This story was reported for San Diego News Network on August 26, 2009
A dream, courage, and a belief that a mission was more significant than gender drove five women into the armed forces: Wilma Vaught, Gail Harris, Lisa Kove, Evelyn Thomas and Darhonda Rhodela.
Though they joined during vastly different times – the earliest in 1958 and the most recent in 2003 – they share a common thread; they are the 1.7 million few good women who have risk their lives for the sake of the U.S. in the history of the military.
More than 61 years ago, President Harry Truman signed The Women’s Armed Forces Act, allowing women to join the military. Although it took the U.S. 172 years to pass such a law, women in the military trace back to the very first war in the states. Reports say an 18-year-old Deborah Samspon disguised herself as “Robert Shurtliff” and served in the Revolutionary War. Other reports of women disguised as men can also be traced in the Civil War.
When Truman’s bill was signed into law in 1948, the U.S. saw a flood of women join, ready to serve their country.
One such woman was Wilma Vaught, who joined the Air Force nine years after the bill.
‘I wanted to be in charge of something’
Vaught, an Illinoisan, joined the Air Force at the age of 26 after graduating from a local university with a business degree. After college she realized her options as a woman were limited when it came to careers.
“There weren’t very many opportunities available to women but I wanted to be in charge of something,” Vaught said. “They [family] wanted me to be either a teacher, a nurse or get married and I didn’t want to do any of those things.”
Vaught’s life changed when she received a recruitment letter from the Army telling her, because of her education, she could join and be given the position as Second Lieutanant. The Army didn’t appeal to Vault so she inquired about the Air Force, which made a similar offer. That’s when Vaught’s career began taking turns she never imagined.
Vaught noted that although Truman’s bill had been signed years before her enlistment, “things weren’t so great.” She said there were big restrictions on the female soldiers, who at the time, made up two percent of the military.
“They [male officers] said we were not going to be a significant factor,” Vaught said. “We didn’t have a critical mass.”
She said, at the time, there were about 250 enlisted women in the Armed Forces and because of her up-bringing, harassment didn’t bother her as much as it did with other women.
“I was used to working with men,” she said. “I was a little bit older than other Second Lieutanents, so it didn’t bother me. I tried to meet it with a sense of humor and if it really bothered me, I let it be known to the person that it irritated me.”
But Vaught did travel the rough waters as a soldier and was one of 1,500 women to serve in the Vietnam War, not as a nurse (roughly 6,000 women were nurses).
Eventually, Vaught’s urge to call the shots allowed her to climb the ranks. She became the first woman to become a Brigadier General in the comptroller career field in 1980 and was later promoted to Commander U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command in 1982. Being a supervisor throughout her military career, Vaught said she wasn’t assaulted the way many women were during that era, but noted that aspects of the military did disturb her.
For example, she was bothered by the fact women were immediately discharged when officers found out they were pregnant.
“If she was diagnosed to be pregnant, she would be discharged that day,” Vaught said. “I thought it was inhumane and I felt they deserved at least three to five days to figure out where to go. Instead the military would say, ‘Here’s your final paycheck,’ and kick you out.”
Another difference she found between a male soldier and female were the benefits offered by the military. Vaught said if a woman married, the military didn’t offer her spouse benefits or give her an increased compensation whereas with men, the military did (this would change in 1973).
But the inequalities found in the military have changed over the years, Vaught said. Vaught who retired in 1985, said that society has become more fair towards female soldiers – which, in turn, has changed how the military views them.
“At one point, they wouldn’t let women combat because the American people wouldn’t accept women coming back in body bags,” she said. “That changed because of the acceptance of society.”
“As I look over the progress that has made over the last 35 years, the military is a much better place for women. That isn’t to say there aren’t problems but women have great opportunities in the military and I’m very proud of the military. A woman, for example, has been promoted to the four-star general. I use to think we would have our first woman president before any woman would be promoted to a four-star general. We have made great strides in giving opportunities to women. ”
Vaught didn’t know at the time but she would become one of the many women who blazed a trail for soldiers like Gail Harris.
