Women vets convention at UNM-G Thursday

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Karen Francis
Diné Bureau

GALLUP — The highlight of the University of New Mexico-Gallup’s 2nd annual Women Veterans Conference on Thursday is a screening of the film “The Lioness” at around 1:45 p.m. at Calvin Hall auditorium.

“The Lioness” tells the story of a group of Army women — mechanics, supply clerks and engineers — who ended up fighting alongside the Marines in counterinsurgency battles during the Iraq war.

Daria Sommers said that she and Meg McLagan, both of whom directed and produced the film and are based in New York, were happy to make it available for the screening.

“When the war in Iraq started, my colleague and I — over the course of the first year or so — noticed that the kinds of things women were asked to do were different. Roles were changing,” Sommers said in a telephone interview Monday.

The two looked around and found the story of Team Lioness. The film follows five of the women who served for a year in Iraq and uses intimate accounts, journal excerpts, archival footage and interviews with military commanders to tell the story about the women who were sent in 2003 to be support soldiers but ended up fighting.
“We wanted to give a voice to female soldiers in this war,” Sommers said.

The film has played at many prestigious film festivals and there will be a screening for Congress in February, she added.

Cassandra Morgan, vice president of the UNM-G student senate, said she first saw the film at the National Women Veterans Conference earlier this year in Washington, D.C. She said it provides a different perspective.

“We see the roles of women in the military change over the years and this is one of the stages. I think people think they’re still in support roles like administrative, nursing. We’re in 2008 and it’s a whole other animal,” Morgan, who served in the Marine Corps from 1988 to 1994, said.

Besides the screening, the women veterans conference will offer presentations and information booths from such resources as the New Mexico Department of Veterans Services, Navajo Nation Department of Veterans Affairs, Gallup VA Outpatient Clinic and the New Mexico Small Business Development Center.

“Sometimes in a co-ed environment, not all the information gets passed, especially dealing with sensitive issues like sexual trauma, sexual harassment, those types of things. This way these ladies can have some of those issues addressed or even recognize that there’s help for these types of things,” Morgan said.

Morgan will be the mistress of ceremony for the event on Thursday, which will begin at 9 a.m. with the posting of colors by the UNM-G Collegiate Veterans Association and the national anthem and flag song by the UNM-G Drum Group followed by a moment of silence and an invocation.

Dr. Barry Cooney, the interim executive director of the branch, will give the welcome address and Morgan will talk about the purpose and background of the conference.

Presentations from the New Mexico Department of Veterans Services, the Gallup VA clinic and Nancy Fryweaver of the Albuquerque VAMC Women’s Clinic will take place from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Lunch will be provided by the student senate and the Navajo Department of Veterans Affairs.

At 1 p.m. George Lawson, from the Fort Defiance Indian Hospital, will speak and at 1:45 p.m., the screening of “The Lioness” will be held. The conference will wrap up with questions and comments at 3 p.m.

Last year, the first women veterans conference drew around 100-150 people, including about 30 women veterans and family members of women now serving in the military.

“The first question was when are you going to do this again?” Morgan said.

UNM-G student senate and the branch’s Collegiate Veterans Association are putting on this year’s conference for women veterans.

Information: 863-7573