proposal for comments. this is a very complex area. within parameters set by congress is important that we do all we can to preserve competition and innovation which has obviously been an important feature of that area for quite a time. we should do all we can to minimize the administrative and regulatory burden implied by these rules. but with those injunctions i ching weekend take a vote to approve the issuance of this rule for other, and. may i have a motion? >> second. >> all in favor of this proposal? any opposed? motion passes. thank you to staff and audience for your attention. meeting is adjourned. ..

. >> all but comely absent with leave from america's historical memory. even when united states history was required as a subject in high school and colleges and many universities, textbooks and courses had very little to say about women, how they had contributed to the winning of world war i, world war ii, the wars in korea and vietnam. as the writing team of a nurse and a psychologist, co-author

dr. evelyn monahan, we have a combined 50 years of experience with the department of veterans' affairs. now, you may be as surprised as we were to learn that the agency and the majority of it employees knew little, if anything, about the service of america's military women, any more than the average person on the street. this is, undoubtedly, the main cause that in 1989 the va published a bulletin for veterans' day that had only male veterans on the cover of that bulletin. it was evident to us that including women in military history had a long way to go. our interest in world war ii history started when evelyn and i were kids. evelyn grew up in new jersey and hearing war stories from world war ii. on a weekly basis, she went to the vfw with her father and

listened to the male veterans talk about their military experience in world war ii that they shared with each other. my experience was really different. i had two female cousins and an aunt who served in world war ii. my aunt was in the army nurse corps, the cousin was in the wac and the other was in the marine corps. and i cannot remember anyone discussing their service at any of our family gatherings. i knew little about what my own relatives had done in a war. now, back then most veterans' organizations did not accept p women as full members of their organizations, and women who wanted to join were told they needed to join the ladies auxiliary that's primarily made up of veterans' wives, and they would hold separate meetings that were apart from the real veterans. it took me a long time and a lot of research to learn that

military women had served in every theater of war, had suffered the wounds inflict bed by enemy -- inflicted by enemy fire and had been held as prisoner z of war. this is an old kenyan proverb that says until lions have their own historians, the tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter. as historians and authors, we have spent as much as two decades becoming the lions' historians. we have spoken to active duty, reserve, national guard troops who have worn our country's uniforms. we were hearing their stories and researching their units and interviewing and core responding with -- corresponding with thousands of women who have served in the united states military. today i am pleased to share some of the history of america's military women who were kind enough to talk with us.

our fourth book is "a few good women: america's military women from world war i to the wars in iraq and afghanistan." the most difficult part of getting ready for today's program was to decide which women that we wanted to talk to you about. now, if you leave here today and you have a better understanding of how american women have contributed to the freedoms that we all enjoy today, i want you to go home and tell your friends and your relatives and neighbors about it. in 1999 at age 20, marine corps corporal patricia leavengood enlisted in the marine corps reserve. now, that was based in pennsylvania about 80 miles east of pittsburgh. in 2004 she arrived as part of an advance party in ramadi,

iraq, and she was assigned to work at base operations at unit movement control center. let me share patty's words with you. i was an e3 corporal, and i was taking over for a lieutenant and a staff sergeant. i was with nervous about that. i was taking on a billet way beyond my grade. the purpose of my job was to insure that the convoys that were either leaving our base or coming to our base did so safely. it entailed checking route safety, keeping track of the number of vehicles and personnel, and then tracking them by satellite as they traveled. now, the marine corps had assigned levgood to that billet after they evaluated her experience with computers and her specialty in transportation.

