I served. I bled. I saved lives. And now I’m watching the same government I swore to defend question the legitimacy of women in combat—again. This isn’t just tone-deaf. It’s sexist. It’s insulting.
I didn’t ask for permission to be brave. I was. I didn’t need validation to carry wounded soldiers through Desert Storm. I did. And I sure as hell don’t need a Secretary of Defense or a President to tell me what excellence looks like.
The hypocrisy is staggering!
Women are praised when it's convenient—used in ads, honored in ceremonies, highlighted in speeches. But when it comes to decisions that actually respect our service? Silence. Or worse—erasure.
I didn’t risk my life on the battlefield so someone in a suit could later decide my role was “non-combat.” I was there. In uniform. In danger. On mission. That is combat.
If leadership wants to question the role of women in war, they need to reckon with the truth: we don’t need to be protected—we need to be recognized. Fully. Officially. Without conditions.
This isn’t just a slap in the face to every female veteran. It’s a systemic failure that undermines the integrity of the entire armed forces.
Accountability isn’t optional. Not when lives are on the line. You want receipts? Ask the men whose lives I helped save. You want proof? Look at the battlefield. You want respect? Start by giving it to the women who already earned it.
P.S.
This isn’t just another political misstep. This is personal. I’m enraged—not quietly, not politely, not in some palatable, restrained way. I'm angry like a woman who carried bleeding soldiers through sandstorms. Angry like someone who lived the fear, the grit, the unrelenting grind of combat. Angry because I earned every damn salute, every stripe, every ounce of respect. And to see that legacy casually dismissed by decision-makers who never had blood on their boots?
That’s beyond insulting—it’s a betrayal. You don’t get to revise my story. You don’t get to dilute my sacrifice. You don’t get to tell me where combat begins and ends.
If Hegseth’s uncomfortable? Fing good. He should be.