‘It’s not a sign of weakness’
Harris was born just one year after Truman’s bill entered law and it would take her four more years to discover what she wanted to be when she grew up.
It was 1952, and Harris and her father, a soldier, were watching a Pearl Harbor movie. After watching the soldiers, Harris turned to her father and said she knew exactly what her career would be.
“That’s what I’m going to do when I grow up,” Harris said, referring to the soldiers in the movie.
Her father, she said, looked at her for a few moments before responding.
“This is America, you can be whatever you want to be.”
After graduating from Drew University in 1971, Harris would join the Armed Forces Air Intelligence Training Center with the intention of accepting a non-combat position – the only jobs available to women at the time.
Despite the bill having been in effect for 23 years, during a class an intelligence officer asked each male student what position he wanted to garner in the Navy and ignored Harris.
“Well, what about me?” she asked him.
“I don’t believe you belong in the Navy,” he said to her.
But others disagreed and two years later, Harris became the “test case” for women by joining the Naval Combat Aviation Squadron. She was the only female soldier in a squadron of about 360 men.
“It was interesting because I was the first,” she said. “I was told by the instructors not only would I have to be professional and confident but I would have to fit in with the guys and their culture.”
“Guys would refuse to salute you. One would even tell me I’m taking the job from a man.”
Harris said officers were more concerned with the positive, inclusive image portrayed by Harris being in a combat squadron, but they didn’t give her real assignments.
“Senior officers were more interested in the PR value, but they didn’t expect me to do anything work wise,” she said. “But I did have some value. It took me two and a half years to prove it.”
She was in the squadron until 1976 and eventually became a captain, serving in the military until 2001.
She noted several differences between male and female soldiers but as a superior, she said, she was much different than her counterparts.
“As a woman manager, I was more into the team concept,” she said. “Although I had the final decision, I would get everyone on board.”
“What I notice with women managers is they tend to be more into teamwork. It’s not a sign of weakness though, if you want to develop a team.”
Harris did see scrutiny though, even after becoming a captain. She said a rumor started that she was a “drunken tramp” and that men would often attempt to discredit her.
“I was professionally black-balled,” she said. “There are still many issues facing women.”
As Harris climbed the ladder to become captain, a young woman in New York City attempted to convince her parents she wouldn’t be suitable as a trophy wife.
‘I wanted to be independent’
Lisa Kove grew up in an upper-class area of the Big Apple, from a distinguished Jewish family. She said as a child, she was taught to get the best education possible, then get married and become arm candy for a successful Jewish man.
That plan didn’t appeal to her though.
“That mold never suited me,” Kove said. “I wanted to be independent.”
In 1979, after college, Kove joined the Navy and enlisted in the Aviation Storekeeper A School. Excited to begin a new chapter in her life, she immediately got a dose of military reality when she joined.
“While I was at the aviation supply, I and other females were sexually harassed,” Kove said. “And if you said ‘no,’ they’d accuse you of being a lesbian.”
She later garnered some respect from male soldiers after she became the only female to pass the weight lifting test. Shortly after entering the Navy, she joined a squadron that was ordered to rescue American hostages in Persia from students who had seized the U.S. embassy. Labeled a “world crisis” by President Jimmy Carter, the hostages were set free in 1981.
“It really changed my mind with where the world was at the time,” Kove said. “After the Vietnam War, I never thought I would be in a situation where I was in world crisis mode.”
At the time, Kove was ordered to supervise two work centers but because of her capabilities, she wanted to be in combat.
“They [superiors] wanted me out on the ship where the action was but women weren’t allowed to go into wartime directly,” she said. “This really upset me and my employers because I was one of the best they really had.”
Not only that, but Kove actually had a broken back at the time and it wasn’t until after she retired that she would find out she had a gastroduodenal spastic ulcers.
“I just did what needed to be done and ignored the pain,” she said. “They forgot I was a female for the time being because I was getting the job done – smart, fast and safe.”