she said, it was really tough. you were dealing with hundreds of lives, and if you made one tiny mistake, someone might get hurt or even killed. i coordinated over 300 to 400 convoys, and we had no losses. i was relieved. today it is not unusual to watch a newscast on tv and to see the faces of female soldiers, marines, airmen, sailors and coast guardsmen intermingled with the military personnel serving in iraq and afghanistan. it is not unusual to hear the media speak now about our sons and our daughters stationed in baghdad, kandahar, kuwait and other places that are hard to pronounce, let alone find on a map. the air miles these women have traveled from the united states to their duty stations can easily be ec pressed in hours -- expressed in hours in flight or

miles flown. the historical road women traveled is another story. from 1913 to 1921, josie daniels was is secretary of the navy. daniels was a native of north carolina, had gone to law school there and passed the bar in 1885. president woodrow wilson appointed secretary daniels in 1913, and his assistant was franklin roosevelt. with war raging in europe, daniels became increasingly concerned about the preparations that they needed to make to insure that the u.s. navy could operate at the maximum efficiency if be and when america entered the war. in early 1917 concerned about having enough navy men to man the ship, daniels asked his advisers about having enough navy, about the word in the navy

regs. he said, now, does the absence of the word male before the words u.s. citizen allow him to enlist women in the navy? and with a thumbs up from those advisers, daniels ordered the u.s. navy to enlist women. and women flooded to recruiting stations, and they signed up, and they were sworn in to the navy. after world war ii ended, the united states congress decided to change what they saw as an error in the navy regulations. and they changed it back to from u.s. citizen, they put the word "male" in front of that. now, this is an example of what a difference the presence or the absence of a single word means in the united states' official document. just as the words in the united

states' constitution are extremely important when granting full rights to citizenship to men and women in our country. the words "u.s. citizen" automatically include women when rights and privileges are conveyed. however, both the use of the single word, "men" by placing the word "male" before those words excludes women. however, daniels had crossed a rubicon in end listing women to -- enlisting women to serve in the united states navy and the u.s. marine corps. now there was a record of the military service of women in the united states' armed forces, a record that testified to the patriotism, the courage and the contribution that helped mightily to the u.s. numbers and

for the winning of the war. in fact, one could argue that military service of women in world war i was a significant turning point in giving american women the right to vote. once again, women were barred from serving in the u.s. military, and the battle to change that fact was just beginning. as in the game of monopoly, women were told they had to go back to the starting point as if their service in world war i had never happened. the battle for the right of america's women to serve in the u.s. military was just beginning and had a long way to go. in 1941 the battle was enjoyed again -- enjoined again when representative edith north rogers from massachusetts, one of nine women in congress at that time, wrote and presented a

bill on christmas eve 1941 to include women as a permanent part of the united states' army. to say that congresswoman rogers received little and grudging cooperation there a large part of the army and the united states congress is putting it mildly. members of congress rose to object to the real idea of taking women into the united states military with statements such as i think it is a reflection upon the courageous manhood of the country to pass a law inviting women to join in the armed forces in order to win a battle. translation in the vernacular, this would be damaging to the image of men by saying they need the help of women in things masculine. take the women into the armed services who then would do the cooking, the washing, the

mending, the humble, homey tasks that every woman has devoted herself? translation: who will take care of the men and the children if women go into the military? think of the humiliation. what has become of the manhood of america? translation: there's no way that the male ego can deal with losing face by having women in an institution that has been male-dominated since it began. we need to keep the status quo. well, the u.s. army and navy nurses were serving in the military field hospitals in the philippines, and in may 1942 when they, the nurses, were taken prisoners of war. congress argued and the legislation dragged. when a version of the bill passed on 15, may, 1943, the

women's army auxillary corps was established. women would serve with the army, not in the army. this meant that members of the wac had no official military status, they would have a separate system of grades and ranks different from men, they could not be placed in charge of any job or mission that involved men, and they couldn't give orders to men, and they did not rate a salute. it would soon be apparent that the women in the waac -- just like the women in the army and navy nurse corps -- could serve in combat zones but were not afforded the military protections, privileges and rights enjoyed by males in similar situations. meanwhile, legislation to create the women's sea services had come to the attention of

