Tucker Bileau attended the National Women Veterans Recognition Day event on Thursday, not only as a student at Florida Atlantic University but also as a United States Marine Corps veteran, to honor all the women who put their lives on the line to serve their country.

“I do feel that women are very underrepresented in the military, so I think that it’s amazing that everyone came together as not only a school but as a community to celebrate women veterans,” said Bileau, who also works as a coordinator for the Military and Veteran Student Success Team at FAU.

The FAU community celebrated National Women Veterans Recognition Day and heard testimonies from women veterans within the community. In 2000, women comprised just 4 percent of the veteran population, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). By 2040, they are projected to make up 18 percent, making them the fastest-growing group of veterans.

Many of those at the event are active students or faculty now serving the FAU community. Founder of Veterans and Homefront Voices, Conrad Ogletree, told the University Press that the event’s primary purpose was to strengthen the veteran community in South Florida, which is far broader than FAU. 

Attendants first heard from retired Colonel of the U.S. Air Force Nurse Corps and Professor of the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, Marilyn Ray, who shared her heroic story of serving in the military for 30 years.

FAU Speaking Center Consultant Jake Dalessio sat alongside her, asking what inspired her career in the military. She explained that she was committed to compassionately caring for soldiers as a flight nurse in the U.S. Air Force. 

Throughout the event, attendees heard from two other veterans, Candy Wilson and Kim Lott. 

Another FAU voice was Wilson, who now serves as the interim research and scholarship associate dean and professor at the College of Nursing after retiring from the U.S. Air Force in 2022. 

Air Force Veteran Wilson enlisted in 1992. She served honorably for 30 years, and for some time as a women’s health nurse practitioner, dedicating her research to supporting women in the military. 

With this research, she aided Congress and the VA with evidence needed to support women in the military, eventually resulting in the Secretary of Defense opening up all military positions to women in 2016. On the discussion concerning women holding combat positions, Wilson believes it just comes down to the heart.

“You have to be physically fit with any position that you do in the military, but it is also really a matter of your heart and a matter of willingness and wanting to do it. It is being emotionally, mentally and physically ready to do the position. It really does take courage to step up when the situation calls for it,” Wilson said. 

Following their conversation, attendees heard from U.S. Navy veteran Lott, who was celebrated for her time in the Navy, starting in 1994, where she was the first woman stationed aboard the U.S.S. Nimitz as an operations specialist. 

Lott was then deployed twice and spent 10 years in the Navy. She shared with the crowd her legacy statement that helped her persevere and push through life’s challenges, both during her deployment and after.

“In every high and stormy gale my anchor holds within the veil,” Lott read the statement, which was meaningful to her, symbolizing her husband as her “anchor” who supported her throughout her military career.

Ava Hilton is the Copy Desk Chief for the University Press. For more information on this or other stories, contact Hilton at ava.hilton13@gmail.com or @a.vahilton10 on Instagram.