Edgewater's American Legion Post 285 honors female veterans at luncheon
The American Legion Post 285 in Edgewater honored women veterans in the community with a luncheon on Saturday.
“When most people hear ‘veteran,’ they think of a male, and the women go unrecognized,” said Bettye Jo Mickiewicz, president of the auxiliary at the American Legion Post 285 in Edgewater.
According to the Department of Defense, in 2021, women made up 17.3% of the active-duty force, totaling 231,741 members; and 21.4% of the National Guard and reserves at 171,000 members.
Feelings of isolation
Buffy Murphy, Navy veteran and mistress of ceremonies, talked about how it can be isolating to serve as a woman.
“I was on a staff of 172 men and myself. I lived in a barracks with 400 men and myself. There were about 127 – give or take – women on that base and at any given time, 5,000 men,” she said. “That just gives you a little insight into what it’s like to be a female veteran. And it’s getting better, but it’s still like that today.”
Murphy urged women in the room to band together.
“We are very special,” she said. “We did the job a lot of times that men didn’t want to do.”
The luncheon, courtesy of Chick-fil-A and the auxiliary, featured several guest speakers. Pam Giles talked about Veterans Administration benefits. Teri Eno discussed Space Coast Honor Flight, a nonprofit that takes World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam Veterans to visit their war memorials in Washington, D.C.
Saron Lowe and Shawn Salvi spoke about K-9 Line, a nonprofit organization in Edgewater that trains and provides service dogs to veterans.
Salvi, 59, of New Smyrna Beach served in the U.S. Army for nearly seven years. For her, being a female veteran has its challenges.
After serving, Salvi was homebound for almost a decade. Post-traumatic stress disorder, mobility issues and suicidal thoughts made it challenging for her to feel connected in a society she was once part of.
“All of the people that I left – I couldn’t integrate myself with them because they were doing the same thing they were doing when I left, and I changed,” she said. “And that’s a big thing for veterans, females especially. We’re so much tougher, and we’re really programmed to handle anything.”
Helping yourself by serving others
But through her struggles, Salvi learned that she best heals herself by helping others. Through her work with K-9 Line, she is able to assist veterans in training service dogs to fit their specific needs.
At K-9 Line, Salvi “trains the trainer.” She shows veterans how to train their service dogs by telling them what to do each morning and evening. She also checks in with the trainers by video call to make sure everything is going smoothly.
To Salvi, her work is meaningful because she herself has benefited from having a service dog, so now, she gets to help others receive that same kind of service.
“I get emotional because my dog saved my life,” she said.
To conclude the celebration, Terry Burtchell, a Port Orange quilter and the state coordinator of the Quilts of Valor Foundation, and post 285 commander Kevin Doherty honored Colleen Smith – Post 285 Legion Chair of 12 years and past post commander – with a hand-sewn healing quilt.
“This is a very big surprise,” Smith said. “The last thing I expected.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Celebration honors women veterans in Edgewater
