You’re a veteran. Thank you for your service! You’re a military spouse on top of that. That deserves double the kudos.
Amanda Huffman is a military spouse and veteran who served in the Air Force for six years as a civil engineer, including a deployment to Afghanistan. She joined ClearanceJobs for this episode of ClearedCast to tell her story on enlisting and living the military life.
Huffman traded in her combat boots for a diaper bag to stay home with her two boys and support her husband’s military career. He is still on active duty, and she finds herself juggling the kids, her business, and deciding what’s for dinner that night.
She published her first book last year titled Women of the Military.
Women of the Military is a compilation of 28 stories of women who have started their path to military life, are currently serving, separated or retired. There are 4 stories from women in the process of joining, 14 stories from Air Force members, 8 stories from the Army, 1 from the Navy, and 1 from the Marine Corps. Women have served in the American military as far back as the Revolutionary War and as years passed, the role of women in the military has grown and changed.
In 1948, women were allowed to serve in the US Military outside of war periods. During the Vietnam War, Cmd. Elizabeth Barrett was the first women to hold command in a combat zone. In 1976, the first woman attended a military academy. In 1998, female fighter pilots flew the first combat mission. And in 2016, after years of women serving in combat roles during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, all jobs were open to women in the military. There is such a rich history of women serving in the military and at one point most women served in the role of a nurse. Today, women are a part of every job. The role of women expanding in the military wasn’t by chance. Instead, it was from women proving over and over again that they were a valuable asset and could be relied on in the field of battle.
Amanda asked, “How do we know what happened beyond the highlights written in history books?” She wanted to answer that question and started this journey. A journey to hear the stories of military women. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to serve as a female in our military, you need to read this book.
You can purchase Amanda’s book, follow her blog, or listen to her podcast to learn more.
