared point of stress was our financial attitudes.  It is no shock to me that it’s an issue that bothers us both greatly.  I’m more apt to feel like my money will be gone again if I don’t hoard some of it.  That happens when you’ve been unemployed twice.  I could care less if I am ever independently wealthy; what I don’t ever want to be again is poor.

The survey ends on a good note as we discussed our daughter, our shared joy.  She is soooo eager to one day be a big sister and it’s funny to see this behavior modeled in a small child.  While she enjoys our company, all she wants (for the most part) is a sibling.  We’ve tentatively talked to her about how families come in all shapes and sizes (one parent, two moms or two dads).  I think if we begin to think more seriously about adopting later, she would be thrilled.  We joked that she’d get to pick her sibling and my husband reminded me she really wants a sister.  However, should we choose adoption, our daughter’s opinion on the matter is of upmost importance to us.  She is our only child and is old enough to be part of the conversation about the potential expansion of our family, should be have the urge to parent another child.  Neither he or I feels a biological child is a superior option to becoming parents; it’s not a sentiment shared among many people we know, but for us, an adopted child would be 100% ours, the way our daughter was the moment we found out I was pregnant.

Posted on by She_wears_dogtags 0

Two Men, Two Deaths, Two Years Apart

Tonight’s post is a short one.  Ten years ago today, my Watch Officer, Captain Sean Brock, was killed in a mortar attack.  As well, 8 years ago today, my father-in-law passed away, days before I was slated to return stateside from my second deployment.  Their losses were such uniquely different experiences and while I know we die, it’s hard not to think of all the things they’ve missed in the years since.

Captain Brock, USMC

As an enlisted junior Marine, I was not a close acquaintance to Capt. Brock.  Officers and enlisted service members are not to fraternize with one another; however, there are moments where officers and enlisted members work closely with one another that you see more of each other’s personalities, work ethic, and teamwork capabilities.  We worked in close quarters near one another in our Combat Operations Center.  We had two Watch Officers (day and night) and a Senior Watch Officer .  Captain Brock was our Day Watch Officer and I worked with him for several months until my shift changed over to night crew.  He was like us, the NCO and below group, a person who would use the personal computer station to send emails home.  I spent a significant portion of my time writing on my Myspace page, which was popular back in 2004-2005.

His death was quite a shock to me, even though our base had been mortared frequently before.  I was on the phone with my grandmother when I heard the mortar land.  It was one of those situations where you keep the conversation going so as to not frighten the other person on the line.  You say your goodbyes, quite meaningfully and then are thankful “nothing bad happened.”  Until I was informed that something had happened.  I don’t remember at what time we were informed Captain Brock died as a result of his injuries but the environment in the room changed.  We lost one of our own.  Not that the other casualties we covered in activity reports didn’t matter, but this time, the loss was incredibly personal.  The energy changed.  We realized we had been lucky up until this point.  It was frustrating as well to sit behind a screen and see the details we normally posted on our activity reports, as though the screen taunted us with this information.  However, we still had work to do and we had to sit and wait for new activity reports to be generated to stop this one from haunting us.

I was twenty at the time; Captain Brock was only 29.  I am fortunate, as best one could say, to not be among the members of the Quick Reaction Force that saw Captain Brock in his injured state.  I think my heart would have forever been broken had I been there in that moment.  The Marine Corps trains you for so many things, but holding onto that person to keep them alive, comforting them in their last moments, and being with them when they pass over, it’s not something in our job description.  It’s just something we may be asked to do and Marines do it because they love each other.

One of my Corporals, Corporal Vaughn, and I were tasked with burning Capt. Brock’s cover [hat] and holster.  It was a quiet, respectful task assigned to us; I’m not sure why us, but that’s what happened.  Others might find it dreadful but it was also peaceful in a way.  You just watch the material burn away slowly.  It was probably the only time I would say I saw Vaughn exhibit maturity in a way I knew he was capable of and a reverence I’m often told is prevalent to infantrymen.

I know Captain Brock didn’t get a lifetime of marriage to his wife, Heather.  He never became a father.  He never went on to complete his other educational goals.  I think one of the things that made me the most sad about his loss was knowing what impact his death likely had on his twin.  I am a twin myself and when you grow up as a set of children, birthdays are interesting.  You might have those moments where you feel unnoticed because the day isn’t all about you.  Then when you get older, you realize how wonderful it is to always have someone to share this day with and now, his brother doesn’t get to enjoy this privilege.  Maybe they planned a birthday adventure of some sort and Captain Brock never fulfilled that dream.

Jay, Father-in-Law, Army Veteran

Two years after Captain Brock’s death, I was faced with the unexpected news my father-in-law, Jay, passed away.  I was on my second deployment, this time to Camp Al Asad, Iraq.  My husband and I married on June 23, 2006 and I deployed on July 14th, the day I earned my Good Conduct medal.  Jay had not attended our wedding as we had a Justice of the Peace ceremony in San Diego and he lived in Wyoming.  My husband’s mother and stepfather served as our witnesses; none of my family members could come out on short notice.

