Detroit nonprofit uses dog tags to tell others of service by women military veterans

DETROIT (AP) — Alexis Derriso enlisted in the U.S. Army as a 19-year-old in 1980, following a father and brother who had served in the military.

Derriso went through basic training and spent six years in the Army, mostly handling personnel management and other administrative duties.

Today, as founder and chief executive of the 640-member Motown Women Veterans Association , she wants others to understand that women like her sacrificed as much as men, and sometimes more, in service to their country.

Her nonprofit is selling military-style dog tags that read, “Millions of women have served this country. I am one,” to raise funds for a Detroit-area homeless shelter for female veterans and their children. The tags can be purchased for $15 from the organization's website.

So far, about 2,000 have been sold, but the goal is to sell 1 million, said Derriso.

Women have a long history in the U.S. military, most of it spent as nurses or in administrative and support roles for male troops, though thousands served in the Women's Army Corps, created during World War II.

In 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act into law. Women were permitted to serve in the regular Army and Organized Reserve Corps, which later became the U.S. Army Reserve and Air Force Reserve, but were restricted to just 2% of service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. Those ceilings were removed in 1967.

In 2013, a ban on women in direct ground combat roles was lifted. Three years later, the ban was lifted for all military roles.

Women currently comprise about 17% of the more than 1.2 million active duty military personnel and more than 21% of troops in the National Guard or reserves. More than 2 million women are U.S. military veterans, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

But even as women have achieved high-ranking command roles and fought side-by-side on the battlefield with men, they often are given less honor publicly than their male counterparts, according to Derriso.

“We’re treated as if we’re invisible,” she said. “If I just have a cap on that says ‘U.S. Army,’ I’m pretty much ignored. In the civilian world, they will look at me as if I’m wearing my husband's cap.”

Her organization’s dog tags are designed to help bring women veterans “out of isolation,” she said.

Yet for many, “The military is still a man’s world. All we can do is show up and do our duty and pay our respect to our country like we signed up to do,” said Susan McCain, a National Guard vet from St. Clair Shores, northeast of Detroit.

McCain enlisted in 1985 and served until 1993. She initially struggled with the little recognition her own service brought, but says the Motown Women Veterans Association and its programs allow her to be there for others.

“When I finally owned my veterans' status I became a much prouder person to myself,” McCain said. “It really lifted up my self-esteem. Going into the military was very empowering to me as a woman back in the ‘80s because we were just getting started in filling in some ... traditional male roles.”

It’s people who haven’t served who often find it difficult to see a woman as a veteran, said Anitra Grant, 68, who enlisted in the Army in 1982 and retired in 2007 from the reserves as a master sergeant.

Grant, who lives in Hampton, Virginia, said people still ask, “Did you actually have to learn how to fire a weapon, get in a foxhole?”

“Yep, I did all that,” she laughed. “Yep, women fly the same airplanes.”

But Grant said she also experienced discrimination by some she served with.

“I was told by our lieutenant that he didn’t believe females should be in the service,” she said. “Once again, you have to prove yourself.”

Historically, military identification tags were small, thin metal plates worn on chains around soldiers' necks to help identify them if they were killed or wounded during battle. A soldier's name, branch of service and blood type were stamped into the metal.

The Motown Women Veterans Association dog tags also are metal and bear the names of four military branches — the Marines, Air Force, Navy or Army. They're made in Mount Vernon, New York, by LogoTags, a division of Ball Chain Manufacturing that supplies stamped dog tags and ball chains to the U.S. military.

“We want to have something we're proud to give to our customers, especially our veterans,” said Bill Taubner, who runs the family-owned company. “You wear them. They've got your name on it. It's tangible and it's physical and they're always with them.”