As we mark Veterans Day this Thursday, there are more than 80,000 female veterans across Georgia. A key issue is how the CoronaVirus has affected them. Navy veteran Dr. Amy Stevens leads the Georgia Military Women Facebook group, and is working to keep her 4300+ members informed. 

The group has been very focused over the past year around pandemic issues:

• Helping military veterans recover from the pandemic

• Helping them get in touch with the VA for their medical needs (there’s a high rate of breast cancer among women veterans)

• Talking about how veterans should take care of themselves mentally

• Keeping active your communities and helping other people

Stevens says: “Veterans, especially women veterans, are a tiny part of our nation’s population. Just as we were all volunteers when we joined the military, we have stepped up across the state to help others. Having a sense of purpose is also a very healthy initiative for members because we are focusing on others rather than focusing on our own isolation at home during the pandemic.” 

Now serving thousands of Georgia veterans, the group is a platform for female veterans in Georgia to connect with one another and build community over their shared military experiences and challenges in life after service. 

Stevens served active duty for 11 years in the Navy and four years in the Navy Reserves, but when making her transition to civilian life post service, she learned how challenging the task at hand was. She also learned that there weren’t nearly enough resources, for women in particular, who were going through this transition. An advocate for women veterans issues and mental health, she came up with the idea to create a platform for these women to connect and support one another as they face these challenges not alone, but together. 

She wanted this Facebook group to help women build relationships and discuss specific issues, at a place where they all could show up - online. Occasional small meetups around Metro Atlanta and in other Georgia cities supplement the online community interactions. 

The Georgia Military Women Facebook group is unique in our state and has been very successful with community engagement at federal, state, and local agency levels. They collaborate with the veteran community and Stevens is proud of the results that she is seeing from Facebook. She believes it serves as a model for similar groups in other states. 

Stevens says “It’s all about connecting women that have served. There is a similar group in Maine that I have mentored on how to implement the messaging and I have regular conversations with admin leaders of other groups. If anyone wants to have guidance to have their own group in their state I help them do it. This group is not about me. This group is about women and celebrating their military experiences.”

The Facebook group allows female veterans across the state a private and discreet place to have exchanges of not just challenges, but celebrate accomplishments as well. 

Through the group, an Army veteran mother and her Army veteran daughter were able to learn of a key technology training opportunity called “Step It Up America,” focused on mainframe learning. The daughter recently completed the training and now has the skills for a high-paying career in computers with a Fortune 500 company.

Stevens stresses that "We are not a 501c3 organization, we don't have staff, we don't have a budget - we've simply built a group on Facebook, but this group is saving lives and doing critical work for a highly deserving community of people. I am an advocate for military women and this Facebook group, Facebook is an inexpensive way to share valuable information and insight.”