Media

IAVA Highlights She Who Borne The Battle at Meeting of “The Military Coalition”

July 7, 2017
Press

Washington, DC (July 6, 2017) — Today, IAVA’s Director of Intergovernmental and Political Affairs, Melissa Bryant, attended the monthly meeting of The Military Coalition (TMC) in Washington. D.C. on behalf of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA).

The Military Coalition is a group of 32 leading military, veterans, and uniformed services organizations that meets monthly in the Washington D.C. area to discuss shared priorities on behalf of their respective organizations and memberships. The strong and dynamic coalition is a unique, unified group of the true leaders in Washington driving veterans policy. Together, TMC represents more than 5.5 million members of the uniformed services–active, reserve, retired, survivors, veterans–and their families. With a smaller percentage of Americans (and members of Congress) having served than ever before, the role of TMC is more important now than at any other time in history. For more on TMC click here.

This month, Bryant updated the group on IAVA’s groundbreaking She Who Borne the Battle campaign to improve services and increase recognition for women veterans, as well as shared the perspective of IAVA members on the Veterans Administration budget and the future of its controversial “Choice” and Community Care programs.

She Who Borne The Battle: More than 345,000 American women have deployed since 9/11 and over 2.2 million women veterans live in the US total. Women are the fastest-growing segment of the veteran population and that trend will continue as the number of male veterans simultaneously declines over the next decades. However, many women veterans are left without recognition and the proper care to support their needs when they return from their service. According to IAVA’s Member Survey, only 27% of women veterans respondents feel the public treats women veterans with respect. She Who Borne the Battle will change this by providing a foundation of public awareness, local support and policy changes solely targeted at recognizing and supporting women veterans. This includes changing the exclusionary VA motto, “To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and for his orphan,” to a motto that represents “She Who Borne the Battle.” Learn more at www.SheWhoBorneTheBattle.org.