congress. this bill would establish women's branches in the u.s. navy, marine corps and coast guard. edith north rogers along with eleanor roosevelt had put the fear of god into the navy admirals back in december of 1941. so the navy supported the bill that passed, and it was signed into law on 30, july, 1942. now, guiding the creation of these new women's military branches was the women's advisory council. members of the -- they were civilian educators who represented the five sister colleges which included mount holyoke college in south hadley, massachusetts, and snook college in northampton, massachusetts, where women marines and women accepted for voluntary emergency service were trained. the women of the advisory council were some of the brightest and most well educated

women in the country. the chairman of the council was virginia gildersleeve, dean of varner college who was overheard at one point in the deliberations regarding the acceptance of women in the navy, she said: now, if navy could possibly have used dogs or ducks or monkeys, either of those certain admirals -- the older admirals -- would certainly have greatly preferred them to women. [laughter] in november of 1942, the waacs and the army chief of staff, george c. marshall, found out exactly what it meant to not have full military status. five waacs in an advance party flew to england and took a ship to north africa because they were told it was too dangerous for women to fly by aircraft at that point. and be they were to set up the

clerical support at general eisenhower's headquarters in north africa and give support to the casablanca conference. one day out of that north african port, their ship was torpedoed at sea. now, along with the other passengers, the five waacs were adrift in lifeboats throughout the night, and their night's activities were pulling survivors out of the water and onto their raft and rowing. they were rescued by a ship the next morning and taken into port and to general eisenhower's headquarters. there they met general george marshall, the army chief of staff, who was there for the casablanca conference. he met the waacs and he said to them, well, i will, we will have your gear and your uniforms and all of your personal p belongings that you lost at sea, have them replaced. so when george marshall got back

to washington, d.c. and be checked with the army, he learned that this could not happen. the waacs were an auxiliary. they were not in the army. marshall paid out of his pocket for the gear that he had promised he would replace as well as to ship it back to africa. now, the waacs had no protection of the geneva convention, no military life insurance, no veterans' benefits, no g.i. bill and no dependents' benefits. edith north rogers crafted the women's army corps bill, the wac, and introduced it into congress in 1943. it passed into law in july 1943. the waacs had to rejoin the women's army corps through a

three-month window. the women's army corps lost 25% of those women who had been in the auxiliary because they had, the army had changed the physical examination standards. there had been a major slander campaign which you can read about in our book, "a few good women," and there were families and boyfriends and husbands that did not want these women to go into the women's army corps. after world war ii ended, legislation to continue the women's branches was introduced into congress. during congressional debates about this legislation when some of the legislators were not happy to grant permanent status for women in the military, representative margaret chase smith in exasperation, no doubt, said: the issue is simple,

either the armed services have a permanent need for women officers and enlisted women, or they do not. if they do, then the women should be given permanent status. i am convinced that it is better to have no legislation at all than to have legislation of type. now i'd like to introduce some of the outstanding women that we included in our book, "a few good women." during world world war ii, jeane joined the waac. she was a young 19-year-old who was from oregon. and while jean was in basic training, she stood out from some of the others because she knew what close order drill was because she'd belonged to oregon's women ambulance corps before she'd joined the army. well, jean trained as a truck driver, and she found that she

really thrived on army life. when world war ii was over, jean was discharged in 1945, and she went off to college. well, meantime, this legislation did go through on the permanent corps for the women's services, and recruiting of women who'd served in world war ii for these corps now was going full tilt. so in 1948 jean holme got a letter from the government, and it included a postcard which had the women's new permanent corps listed on it. and the newest one on there was the air force, and jean holme told us, well, i thought that sounded really nice. the something new and exciting, so i checked off the air force in the little box, andi put the postcard into the mail and went back to college and forgot all about it. well, when the next break in college came up, jean decided she really did want to go back

into the army. so she had a friend named evelyn who had also served, so the two of them decided they were going to drive jean's 1940 chevy from oregon to ft. lee, virginia. so they had to borrow $600 from jean's grandma because they were broke. so at night along the way when they stopped, they slept in the car all the way across the country. when they arrived at forth lee, virginia, jean was recognized by the colonel in charge at the time. she'd known her in her previous military service. so o jean and her friend got sworn into the army and were staying at ft. lee. six month t later jean holme's commission hadn't come through, so she went to colonel smith and said, hey, you know, what's happened to my commission? well, colonel smith called the pentagon, and then she called jean into her office. and she said, you're not going to get an army commission.

