(Editor’s note: Cheri Mason is featured as a guest speaker for the MilTRAC “Your Military Transition Roadmap” set for Sept. 20. We are reposting her LinkedIn article as a way to get more spouses to join us.)
Over the past 15 years, a multitude of discussions about military spouse unemployment have occurred. In fact, many organizations were created to address it. And we moved the needle —slightly.
Military spouse unemployment discussions happened at the top levels of the government, the military, and private industry. I attended many of these meetings. The issue still remains, why?
To answer this question, I need to explain my perspective.
I became a military spouse over thirty years ago, and I had no idea what I was walking into. Coming of age as a young girl in the 1970s and 1980s, I believed that I could do and be anything I wanted and that included being married and having a career.
That is until I ran into the US military, specifically the senior officers and spouses. Although I was in law school, I was repeatedly told I could not have a career, because my job was to support my husband and the US military. As a young lawyer, I was routinely told I could not be hired because I was a military spouse. I did not fit it in the military world or the career world.
I did what several others did, I tried to hide my military spouse status. It was either that or divorce my husband, that may sound dramatic, but I know many a military marriage that ended because of incompatible careers.
Hiding my spouse status did not work well, especially with a move overseas. However, with that move overseas, I discovered that while finding employment was challenging, I developed new skills, talents, and perspectives. And I learned the importance and impact each of us has on others – as people.
Returning stateside, I no longer hid my military spouse status, I owned it and all the experience that came with it. Guess what? I was not only hired but my military spouse experiences were integral to my career. Quite frankly, it was the military spouse lessons and experiences that led to my career ladder success.
And as I climbed, I built new pathways for military spouses and recruited them. Along the way, I became the first woman and military spouse to serve as Presidentially- appointed and senate confirmed Chief Executive and Chairman of the Board of Veterans Appeals at the Department of the Veterans Affairs.
I not only owned my military spouse status, but I highlighted it to encourage other federal agencies to hire military spouses. I worked with the multitude of organizations speaking about the importance of hiring military spouses. And together along with many military spouses, we made an impact. But it didn’t seem to change the numbers. It was frustrating
Recently, as I began writing about the impact and importance of people in organizations, I realized we forgot the lessons we learned in the veteran employment initiatives.
This is where the answer lies.
Military spouses must own who we are, stand up and be counted, and drive change and acceptance from whatever position we sit in. And to be very clear – military spouses are EVERYWHERE!
We, military spouses, have to do it. We can’t expect others to do it for us. You can’t win the race if you aren’t competing. Military spouses have to stop being a secret and show who we are, where we are, and what we are doing!
As military spouses, we know how to get things done, it’s what we do! If we want to move the needle on military spouse employment, then we, military spouses, have to be the change to drive change!