U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs CWV - News Update

Capt. Maysaa Ouza, the first Air Force Judge Advocate General Corps officer to wear hijab, is featured in a new short documentary from NBC’s Left Field this week. Ouza, chief of legal assistance at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., is the daughter of Lebanese immigrants who migrated to Dearborn, Michigan, home to the country’s largest mosque. [From Air Force Times]

The Air Force officially has its first enlisted woman attempting the special operations weather career field. The female airman, unidentified for privacy reasons, recently graduated basic military training and the special warfare prep course but has yet to begin assessment and selection, known as A&S, Air Education and Training Command spokeswoman Marilyn Holliday told Military.com on Thursday. [From Military.com]

The Naval command that oversees all of the service’s shore installations across six states welcomed its new commander to San Diego on Friday as Rear Adm. Bette Bolivar assumed the role of the “Navy Mayor” at Naval Air Station North Island. Bolivar replaces Rear Adm. Yancy Lindsey, whose next tour will take him to Naples, Italy, where he’ll lead Navy Region Europe, Africa and Southwest Asia. [From The San Diego Union-Tribune]

About 80 female Veterans led the efforts in the Congress Heights neighborhood of Washington. Some of them were locals and others traveled to the District to attend the Women Veterans Summit – an annual conference that trains Veterans to be leaders and activists in their communities. The Mission Continues, a nonprofit organization that connects Veterans with their communities through services, hosted the summit. [From The Washington Post]

Today’s #VeteranOfTheDay is Navy Veteran Shannon Kent. Shannon. She served from 2003-2019, and made several combat deployments to the Middle East. [From VAntage Point]

We honor her service.

Today’s #VeteranOfTheDay is Army Veteran Jane Rignel St. John. Jane served during World War I and World War II. [From VAntage Point]

We honor her service.

The Marines of India Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, the first partially gender-integrated company in the Corps’ history, earned the title Marine on March 16 aboard the recruit depot Parris Island, South Carolina, according to Marine Corps officials. Wrapping up the 54-hour physical demanding event of recruit training known as the crucible and completing a culminating 9-mile hike, the Marines were handed Eagle, Globe and Anchors – marking the transformation from recruit to Marine. [From Marine Corps Times]

Twenty-two Women Veterans from the Corpus Christi area participated in VA Texas Valley Coastal Bend Health Care System’s 2019 Women Veteran’s Portrait Project, which is designed to recognize the service of Women Veterans from the local community during Women’s History Month, a nation-wide observance that takes place in March. “These types of projects are important to the VA’s because it not only provides us with the opportunity to say thank you, but to show it,“ said VCB Acting Associate Director Charles Harpel. [From VAntage Point]

The Air Force is developing a new formula that it hopes will provide a more accurate measure of fitness vs fatness – and could possibly result in a gender-neutral fitness test for all airmen. The new formula will measure airmen’s aerobic fitness against their body composition to come up with a fitness score, Neil Baumgartner, chief of the Air Force’s exercise science unit, said Tuesday at a meeting of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services. [From Air Force Times]

When K. H. walked into the VA Southern Nevada Medical Center in 2017, she decided she was finally going to seek counseling. After seeing a poster for survivors of military sexual trauma, K.H. realized it was time. “I decided to speak out and get the help I felt I so desperately needed.” [From VAntage Point]

Governor Ralph Northam today, March 18, participated in a special kickoff event marking the beginning of Virginia Women Veterans Week and honoring the service and sacrifice of women Veterans. Taking place from March 17-23, 2019, this is the second year that the Commonwealth will devote the third full week in March to recognizing all of the women who have served in the armed forces. [From Spartan Echo]