This week’s interview is with Vietnam veteran, Janet Appling. Janet was an active-duty Army Officer during the Vietnam War but was never given the chance to deploy overseas.
Listen here.
Military Service
Janet served in the Army during Vietnam. She never deployed overseas but made critical contributions to the change allowing women to be part of the military. Her husband was a civilian and struggled to be accepted as a dependent. She left active duty when she became pregnant with her first child, which was the standard practice required for women who served during the Vietnam era. She served in the Reserves and was the first woman to serve in the Wisconsin National Guard who was not in a medical coded career field.
Women in the military have always faced a problem with a certain reputation, whether it pertained to you or not, by both civilians and the men that we worked with. During this period in our history, a large number of military male Officers and NCOs didn’t really want us there and made it known through their attitude and the sexual harassment handed out.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t reported because we were accused of asking for that type of treatment. If you reported it your life was made worse. I was lucky in a sense because the experience I was faced with was just before graduation. I was able to leave the post and not have to deal with it on a daily basis. It also sort of prepared me for future encounters of the same sort. These encounters have left me with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder/Military Sexual Trauma.
Listen to the whole episode here!
Considering joining the military?
Check out my free guide A Girls Guide to Military Life. Find answers to questions you have and ones you don’t even know to ask. This guide will give you a firm starting point as you begin your military career. Click here.
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