As a member of the National Military Women Veteran’s Association, Mia Dwyer, Marine Veteran, and National Aide-De-Camp , Veterans of Foreign Wars shares her passion for providing supplies and services to women veterans while they are transitioning out of military service at the Women Veteran One Voice Protest and Rally September 5, 2020 at the Temecula Duck Pond. Photo: Joyce Nugent 
For her selfless service and dedication, Amy Serpa, an Iraqi Combat Veteran, is nominated for Woman Veteran of the Year by the National Military Women Veteran’s Association at the Women Veterans One Voice Protest and Rally September 5, 2020 at the Temecula Duck Pond. Photo: Joyce Nugent 
As the Executive Director of the National Military Women Veteran’s Association, Jessica Rogue, Iraqi Combat Veteran , speaks passionately about the need for transparency in the treatment of women in military service at the Women Veterans One Voice Protest and Rally September 5, 2020 at the Temecula Duck Pond. Photo: Joyce Nugent 
At the Temecula Duck Pond Saturday, September 5, 2020 Dusty Napier, US Navy Veteran and Veteran of Foreign War, State Sr. Vice Commander, explained how she was being deployed to be a morale boster for the men rather than the trained radio operator she had become at the Women Veterans One Voice Protest and Rally hosted by the National Military Women Veteran’s Association. Photo: Joyce Nugent 
As a member of the National Military Women Veteran’s Association, Amy Serpa, Iraqi Combat Veteran, speaks about the need to bring attention to the soldiers that have died at Fort Hood at the Women Veteran One Voice Protest and Rally September 5, 2020 at the Temecula Duck Pond. Photo: Joyce Nugent 
As a co-founder of the National Military Women Veteran’s Association, Veteran Tara Jones insists there is a need for women veterans to band together with a unified voice at the Women Veterans One Voice Protest and Rally September 5, 2020 at the Temecula Duck Pond. Photo: Joyce Nugent
By Joyce Nugent
The death of Vanessa Guillen, U.S. Army specialist, has sparked conversations of sexual assault in the military.
This prompted the National Military Women Veterans Association of America to host a protest in Temecula on Sept. 5 to demand justice. The campaign, Women Veterans: One Voice, began at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas and has gone nationwide in just a few months.
The U.S. Department of Defense reported that an estimated 14,900 military personnel were sexually assaulted in 2016, of whom 6,172 made an official complaint. According to an article published in Medscape, up to 80% of women in the armed forces have been sexually harassed and 25% have experienced a sexual assault.
Women Veterans: One Voice advocates for transparency in investigations of sexual harassment and assault and legislation that will better protect women in the military.
The organization argues that although progress has been made, current events and the stories shared by women veterans have shown that more work is required.
“We’ve come a long way,” the organization’s website states. “But as current events have shown, the stories that have been shared by our sisters in arms, we are not done.”
