Promise me you will always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.
A. A. Milne
Promise me you will always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.
A. A. Milne
Not knowing when the Dawn will come, I open every Door.
Emily Dickinson
It’s OK to shoot yourself in the foot. Just don’t reload the gun.”
US Senator Lindsay Graham
Today is Veteran’s Day, and I hope you all have taken out time to thank someone who served or is serving our country in a military capacity. I know I have. I am privileged to live with a former Marine, so it is easy and natural for me. You don’t have to look far either, so make sure you do. Veterans are all around you, and they really would appreciate the acknowledgment today and every day.
In thinking about Veteran’s Day, I am reminded that service to your country as a lawyer is something that some of you may want to think about. I am the daughter of a military lawyer, who served in the European Theater during WW II, and my husband also served as a JAG officer in the Marine Corps Reserves after active duty during the Vietnam War years. This makes me proud, and it also makes me think that being a JAG officer would be very interesting and rewarding.
Really, you say, but I am a woman. Not so fast. There are many women lawyers serving in the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps today, and THE Judge Advocate General of the US Navy—-THE top lawyer in the Navy— is a woman. I have met Vice Admiral Nanette De Renzi, and she is a very impressive naval officer and a very lovely woman to boot. According to those who work with her, Nan is tough when she needs to be and every bit the woman when she wants to be. That’s my kind of professional woman!
Each branch of the armed forces—the Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy and Coast Guard– has a Judge Advocate General. The Judge Advocate General officer is in charge of all judge advocates and is responsible for all legal matters affecting that branch of the service.
The Free Legal Dictionary defines the JAG Corps and a JAG officer as follows:
“Judge advocates are attorneys who perform legal duties while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. They provide legal services to their branch of the armed forces and Legal Representation to members of the Armed Services. In addition, judge advocates practice international, labor, contract, environmental, tort, and administrative law. They practice in military, state, and federal courts. A judge advocate attorney does not need to be licensed to practice law in the state in which he or she practices because they are part of a separate, military system of justice. …
A judge advocate is admitted to the armed services as an officer. Because the Uniform Code of Military Justice is different from civilian law in many respects, a judge advocate undergoes an orientation and then education in Military Law. The U.S. Army’s JAGC school, for example, at Charlottesville, Virginia, provides a ten-week academic course for new JAGC officers to learn about the mission of the corps and to receive an overview of military law.” www.legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com
For a first-hand account of experience of a female intern in the JAG Corps, consult Ms. JD at ms-jd.org/navy-jag-corps. Although the numbers have changed since this 2007 post, it is a good source of general information about the JAG experience through the eyes of a female law student.
So, if you have not yet thanked a veteran today, you still have plenty of time. There is sure to be one on your train or your bus going home tonight or one at the local food market or one just down the street in your neighborhood. They might be easier to spot on a day like today when some of them will be wearing little American Flags in their lapels.
Veterans are proud of their service, and we are proud of them. We thank them for their sacrifice and for helping to keep us safe at home and abroad. We know that they are young and old, black and white, red, brown and yellow and that they serve their country out of love and dedication to freedom. We appreciate their bravery and their willingness to put themselves in harm’s way for our sake and the sake of our country.
Happy Veteran’s Day and THANK YOU to all the vets!
Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is.
Vince Lombardi
(Yes, I am a Badger—the home of progressive politics—and a GB Packer Fan. AND they are winning!)
The presidential election is over, and, no matter how you voted—and I hope that you DID vote—one thing is for sure. This was a great election for women, and it is a cause to celebrate.
Women voted in record numbers to express their opinions about reproductive rights, women’s health care, and pay equity, to name just a few. Women also voted to take a stand on the economy—which the candidates seemed to agree IS a woman’s issue. Women now earn 45% of the total income in two-earner households. Twenty-six per cent of women earn more than their male partner or spouse. Women’s incomes are very important to their families, especially in these challenging economic times—-BUT, I do not have to tell that to most of you.
Let’s review the record. Going into the election, there were 17 female U.S. senators, which had also been a record number. Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) are both retiring, so the numbers for women in the Senate were threatened by attrition alone. Women were worried, and they got active because THAT IS WHAT WOMEN DO!
Today, after Tuesday’s election, there will be 20 female senators, the most ever in U.S. history, in the 113th Congress. Joining the Senate will be Republican Deb Fischer (Nebraska) and Democrats Tammy Baldwin (Wisconsin), Heidi Heitkamp (North Dakota), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii) and Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts).
All six Democratic women up for reelection — Senators Maria Cantwell (Washington), Dianne Feinstein (California), Kirsten Gillibrand (New York), Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota), Claire McCaskill (Missouri) and Debbie Stabenow (Michigan) — won their races.
Rep. Shelley Berkley lost her Senate race in Nevada, and five Republican female candidates lost on Tuesday—most of them to other women. Wendy Long lost to Gillibrand in NY, Elizabeth Emken lost to Feinstein in California, and Linda Lingle lost to Hirono in Hawaii. Linda McMahon in Connecticut and Heather Wilson in New Mexico both lost to male contenders.
So, no matter what side of the political aisle you favor, it was a very good day for women. Other significant election developments include that ALL top elected officials in New Hampshire now will be women and that senate candidates Richard Murdock of Indiana and Todd Aiken of Missouri, neither of whom lives in the real world when it comes to what comprises rape and its horrendous impact on the victim—usually a woman, were rejected by the electorate. That alone should make us smile, whoop or take a much needed vacation.
It is a good day— Morning in America again, really. Some of you will remember the artsy campaign ad “Morning in America Again” from the Reagan-Bush 1984 presidential campaign. That is how I feel today. Women in this country are still faced with tremendous societal hurdles and equity issues, but, from where I sit, things look a little better today.
But we cannot rest on our laurels. We need to keep fighting for the issues that mean a lot to us as women. We need to continue to support our fellow women and reach out to the ones who need us.
Take advantage of the momentum that is ours today. We need you, and you can make a difference. We learned that on Tuesday.
Bravo to all of the fantastic women in my life. YOU definitely make a difference to me!
For now, I’d take a job after college (not, I must stress, an unpaid internship) in the occupation of your dreams even if that means you’re doing low level clerical work.
It’s a good idea in any economy to learn what the actual practice of your dream job looks like on a day-to-day basis, what the character of your future occupation-mates is likely to be and how much you believe you can help move the needle of the wage gap from its present sorry state to zero.
Graduate school will wait. Life, however, bizarre, exciting, enticing, complex, frightening, stimulating and often as boring as cardboard, awaits you.
Go get ’em Tigress!
Forbes.com, 10-12-10: Victoria Pynchon
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