I only met Jay once before I deployed.  In many ways, he reminded me of my own father.  Although he divorced my husband’s mother early in my husband’s childhood, he still maintained a good relationship with his former mother-in-law and tended to her needs.  I loved that quality about him.  It was also fun for me to see how my husband interacted with his father.

On my deployment, Jay sent me a box of different Christmas sausage items for the holidays that I shared with my crew.  It was the only present and note he ever sent me.  However, his simple gesture made my Christmas.

I got the news of Jay’s death in an email from my mother-in-law.  It felt like the world stopped.  I was in one of the internet centers, which was incredibly noisy, and was trying to digest this news.  I could barely keep myself from crying and struggled to compose myself all the way to my command’s building.  I kind of lost it there, knowing my husband wherever he was on his own deployment was receiving this same news.

I was home in time for Jay’s funeral service.  MAG-16, the unit I deployed with, made sure of it.  The combined efforts of many people to get me on a flight home was nothing short of incredible.  I appreciated their genuine concern for my loss and diligence to ensure I was by my husband’s side when he needed it most.

My husband and I are coming up on our 9th wedding anniversary and it’s hard not to think of what Jay has missed.  He never meet his two other granddaughters-our daughter and my newest niece on my husband’s side of the family born in 2012.  He didn’t get the pleasure of welcoming my husband back home from his yearlong deployment.  He didn’t go to Crete, as had been one of his goals.  I didn’t get to know him very well to find about all the dreams he had, but I hope if only in some small way, we go to Crete one day to honor his memory.

Posted on by She_wears_dogtags 0

A New “Frontier”

It’s Friday! I cannot tell you all how thankful I am the end of the work week has arrived. This blog has become my “third job” of sorts, trailing behind my real job as a School Certifying Official at ASU and my second “job” as a graduate student. Trust me, I am not Wonder Woman, in case you all were wondering how I do it all. In balancing out these responsibilities and my home life as a wife and mother of a 4 year old, there are many things I sacrifice. While the list below is not exhaustive, it’s a tiny glimpse as to how I live my life now:

-Skipping the gym (most days, anyways)
-Cleaning the house…haha (sometimes)….my husband has really stepped up in this department.
-Social outings (these are rare during the school semester)
-Haircuts (I love my hair stylist but I get my hair done about once every 6 months or when I can remember)
-Non school essential reading (Honestly, I just turned in two books I checked out back in September and kept renewing as I couldn’t “find” time to read them. I selfishly held onto the third because it’s about kids and preschool transition. My kid is starting kindergarten in the fall; I am in need of guidance.)
-An updated budget (I’m afraid to admit when I backtracked for the fall semester, I stopped keeping the budget “current” in September. Must not make that mistake again.)

Yes, I have a self deprecating sense of humor. I do love what I do, which is trying to be a bit of everything. I don’t sit still well, unless the task calls for it. I am eager to socialize and learn. I am fascinated by people and so, I love to hear their stories.

Writing for this blog is challenging in the sense, I am communicating on various fronts. My platform is certainly to support America’s Post-9/11 female service members and veterans. I want to encourage them to share their stories and to find a creative way of supporting female veterans in higher education (i.e. my eventual goal of the Shirt Stories project). Sharing these details is important in furthering my work. However, I also like to write freely about various veteran issues I discover along the way. One of the best lessons I learned last semester is that I can have insider and outsider status, congruently, for the populations I belong to (i.e. being a female veteran, being a Marine veteran, being a Post-9/11 veteran, being a 1st Marine Division Marine, being a 3rd MAW Marine, etc.). There are, and always will be, many hats I can wear.

However, I do feel that my purpose is better served if I also launch a specific Facebook page. I have the freedom to write longer posts on my blog but this new “frontier” will allow me to engage more in conversations with other veterans and civilians who are interested in my mission.

You can now find me at http://www.facebook.com/shewearsdogtags.

Thanks for coming on this journey with me!

~Cheryl

Posted on by She_wears_dogtags 0

Disabled Veteran Service Dogs

This weekend, my family and I had the opportunity to meet a disabled veteran who has a service dog. My four-year-old daughter was thrilled to see a dog at the restaurant we went to and like most occasions, eagerly ran over to visit. Up until this point, we hadn’t explained to her that not all dogs are pets and she managed to pet the dog on the head before this conversation unfolded. The gentleman we met was very nice and took things in stride as I explained to her a working dog is like a person who is working and you must allow the animal to do its job. Since she was informed she wasn’t allowed to pet the dog, she choose to sit next to the Army veteran and stared, with great glee, so she had a good viewpoint of Hock, the dog.

I didn’t ask the man what his name was, but for his privacy, if I had, I also wouldn’t reveal it as I didn’t ask his permission to share his story. As such, I will share non-personal details. It’s always a little funny when veterans meet one another because we talk to each other in such a casual way I don’t see often among civilians. We talked about our service (his in the 80’s and ours Post-9/11) and joked about how he’s encountered adults who disregard the “Disabled Veteran” service jacket his dog wears to inform people his dog is not a pet, but a service animal.