you are on the list for the air force. and they're not going to let you go. [laughter] on her way to lackland air force base, jean holme met some men who were traveling to lackland, and they were telling her that they had an assignment to go toeredding air force deepo. so jean got to lackland, and they said to her, where do you want to be stationed? she didn't know anything about the air force, and she said, well, i'd like to go to erding supply depo. it was in germany. they looked at her and said nobody wanted to go to erding in germany. at erding they were collecting up some of the wreckage of world war ii and storing it there, so it wasn't too exciting. at erding -- jean stuck to her guns and shay -- they sent her.

which one do you want? there's billet for maintenance officer, supply officer, or there's the wing war plans officer. and jean told us, well, that sounded interesting. i didn't know anything about war plans, so i decided i'd like to do that. well, the russians had just block aids berlin about that -- blockaded berlin at that time, and now with jean having war plans as her major job, she had to get busy and apply the army's war plans to the erding supply depo. well, she said, it was just common sense, i was able to do that. but, she said, the one thing that was difficult was trying to figure out how to do the evacuation. so she told us, well, here i was with these top security clearance in these secret war plans, and the russian blockade of berlin had started. we were expecting the russians just to walk in the door at any minute and take us prisoners. we were the most forward base in

europe. well, as war plans officer she knew she had to get that evacuation plan figured out. she had an army friend who was there near munich as well stationed, so she and he went out, and they rode all over the back roads between munich and the swiss border. and they finally mapped out an exit route in case their base got overrun that they could get their people out and to switzerland. years later when jean holme became directer of the women's air force be and when she was awarded her second star, she became the first woman in the united states military to claim two stars, major general. the cold war heated up when north korea was invaded by -- south korea was invaded on 25, june, 1950, and 134,000 north

koreans swarmed across the 38th parallel. reserve units in the united states were called up, and they had a tough time finding some of the women because women had gotten married, and their names had changed. they had children by now, and they'd moved, and they were just really hard to find. well, they did locate a number of them, and they were called up for the korean conflict. there were m.a.s.h. hospitals and m.a.s.h. units and military hospitals supporting the war in korea, and the 24th infantry division landed on the west coast of korea and with them came the fourth army field hospital. anna may mccabe was the daughter of salvation army parents who lived in buffalo, new york.

and she was a veteran of the china/burma/india campaign of world war ii. when we interviewed general hayes, mccabe-hayes, she told us, we went in with a 30-foot tide. i remember climbing down the side of a ship on a rope ladder and getting into the landing craft. the marines had gone in first and secured the area as far as it could be secured. then the army trooped went in, and then we entered. that was probably the worst war for me because it was so cold. we had little water and firewood and a few supplies. it was so cold we wore pile jackets under our scrubs in the operating room. in 1956 anna may mccabe was the head nurse at the emergency room at walter reed army medical center. when she was pulled by the chief nurse, reassigned, to stand a

special watch on the president of the united states, dwight d. eisenhower. during that long illness, eisenhower and mccabe became friends, and as a result of that, mccabe was a friend of the eyesen hours -- eisenhowers, really, for the rest of her life. when anna may mccabe-hayes became the first woman in the united states' history of military history to reach the rank of brigadier general, mrs. eisenhower presented the stars that had been pinned on her husband when he made general years before. anna may hayes told us, i was very touched by mrs. be eisenhower's kindness and generosity. now, years later coast guard captain jane hartley had laughed at the very idea that she would ever have joined the military. she told us, i'm a child of the

