"I'm the Veteran, Not the Veteran's Wife."

"It's not my husband, it's me." Even after 33 years in the Navy, this veteran has to face gender biases against women in uniform. #WomensHistoryMonth

Transcript

00:00There are still many environments where a woman walks in that says,

00:05what command was your husband stationed at?

00:07And I explain, it's not my husband, it's me.

00:23As women, as veterans, active duty reserve,

00:27we would approach a military event only to be told we couldn't enter

00:31because we had to have our husband with us.

00:34Or we would park in a military veterans parking space

00:39and get yelled at because, you know, we were being disrespectful

00:42by parking there when we were at the military or our husband wasn't there.

00:58We've been married for 34 years,

01:02and he proudly wears his T-shirt that says, proud Navy husband.

01:06We're still working on the spouse being a male within the military

01:10and getting that equal recognition.

01:21As more and more women were joining the service

01:24post 9-11, the military did start to change its language

01:30and its equal dialogue with men and women.

01:40We go to war, we serve at sea, and when we come back from a deployment

01:45of doing some very unnatural things at war,

01:49and then we walk into an establishment for the veterans discount

01:53and they say, no, we need your husband's ID.

01:57It can be a little crushing.

01:59And we know that it's not intentional, but it's crushing just the same.