Some female veterans are feeling overlooked

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) — Over two million women have served our country and now live as veterans, with more soon to join the ranks. But it seems that their contributions are being overlooked.

“When we go out on Veterans Day and we wear our hats and we wear our shirts and we’re sitting there getting a free meal, we get looked past,” said Army veteran Latisha Spikes. “They don’t say, ‘Hey, thank you, sister.’ They don’t look at the hat, they don’t look at the shirt. You know, we get, ‘Oh, your husband served or your boyfriend served.”

With the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act of 1948, women have been able to join all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. But being the minority poses unique mental challenges.

“What was hard as a woman being in the military is just because you had to mentally hold in a lot of emotion,” said Army veteran Kurundi Daniels. “So emotionally, it was a little hard because you have to be, you know, you’re a soldier.”

Holding in that emotion made civilian transition hard, as eight-year veteran Spikes said she had no one to turn to for mental aid until just this year.

“When I got out in 2014, there were no services for us,” Spikes said. “Working with the VA, I found that in 2025, they wrote a whole book and a bunch of manuals for each branch in order to help them transition.”

Spikes added that the struggles female veterans face aren’t greater than their male counterparts, but need to be held in higher regard.

“We die with them, we serve with them, we get disabled like them, and we have to change the sentiment,” she said.

Although Veterans Day is on Nov. 11, Women’s Veterans Day takes place on June 12 of every year.