HM 68 — CONTRIBUTION OF WOMEN IN MILITARY

HOUSE MEMORIAL 68 54TH LEGISLATURE - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - FIRST SESSION, 2019 INTRODUCED BY Gail Armstrong 6 8 10 A MEMORIAL RECOGNIZING THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF WOMEN IN THE UNITED STATES MILITARY SERVICE.

145 WHEREAS, women have been involved in the United States military since the beginning of the Revolutionary War in 1775, originally in the fields of nursing, laundering, mending e t 17 clothing and cooking;

and w l n d 18 WHEREAS, during the American Civil War, women served in a = = 19 a l variety of roles, including nurses, cooks and spies and i a e r 20 soldiers disguised as men;

and a t m m 21 WHEREAS, Mary Edwards Walker became the first and only d r e 22 woman to receive the medal of honor for her service during the c e s k 23 American Civil War;

and e a n b 24 WHEREAS, during World War I, women served as nurses and u [ support staff, and Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee, United States navy .214072.1 nurse corps superintendent, received the navy cross for her service;

and WHEREAS, in 1948, congress passed the Women's Armed Services Integration Act, permitting women to serve as permanent members of the military, when, prior to the act, HM 68 Page 1 women only served in times of war;

and WHEREAS, although relatively little official data exists about female Vietnam conflict veterans, the Vietnam women's memorial foundation estimates that approximately eleven e e 17 thousand military women were deployed to Vietnam, ninety e e n d 18 percent of whom served as military nurses;

and = = l ] 19 WHEREAS, servicewomen serving during Operation Desert a l r i 20 Shield and Operation Desert Storm were the largest deployment t e a t of military women in United States history, with more than m m 21 e d r e 22 forty thousand women deployed;

and c e r c 23 WHEREAS, in January 2013, the United States ended the e a n b 24 policy of barring women from units that were tasked with direct u [ combat, and in 2016, all combat jobs were opened to women;

and .214072.1 - 2 - WHEREAS, in 2016, the first female soldiers became infantry soldiers;

and WHEREAS, in January 2017, the first three female marines HM 68 Page 2 graduated from infantry school;

and WHEREAS, today, the United States military has opened all e e 17 positions to women, as long as the qualifying requirements are e e n d 18 met;

and = = l ] 19 WHEREAS, in New Mexico, as of 2016, there were one hundred a l r i 20 forty-two thousand one hundred eighty-seven veterans living in t e a t the state, according to a workforce solutions department 2018 m m 21 e d r e 22 veterans profile;

and c e r c 23 WHEREAS, of the total, there were twelve thousand six e a n b 24 hundred seventeen female veterans, or eight and nine-tenths u [ percent of all veterans;

and .214072.1 - 3 - WHEREAS, in New Mexico, women made up five and seven- tenths percent of veterans age sixty-five years or older in 2016;

and WHEREAS, resources such as the university of New Mexico HM 68 Page 3 veterans resource center and women veterans of New Mexico are available to female soldiers and veterans, offering support networks and safety nets;

and WHEREAS, the tribute to women in the military honors all military women, past, present and future, and is open to e e 17 everyone;

e e n d 18 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF = = l ] 19 REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the a l r i 20 contributions of women in the United States military service t e a t and their sacrifices and bravery be recognized;

and m m 21 e d r e 22 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be c e r c 23 transmitted to the office of the adjutant general of the e a n b 24 department of military affairs, the secretary of workforce u [ solutions, the university of New Mexico veterans resource .214072.1 - 4 - center and the president of women veterans of New Mexico.

-HM 568 -Page 4 625 8 10 12 14 16 e e 17 e e n d 18 = = l ] 19 a l r i 20 t e a t m m 21 e d r e 22 c e r c 23 e a n b 24 u [ .214072.1