At her retirement in 1982, Kove would explore different careers. She would also found DOD FED GLOBE, a nonprofit that helps the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community of the military. Her mission is to raise awareness about prejudice in the military and re-enforce what officers teach you at training camp: When you’re in uniform, you act with dignity and respect.
Four years after Kove’s retirement, Evelyn Thomas would learn the meaning of the uniform.
‘I refused to have sex with a gunnery sergeant’
Thomas was just 17-years-old but adamant about joining the military and so her mother co-signed for her enlistment. Thomas, a Texan, simply had the urge to join because she felt it was a “stepping-stone to achieve” her goal – which was to attend college.
“I discovered through spending my free-time at the local YMCA, I could enlist in the military under the Montgomery G. I. Bill,” she said. “If I agree to serve in the Armed Forces for six years of my life and set aside a certain amount of money each month from my soldier pay, the Federal Government would match my funds.”
In 1986, she enlisted in the National Guard for one year and later served as a Marine for another five years. Her goal of going to college saw a long path when the Gulf War began and she was thrown into the Desert Storm conflict.
Although the military publicized that women were not allowed in combat zones it was not the case during Desert Storm, and Thomas and other female soldiers worked like any other Marine.
“The U.S. Government began to send female Marines to the battlefields,” she said. “However, the misinformation censored for the American public stated they were in non-combat zones … this was not the case. In the first Marine division headquarters company, the unit I was assigned to prior to being transferred to WFTB [Weapons Field Training Battalion], placed all of their female Marines, which were radio operators in combat zones.”
As a Desert Storm Marine, Thomas was awarded a medal along with a medal for good conduct and sharpshooter.
Despite her performance and achievements as a Marine, Thomas faced harassment from the male soldiers she worked with. She said men would either classify you as a “dyke” or “slut.” She told a story that she can still see and remember vivdly.
“I was ordered to meet the commander of the base. This is a rare occasion. It is rare that a Marine or any soldier from any branch of service is summoned to meet the commander of a military base. The commander stated that the women of this battalion have a bad reputation. I must become very careful who you associate with, because the women here are known to have sex with many of the men in their platoon. He warned me if I wish to avoid the bad reputation not to have sex with any Marine of this battalion. When I left his office, the question I had was ‘What in the hell am I getting myself into?'”
Thomas said by the time she was qualified for a promotion she didn’t get it because she refused “to have sex with a gunnery sergeant.”
But Thomas doesn’t see the treatment of women in the military unique – she sees it as a societal issue.
“It is easy to state that this is an issue only in the U.S. Military — this is a fallacy,” she said. “The treatment of women in the military is just a symptom of a societal issue in our country. Until we begin to change how women are treated in the home, workplace, and school this will continue.
“Actually, I believe women are treated with less respect in the military. The American public doesn’t hear about it because our government uses every means to hide this information.”
About 11 years later Darhona Rhodela followed the footsteps of Thomas into the Marines.
‘My male role models, fathers, my big and little brothers’
Born in New Orleans, Rhodela joined the Marines in 2003 and served in the media relations department at Camp Pendleton.
Rhodela said she joined the armed forces with “the initial intent of being one of the few and the proud and earning the coveted titled ‘Marine’.”
In 2007 though, Rhodela was deployed to Iraq. Although she said the standards for female and male soldiers are the same – she has not felt any real difference between herself and her male counterparts.
One of the six percent of Marines who is a female, Rhodela said she has never let a male soldier qualify her work.
“I have always strived to be able to hold my own,” she said. “I never let anyone take on my workload. My responsibilities are my responsibilities. I consider myself a respectful person and I attribute that to the teachings and values of the Marine Corps. My fellow male Marines have been my male role models, fathers and big/little brothers.”
“I am deeply remorseful of those women’s experiences of being harassed, and I cannot compare my experiences with theirs.”
Although some odds are still stacked against women – like rules prohibiting women to serve in infantry, special forces, artillery and armor – progress has been made, said Harris.
“The glass ceiling is still there but there’s big cracks in it.”
One female Marine, who asked for her name not to be used, was told not to talk to the media for this story. Hoa Quach is the political editor for the San Diego News Network.