She Served. She Still Stands: The Legacy of Women Who Wore the Uniform

By Tamika Saxx | Founder, RISING HerWay: The Women Rising Project

Published: June 12 | Women Veterans Recognition Day

“We did not just serve. We paved the road.”

Why June 12th Matters

Women Veterans Recognition Day is not just a date on the calendar.

It is a reckoning. It is a remembering. It is a collective breath to honor the women who served — and who still carry that service in their bones.

For me, this day lives in my DNA. I was raised and shaped by a lineage of women warriors:

• My Mom – Disabled Army Retired

• My Bonus Mom (Step-Mom) – Disabled Army Retired

• My Mother-in-Law – Disabled Army Retired

• My Cousins – A powerful force of women from the Army and Air Force, including those living with service-connected disabilities.

• ...And so many more women veteran warriors in my family.

They did not just wear the uniform. They built the legacy. They still stand — in pain, in pride, in perseverance.

And so do we.

A Legacy We Do Not Talk About Enough:

June 12th commemorates the 1948 signing of the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act, officially allowing women to serve as permanent, regular members of the military.

But the real story?

We have always been here.

From:

• Civil War field nurses

• World War II codebreakers

• The nearly 350,000 women who served in World War II

To:

• The more than 2 million living women veterans today

We did not wait for permission to rise. We rose before the ink dried.

What the Research Reveals

Sometimes the numbers shout louder than the headlines:

Women Veterans by the Numbers (VA & DOD Reports, 2023–2024):

• 1 in 10 veterans is a woman — and that number is growing

• Women veterans are twice as likely to experience military sexual trauma (MST) as non-veteran women

• Suicide risk is 2.2 times higher for women veterans than civilian women

• Many women veterans do not self-identify as veterans due to exclusion, stigma, and invisibility

• Despite all this, women veterans are outpacing their male counterparts in higher education, entrepreneurship, and leadership across federal spaces

We do not just survive — We redefine what rising looks like.

HERStory Is Personal:

This blog is a living dedication to the warrior women in my life —The ones who held the line when no one else would. The ones who returned home to rebuild — without parades, but with purpose.

And to you, Sister Veteran:

You are seen.

You are valid.

Your uniform counts.

Your wounds count.

Your healing counts.

You count.

A Dedication to My Military HERitage

This space is sacred.

To my:

• Mother

• Bonus Mother (Step-Mother)

• Mother-in-Law

• Aunts

• Cousins

• And the many other women veterans in my family

• To every single woman who laced up boots, stood post, led formations, cried in silence, and still chooses to rise — This is for you.

You are not just my family. You are my foundation, my fire, and my forever reminder that resilience runs in our bloodline. You are the echo in every “rise” I speak.

You are my legacy — and my why.

A Call to Rise: From HER to Us All

We rise for:

• The women who still do not feel “veteran enough”

• The ones who are healing from trauma, guilt, and loss

• The ones who gave birth in barracks, deployed through pregnancy, or returned home to empty cribs

• The ones who served in silence, and now speak in truth

• 
  

Share. Speak Her Name. Honor HER.

If you are reading this, here is your mission:

✅ Tag a woman veteran

✅ Speak her name

✅ Tell her: She still stands. And she still matters.

Because we rise together — And we rise because SHE rose first.

“She served. She still stands. We rise because SHE rose first.”

--Tamika Saxx | Founder, RISING HerWay: The Women Rising Project