Liz Medina, Marine and combat Veteran, stands with her squad in Afghanistan.
For the first time, in June we are kicking off a new member profile feature in our newsletter for service women or women Veterans doing amazing things in their communities. This month, we sat down to chat with Liz Medina, Marine Veteran, Aide on Capitol Hill, and nonprofit genius.
You enlisted to become one of the few, the proud- a Marine. What made you want to enlist in the branch with the fewest number of women?
When I enlisted I had no idea that the Marine Corps had the smallest number of women of all the branches. I enlisted because I remember reading the story of Corporal Dunham (Medal of Honor recipient). I remember thinking “that’s a hero” and what an incredibly selfless act. I wanted to join an organization where my fellow team members would not hesitate to save my life, because I know I would do the same. That selfless action, that definition of Honor, Courage, and Commitment, is what made me go to my recruiter’s office in Parma, Ohio. I told him “get me on the next flight to Parris Island.” Two weeks later on December 26 2006, I was on the yellow footprints!
What did being a Marine teach you? I have been truly blessed to have had incredible leaders in my time with the Marine Corps. Being a Marine is not only about being a good leader but a good follower as well. When I was a Lance Corporal, I had a great mentor- my first Sergeant- when I hit the fleet. I will always remember a phrase she used to tell me: “always act like the next rank you want to achieve.” My leaders in the Marine Corps taught me to be the kind of leader I want to be, and the kind of leader I DON’T want to be. I took the traits of the good leaders I served with and adopted them to fit my own unique personality. What I took from the Marine Corps is that I AM part of legacy that will never leave me. That as a Marine, my gender and my race do not matter because together we served. It also taught me to be incredibly patient, so DMV lines are no bother to me!
Tell us about what you did after you left the military? After I left active duty, I took time to take care of myself. I was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress after my deployment to Afghanistan in 2010. Unfortunately, when I went to VA Hospital their wait list was too long so I found nonprofits to help. Two amazing organizations that helped me were the Headstrong Foundation, which provided me with mental health care for a year for FREE, and the Catch a Lift Fund. I found that fitness was an incredible form of therapy for me and they covered a yearlong gym membership for me. During my own job search, I noticed when I was going to my interviews there were other veterans waiting with me. Some of them did not look interview ready, so that where I came up with the idea for my own non profit -We give a DAM, which stands for Dryden, Alice, and Meux. Dryden was a Marine I served with who died in Iraq. Alice was the stillborn baby girl of an Army Captain I met through the Wounded Warrior Program. Meux was another Marine I served with who was killed by a drunk driver in a hit and run. What I did with DAM was I took the care package concept and flipped it to transitioning veterans. We have what I call a “PAK” which stands for a Personal Appearance Kit. A woman’s PAK would consist off a $50 gift card for JC Penny, for men’s it would be to the Men’s Warehouse, both include a $50 spa finder gift card to look your best for interview day, as well as other resources for interview prep. The website is wwwwww.wegiveadam.org, where you can both donate and apply for a PAK.
Why did you become a member of SWAN?
I had an amazing opportunity to work on Capitol Hill as the ADA Aide to Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth. At the hill there are always briefings and meetings on many different issues. The ones that I really focused on were Veterans issues like mental health and sexual assault. It was there that I really started doing my research on Military Sexual Trauma (MST). It was then that it hit me, how small the number of women in the Marine Corps was and how BIG the number of MST survivors was. Then, it hit a little too close to home when a close friend of mine was brutally assaulted. She is a Marine and her Command was pretty much trying to ignore the fact that a heinous action happened to her! But what can we do? What can we say without fearing some form of retaliation? That’s when I found SWAN. I saw not only was SWAN trying to bring awareness to these situations but they want to take action! As a Marine I am all about taking action! Stating statistics and facts is not doing anything, and it is time to do something! I truly believe that SWAN is going to pave the way for action!
What do you think the number one priority for the military should be (all branches) as it looks to fully integrate women into all jobs and units?
Well, there will be problems in the beginning. It’s a big change and adjustments will need to be made. In my opinion the number one priority should be having a sexual harassment/assault team formed. This team would almost be like an Inspector General team so that’s still part of the military but is not part of the chain of command. With integrated units, it might be hard at this stage for men or woman to come forward about a problem they are facing if they think they will be retaliated against. We are going to be dealing with different personalities at every level. Women in integrated units will be in the spotlight at every level and will face greater scrutiny than the men, especially for women from “oh she was able to do eight pull ups,” to “they have failed this portion of whatever”. They are constantly going to be in the public eye, everyone is going to be watching. Having a sexual harrassment/assault team to turn to would ensure these women don’t feel like they can’t report problems due to retaliation.