'60s. the thought of going into the coast guard or any other military branch was about as far from my be mind as it could get. however, during a dinner party at their home her husband's boss kept insisting that she should think about joining the coast guard because he said they really needed women, especially one with a master's degree in environmental biology. well, she said, anyway, i couldn't get this guy to shut up, and i needed to serve dessert. is so i told him i would check out the forward in the very near future. well, she did. and that is how it came to be that lieutenant jane hartley happened to be at the port of well mington, north carolina, the jumping-off spot for the majority of troops and supplies and equipment that were deploying to the middle east for operation desert shield and desert storm in 1990. the united states' government

had planned a naval blockade to inspect vessels that were in the iraqi or kuwaiti waters. the u.s. navy had asked the coast guard to provide cutters and crews to aid the naval blockade. lieutenant hartley was very aware of the major decisions that were being made regarding port safety and the coast guard mission in operation desert shield. she said, the navy asked for coast guard ships and crews and was not happy when they looked at the crew rosters. they wanted the coast guard to take the coast guard -- to replace the coast guard women who were in positions of leadership on all those vessels. hartley explained that the coast guard was a small service compared to the navy, the army and the air force and could not afford to squander their people and their talents because they needed that in shaping the best possible coast guard that they

could have in order to complete the mission. in jane's words, the navy got its underwear in a bunch because we had ships going to operation desert shield and desert storm with women as leaders in the theater, and that was a real shake-up for them. they said, you can't do that. and we said, well, then you'll have to -- then you can't have the ships because you can't, cannot take the commanding officers off the vessels. another military woman accustomed to standing her ground was colonel carolyn carroll. for many years the army did not permit single women to have underaged children and join the army. at that time carolyn carroll was a 19-year-old divorced mother, and she wanted to enlist in the army.

well, the army recruiter advised her, he said, well, join the national forward and then you can transfer to the army. so carolyn was planning to enlist in the national guard and then do what he said. but then she discovered that this recruiter had never submitted her application paperwork to the army as he said he would, nor her test scores as he said he would. and she decided he had some plans of his own for her. well, carolyn learned that she could enlist in the civil of yang- civilian-acquired skills program, go to basic training tw or three weeks and then return to the guard unit as an e3 with two years or college or two years of experience in her mos. further, she learned that she could do six months on-the-job training in her mos and then receive an automatic promotion to e4. well, when the first opportunity arose, carolyn moved forward

with her plans and joined the national guard. now, in 1976 for the first time women could attend the state national guard noncommissioned officer academy called -- and there was a course called bnoc, and it was basic leadership training for ncos. bnoc was a three week summer course, and there were about 200 people attending that course. carolyn, who had been a tompoi while she was growing up, did very well physically, act dem create and in her leadership evaluations. she also won the land navigation competition. carolyn was so outstanding that she was nominated as distinguished graduate by her peers and be the faculty. the sergeant major of the academy told carolyn, we will not have a woman as a distinguished graduate. carolyn appealed to the state

agitant general. the only other women in this class happened to be the secretary, so she called her boss and be explained what had happened over the phone and told him what had gone on. carolyn went through with the closing ceremony as the distinguished graduate. the battalion personnel section back at the national guard headquarters where carolyn worked had never had a female nco. despite the fact that carolyn had had her e5 stripes pinned on her at that bnoc celebration and graduation, when she returned to her unit, she was told that she would be a specialist 5, not a sergeant. she told us, i said, no. i earned those stripes. it was, like, you can't be a female in charge. you look good and you're smart, you've got it but you're still a

woman. i was a feisty young kid, and be i was, like, in your face. i said, you're not going to take my stripes away. carolyn got to keep her stripes. when lieutenant carroll transferred to the u.s. army, she excelled in her army career. she was accepted as, for flight training in helicopters when she graduated from ft. rugger, she was rated on a cobra, front seat on a cobra. later she flew the huey, the blackhawk, the kiowa, and then when carolyn was assigned to her role in war games later on, she flew the soviet helicopter, the hip. in august 1990 major carroll deployed to operation desert shield/desert storm where she was executive officer of her unit, and with the attachments to that unit,300 military

