On June 17, Reps. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., Elaine Luria, D-Va., and Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., three women veterans, put forward a resolution to designate June 12 as Women Veterans Appreciation Day.
On its face, like so many modern efforts to diversify and increase inclusivity, the idea sounds wonderful. One can almost hear the endeavor being showered with an abundance of retweets and likes on social media.
But not every woman veteran is on board. In fact, Army Sgt. Mary Dague vehemently opposes the resolution. On June 19, the Purple Heart recipient explained to her nearly 25,000 Facebook followers that she believes the bill “sets us back, and divides us from our male counterparts [whom] we have struggled for decades to be on equal ground with.”
“If this bill passes,” Dague continued, she has “no desire to be recognized without the men [she] served with, the men [she] went to war with, and the men who saved [her] life.”
Here, Mary refers to the event for which she earned her citation. As Dague explained in a recent episode of the Team Never Quit Podcast, on Nov. 4, 2007, the Explosive Ordinance Disposal technician was working clearing an improvised explosive device with her team from the Army’s 707th Ordnance Company, in Baghdad. Dague’s team leader had removed the blasting cap and much of the homemade explosive packed into the IED, but when Dague placed the device in the back of the team’s vehicle, it began “rocking, back and forth.” She “hugged it, and it detonated,” throwing Dague 15 feet.
Dague’s male teammates wasted no time placing a tourniquet and attending to her wounds. Within about 15 minutes, she was being airlifted to a hospital.
That blast, in Dague’s words, “explosively amputated” both of her arms. Some who follow Dague’s story know her better as “WonderNubs,” the nickname an example of the humor she uses to cope with difficult circumstances, both in her own life, and in her work with other struggling veterans.
Dague, however, finds no humor in Women Veterans Appreciation Day. Neither do many of the hundreds of commenters on Dague’s Facebook page, most of whom agree that the passage of the resolution would be a regressive move.
Many arguments for the necessity of a Women Veterans Appreciation Day are plagued by circular logic. In explaining her resolution, Sherrill claims “women have proudly served our nation since its founding. Yet too often, female veterans do not seek care at the [Department of Veterans Affairs] or even identify themselves as former servicewomen. Recognizing Women Veterans Appreciation Day follows the efforts of states around the country to engage with and advocate for our women veterans.”
Citing the “unique issues” women veterans face, “from higher rates of sexual trauma, and suicide, to nonexistent gender-specific housing for female veterans,” Gina Pollut, a veteran of the United States Marine Corps, said the resolution was “a huge step forward for our women veterans to finally be seen.”
Sherrill and Pollut bring up legitimate and worrisome concerns. It is critical that they be addressed. However, it is a dangerous fallacy to believe that creating a holiday will stop sexual harassment of women service members and veterans or ensure the VA takes better care of women veterans.
Holidays do not address issues. Veterans Day neither bridges the growing divide between the military and civilian populaces, nor improves VA care. Memorial Day has always tipped the scales more towards barbecues and frivolity than the solemn honoring of those who have given their lives for our nation.
Rather than a separate Women Veterans Appreciation Day, let us support women veterans with initiatives that will make a difference, like the congressionally backed Women Veterans Task Force, “whose purpose it will be to knock down obstacles to care and equality women veterans face,” according to Connecting Vets. Issues with which the task force is concerned include not only impediments to care for women veterans at the VA, but also “[military] transition assistance, poverty, homelessness, [and] GI bill access and use.”
In a country increasingly attuned to the factions of color, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, religion, and politics, the military is meant to work as a great unifier. In the American military, one’s background matters far less than one’s contribution to the protection of the nation and its allies, whether a veteran served as a doctor or a corpsman; in supply, security, administration, or at the proverbial tip of the spear; during war or in peacetime; inside or outside the wire.
In Dague’s words, “We served together, and we deserve to be recognized together.”
Americans should, of course, work against any barriers, such as harassment or improper treatment at the VA, which impede the equal treatment of all veterans who answered the nation’s call to service. We should approach this goal by launching initiatives like the Women Veterans Task Force or funding public information campaigns that call attention to the contributions of women veterans.
Instead of limiting our appreciation of veterans to subsets based on their gender, experience, and expertise, let us put renewed vigor into celebrating all our diverse veterans on one meaningful and symbolic Veterans Day.
Beth Bailey (@BWBailey85) is a freelance writer from the Detroit area.