Before we parted ways, he told us welcome home. I know many people might not realize it, but a simple sentiment like “Welcome Home” because we both deployed is much more meaningful than the “Thank you for your service” given generically to us for our veteran status.

It’s a rare occurrence for me to encounter a veteran who has a service dog. I found information on the VA’s website that while they don’t provide a service dog themselves, they do evaluate whether a veteran would benefit from the companionship of a service dog and connect approved veterans through their Prosthetics and Sensory Aids Services. The VA pays for the animal, if approved, its training, and veterinary care to assist veterans.

Pretty awesome, huh?

And I also found information about an organization called Patriot Paws that provides mobility service dogs and PTSD dogs to veterans free of charge. I am not quite sure how many organization out there provide service animals but it is interesting to see how accessible the information is online regarding service dogs for our veterans.

Posted on by She_wears_dogtags 0

Interpretations: Popular Military Films & War Portrayals

American Sniper came out recently; I haven’t seen it yet. There is significant discussion going on about the portrayal of Chris Kyle especially considering that parts of his memoir, which I also have not read, have come under fire as well. Currently in my Women of Courage class, we are discussing how women are portrayed in military films, not specially war films, and I know this film, interpretively, would be a great addition to our discussion.

We recently discussed the article, Bombshells on Film: Women, Military Films, and Hegemonic Gender Ideologies by Stacie R. Furia and Denise D. Biebly; while it was only written in 2009, numerous other military films were produced recently that add another dimension to the conversation. Among them are Unbroken (2014), The Imitation Game (2014), Lone Survivor (2013), and now, American Sniper (2014). I appreciate the fact Unbroken delves quite deep into the psychological trauma of prisoners of war. Louis Zamperini passed away last year but I feel his story was told in such a way, he would be proud of all the people who recreated those experiences in such an accessible form. My husband has also hooked me on the show, Sherlock, so it was wonderful to see Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turning in The Imitation Game. I was quite disheartened to hear he was subjected to chemical castration for being gay. While I have seen the first two movies, wrapping my head and heart around Lone Survivor and American Sniper is a bit more difficult.

I saw a tiny portion of Lone Survivor when my husband watched it at home. I left the room. I don’t know if I could stomach watching the film. The researcher in me knows I should try, but then again, I am no ordinary researcher. I worked in Iraq and was privy to intelligence regarding our enemy KIA’s (killed in action) and friendly KIA’s, to include my officer, Captain Sean Brock. It’s one thing to view war through the eyes of a civilian spectator in a movie theater and another one entirely to be in the middle of it. Granted, I wasn’t kicking in doors and I didn’t serve as a sniper, but living in urban combat zones with some of the modern conveniences (phone centers, fast food restaurants, etc.) presents some unique moments of hyper vigilance and complacencies.

Other films not mentioned in the paper include Stateside (2004), Jarhead (2005), and The Hurt Locker (2008). The Hurt Locker did not interest me and Stateside was less than memorable. However, I thoroughly enjoyed watching Jarhead with my junior Marines when it opened in theaters. I bought several of them tickets to the film and we crammed ourselves in the last few seats upfront. It was one of the most enjoyable films I’ve seen despite what I felt was a hurried ending. My favorite scene is where they are playing football in MOPP (mission oriented protective posture).

I looked up what other movies provide interpretations of military service. Oddly enough, I found a film called Camp X-Ray (2014), which I’ve never heard of before. Kristen Stewart plays the main character who serves as a guard at Guantanamo Bay, but it’s hard to imagine her as a soldier. I know my opinion is colored by the fact I am not a fan of the Twilight series; maybe the actors and actresses from those movies have gone on to better roles,but I find it awkward that she always looks disgruntled.
camp x ray

Maybe I’ll watch the film so I’m making a fair assessment of the movie and her skills. However, if I had my pick of actresses, I think Jennifer Lawrence, Troian Bellasario, or Ellen Page would have been great choices as leading actresses. I can think of most female Marines I’ve encountered and I could easily seeing those three women, based on the characters they’ve played, being believable as servicewomen.

Posted on by She_wears_dogtags 0

A “New” Kind of Beauty Pageant

This weekend, my favorite Marine roommate, Sarah, shared that there is a Ms. Veteran America pageant and the event benefits homeless female veterans and their children. I can’t believe I am just now hearing of this organization. I cannot speak on behalf of all female veterans, but it is scary to face homelessness. When I struggled to find unemployment in 2012, we had more support in place than other female veterans in my position. We spent a total of seventeen months living with my in-laws, but the time period from July 2012 to December 2012 was the most humbling; we ended that year with $500 to our names as we drained our savings in our effort to avoid filing for bankruptcy. Although we still haven’t realized our dreams of homeownership, we are living in an affordable, safe neighborhood that meets many of our needs. Everyone should be so fortunate to have one of their very basic needs, such as housing, met and it’s great to see an organization fighting hard to make that situation more of a reality for some of our hardest hit veterans.

Posted on by She_wears_dogtags Video 0