by Lisa Reisman
New Haven’s Deborah Rodriguez served four years in the Army. She did all her tours stateside, at Fort Bragg military base. “Peacetime vet,” she said, as she settled in a beach chair overlooking the sparkling waters of Long Island Sound, fishing pole in hand, at Killam’s Point in Branford.
Rodriguez was among the 70 women veterans assembled at the sixth annual Take a Vet Fishing (TAVF) Women’s Veterans Day outing last Saturday. She suffers from PTSD from military sexual trauma she endured while in service. “My therapist said I would find peace here and I have,” she said, adding that she’s been coming to TAVF events for years.
That’s precisely the mission of TAVF, which started as an outreach program in 2007 to engage and provide fellowship to disabled and recovering veterans with a relaxing day of fishing and everything provided, including equipment, food, and drink and, at least twice each summer month since, has welcomed hundreds of veterans from every corner of the state.
The occasion on Saturday was National Women’s Veterans Recognition Day, celebrated annually on June 12 to honor the service, sacrifice, and contributions of the roughly 3 million women who have served in the military. The day, signed officially into law by Gov. Ned Lamont in 2024, marks the anniversary of the 1948 Women’s Armed Services Integration Act, which allowed women to serve as permanent, regular members of the U.S. Armed Forces.
“The service of women veterans has been overlooked, under-recognized, and too often forgotten,” Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz said at the time. “It’s a long overdue acknowledgement for women who have always answered the call to serve, sometimes without the same supports offered to their male counterparts.”
For event organizer Kat Swenson, it’s not just about recognizing women veterans. Connecting them with each other is crucial.
Swenson, an Air Force veteran who specialized in high-level military intelligence, cited numbers showing women veterans comprising less than 10 percent of the total veteran population in Connecticut. “A lot of them aren’t registered with the VA system, don’t know their rights, don’t even know they’re entitled to receive medical care from the VA,” she said. “They need our support to get them the resources they need.”
That’s backed up in a survey by the Service Women’s Action Network indicating that female veterans have higher rates of depression and PTSD than civilian women. And while men and women veterans develop PTSD at similar rates and often for the same reasons, women are much more likely to turn their hostility inward, becoming depressed and withdrawn.
Under an awning, a group of veterans were catching up. The discussion turned to health issues, about how someone navigated the system to get disability benefits, the excitement about a new commemorative license plate to honor women veterans. “Can’t wait,” said a woman wearing a U.S. Navy woman veteran baseball cap, as a sea-salt breeze wafted in.
Another woman was baiting her fishing line with squid. An Army veteran, she said Swenson, the event organizer, had introduced her to Take a Vet Fishing. “I’ve been coming ever since,” she said. “Meeting the others, making friends, you realize there are things that you go through in the military that you don’t have to explain.”
Air Force veteran Tammy Boris with Air Force National Guard veteran Deanna Greenleaf. Credit: Lisa Reisman photo
Over on a rocky outcropping, a group engaged in lively banter. “This is Stella,” one, a Marine veteran, said. “We like yelling at her, STELLA!”
“Careful, you’re showing your age,” another, an Air Force veteran, replied.
“You know what?” said a third. “I feel happiness here, there’s joy here, smiles, laughter. I don’t laugh enough, you know what I mean?”
With that, there was a shout. “An otter,” someone called out. There was a collective rush to a stone wall, where attendees leaned over, peering into the water and watching for its emergence.
“If I had a bunch of women screaming at me, I would disappear too,” someone quipped.
At the welcome table, TAVF board member Diana Chadwick, who has partnered with Swenson to make the annual event happen, was following the proceedings with seeming amusement.
“It’s so important to show appreciation for all vets, but especially these women, because they’ve been overlooked for so long, and a lot of them have endured so much for so long,” she said. “The beautiful thing is that this grows every year, because you have women telling other women about it.”
Near her, Charlene Gilbert, an Army veteran who lives in Bridgeport, was agreeing. “I pick up other veterans in West Haven and Hamden on my way here even if I have to go out of my way,” she said. “That’s how important this is.”