soldiers. on the day that the u.s. and coalition troops started moving across the desert in the direction of baghdad, major carroll flew her helicopter above and in front of the advancing american and allied troops. a sight she would never forget. she said, i was in desert storm in the first infantry division. they led the attack across the burn. i think one of the most exciting things that i did was i actually flew missions on the ground attack. it was like a world war ii movie because you had tanks and ammo carriers and big tracks and refuelers moving across the desert in a line, and it was like the whole world was rumbling. in 2005 colonel carolyn carroll deployed to afghanistan. she worked closely with american soldiers and special forces. she was the executive officer of a nato unit for the canadian

army. she was acutely aware of the dangers that were inherent in iraq and afghanistan war zones. she said, there is a chance that every time you go out, there's a chance you might not come back. now, all these women who have served in the u.s. military have traveled many ground miles and can point to their military service in thousands of miles on maps. however, their journey along the road of military history has far outdistanced all physical miles and leads, clearly, into the future. even so, women are still fighting for equality in the military and as u.s. citizens. all of these military women who we interviewed could not be included in today's program, of course, due to time constraints, but they have earned our respect

and admiration. and they have a place in the our memories and, hopefully, in the national memory. it is a history that is, was said to be the soul of our nation. and it is an historian's job to keep that soul healthy and bright. finally, i would like to close with an e-mail that we received last spring from then-corporal patricia leavengood-dean, the young woman marine who i introduced you to at the beginning of the talk. when "a few good women" was published, we sent a copy of the book to each man and woman who we had interviewed and were gracious enough to share their stories with us. we were delighted to hear from patty. her e-mail touched us and made us aware of how fortunate we are to be the historians to the

lions, the chroniclers for those who have given so much. patty wrote: i got the book. i was just so thrilled by it, i couldn't put it down. i've read a lot of it, and i am is so proud to be a part of such a wonderful thing. thank you and evelyn for making me a part of it. it -- i showed it to the people at my workplace, and the word spread like wildfire. they came to speak to me and look at the book. i was so choked up by it. my 8-year-old son who was 3 when i left for iraq actually understands because of your book what his mom went through and achieved. it is a display of a major part of how far women have come and definitely what is to come. sincerely, patricia leavengood-dean, united states

marine corp.. i invite you to stand with patty and become a link in remembrance of the women in the united states military. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, roast marry. that was such a nice talk, and it's so important that women veterans remember our place in history. if we don't chronicle our place in history, nobody else is going to do that for us. and roast marry is one of the women veterans who's working so hard to chronicle our place in history, so we thank you so much for that. [applause]

we'd like to present rosemary with a certificate of recognition at the women's association. thank again for coming all this way. [applause] does anybody have any questions for rosemary? we have time to take a few questions. yes, ma'am. >> i don't really have a question, i just want to say thank you. thank you for the history of us! [applause] >> well, i must say it has really been an honor to do this. it's taken several decades, and a lot of people we interviewed it was very serendipitous. carolyn carroll, the last woman i talked about. i was in new orleans with lynn

ashley, and we were at the program at the world war ii museum. and when i was -- i was in the new orleans airport after i had left lynn and the program, and i came up behind this woman with this huge pack on her back. and it was the camo, you know, from the desert storm and all. and there was a zipper unzipped on the back of it, and i came up to her and i was just buying a bottle of water, and i said, oh, excuse me, would you like me to zip your zipper? she was very gracious. and i waited for her because i thought, oh, here is a woman who i might be able to interview. when she came out of that little store, we stood and talked. and i tell you, she was the most interesting, wonderful person and so gracious to then, later, let me interview her over the telephone. she had a son in iraq, as mine was at the same time with the first cavalry division.

while she was in afghanistan, he was in iraq. so it shows you what people go through in multiple roles of being military families and being active duty military at the same time. but i want to say thank you for being here today and having a chance for me to tell you some of these great stories about wonderful women, and i'll bet every one of you in this room has a super story to tell as well. i encourage you to talk to your families and to write things down. thank you so much. [applause] >> this event was hosted by the cincinnati va medical center. for more information visit cincinnati.va.gov. >> here are the top ten best-selling conservative books from human events.com: