Female Veterans Monument Update
From www.FemaleVeteransNetwork.org website.
Dear Commissioners:
My wife and I are up north undergoing treatment for our cancers but will be permanently returning to Citrus County in late August to our home in Beverly Hills.
I understand your agenda today includes consideration for a Women's Veteran Monument to be erected at the Old Courthouse. I offer my comments below.
Officially, women have been serving on active duty in the U. S. military since 1901. Unofficially, they have been serving since the American Revolution, during which time women like Deborah Sampson dressed as men to enter the Continental Army, while others, like Margaret Corbin, accompanied their husbands to camp and then onto the battlefield. It was during the Civil War that the U.S. government first recruited women to serve with the armed forces as nurses, albeit without military status.
Since 1973, when the United States military ended conscription and established an all volunteer force, the number of women serving on active duty has risen dramatically. The share of women among the enlisted ranks has increased seven-fold, from 2% to 14%, and the share among commissioned officers has quadrupled, from 4% to 16%. In fact over the next three decades, alone, the female enlisted force grew from 42,000 to 167,000. Today that number has grown to over 210,000. These heroes serve in nearly every capacity in the military, even Special Forces as the most recent Green Beret graduating class included the first female.
During the Gulf War, almost 41,000 women served in theater—15 were killed and two were taken as prisoners of war.
Fifty American servicewomen died and 383 were wounded in action during Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), which ended in December 2014. One hundred and ten women were killed and 627 were wounded in action during Operation Iraqi Freedom, which ended on 31 August 2010. One woman died and 12 were wounded in action in Operation New Dawn (Iraq), from September 2010 to December 2011. As of now, five women have died and 68 have been wounded in action in Operation Inherent Resolve (Iraq and Syria), which began in 2014; and to date four women have died and 12 have been wounded in action in Operation Freedom’s Sentinel (Afghanistan), which began in 2015. Two women, both enlisted, have received the Silver Star for heroism—one in Operation Iraqi Freedom and one in Operation Enduring Freedom.
It is time for Citrus County to recognize these heroic efforts of women who are protecting our freedoms and a monument in their honor is more than appropriate. I hope you will approve the request of the Female Veterans Network and allow this great honor.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
God Bless America.
John Stewart
CMSgt, USAF (retired)
Update:
Great news.......
This is a great day!!
At 3:05 p.m. this afternoon, the Citrus County Board of County Commissioners had read and approved the proclamation for the placement of the Female Veterans Monument on the site at the Old Courthouse in downtown Inverness.