Jas Boothe:

I am a young female officer going to lead troops into a combat zone. And as scary as that sounds, leadership positions are very far and few for women in the military so I was very excited that I was given this opportunity.

Jay Ruderman:

Hi, I am Jay Ruderman and welcome to All About Change, a podcast showcasing individuals who leveraged the hardships that have been thrown at them to better other people’s lives.

Montage:

This is all wrong. I shouldn’t-

Montage:

I say put mental health first because if you don’t-

Montage:

This generation of America has already had enough.

Montage:

I stand before you, not as an expert, but as a concerned citizen.

Jay Ruderman:

In 2005, US Army Major Jas Boothe was serving in the Army Reserves as a human resources officer and was busy preparing herself and her soldiers for deployment. For many of them, this would be their first.

Jas Boothe:

Their family members are all pulling me to the side and saying, “Please bring my son or daughter back safe. Please bring my mom or dad back safe.” And it just really hits you, the level of responsibility that you truly have.

Jay Ruderman:

There was another reason 2005 would make for an infamous year in Jas’s personal history. It was the year Hurricane Katrina, one of the deadliest storms on record, would slam into New Orleans, Jas’s. Hometown

Soundbite:

Officials are telling us that a levy that holds back part of Lake Pontchartrain has been breached. They say it’s a two-block span along the 17th Street and Canal Streets area.

Jay Ruderman:

She and her son lost everything. But if losing her home wasn’t enough…

Jas Boothe:

I received a diagnosis of a very aggressive neck and throat cancer. The first thing I thought about was I wasn’t going to be able to keep my promise to those families.

Jay Ruderman:

Facing down illness and a medical discharge, homeless and jobless, Jas turned to the Veterans Administration, the VA, for assistance.

Jas Boothe:

And the lady looks at me and she says, “Yes, you’re a veteran but you’re a woman, so you need to go get on welfare and food stamps like other women that don’t have fathers that support their children.”

Jay Ruderman:

You couldn’t find a guest to better fit our show’s tagline than Jas. She turned her struggle into a path to help thousands of female veterans. Major Jas Boothe, thank you so much for being my guest on All About Change. I want to bring you back to sort of the beginning, and maybe you can tell us how you ended up enlisting in the armed services in the United States.

Jas Boothe:

So, I know some people think that everyone joins the military to escape something or they join to pay back college funds or something like that. I didn’t. I actually joined the military after college, and I didn’t have student loans. I played basketball during college and I went to college with a full basketball scholarship. So I actually joined the military for the challenge. I’ve always been a very team-oriented person. Obviously, the military is probably the toughest team sport you can play. So when I left college, I had already had my oldest son. So there are lots of stereotypes surrounding how successful you can be in life when you’re a single parent. And for me, I didn’t want my son to think that those stereotypes were true. And so I wanted to be in the toughest profession you could be and be successful to let him know that you can do anything that you put your mind to. And so for me, the military would be the toughest career that you can do, not only as a single parent, but as a woman.

Jay Ruderman:

And first of all, I understand that you served in active duty for many years. So first of all, I want to thank you for your service to our country, and maybe you can tell us a little bit about what you did in your service up until the point where you were about to be deployed to Iraq.

Jas Boothe:

So I actually started off enlisted. I started off as an 88 mike. So when I joined the military, they actually didn’t tell me about the officer training programs. And so while I was training as 88 mike, my drill sergeant said, “you have a degree, why are you enlisted?” I said, “Because my recruiter said that I can get E4.” And he was just like, “You are just on the wrong path.” And so I did two years of the Army ROTC program through the simultaneous membership program, and I commissioned as a human resources officer.

Jay Ruderman:

So 2005, you’re in New Orleans. What brought you to New Orleans?

Jas Boothe:

So after I commissioned as a human resources officer, I was looking for a civilian job at the same time because I had commissioned as part of simultaneous membership program out of a reserve unit. And so with that, I still needed a civilian job. And so the unit that I was in, the civilian job that I had applied for didn’t come open soon enough and so I was looking for other units that not only had a military position for me, but also had a civilian position in. And the only one that was available at that particular time was a transportation unit at the Naval Support Activity in New Orleans. That’s how I ended up in New Orleans. I went there towards the end of 2004, and in spring 2005 is when I got the call to Iraq.

Jay Ruderman:

What type of role did you have at this time? What were your duties before your deployment?

Jas Boothe:

So I’m a lieutenant at the time, I’m a young lieutenant, and I’m a human resources officer and postal falls under human resources. So I was called up to be a postal officer, which basically sounds like what it is. I was going to go run a post office. And the unique thing about my unit was that we were all transplants. Nobody knew each other. And so we were all just pulled from all different types of units. And so we are just green in every sense of the form. I was actually very excited to go into this deployment because I’m a young female officer going to lead troops into a combat zone, and as scary as that sounds, I was excited because leadership positions are very far and few for women in the military, especially going into a combat zone. So I was very excited that I was given this opportunity. Additionally, I was a single mom, and so that part didn’t really scare me because I rose my right hand in service like everyone else and I took it very seriously.

So I just have all these young men and women, we have an event with their family of when they get to say their farewells and goodbyes. I’m not much older than most of them, but I’m responsible for them in every way, shape, and form. And their family members are all pulling me to the side and saying, “Please bring my son or daughter back safe. Please bring my mom or dad back safe.” And it just really hits you the level of responsibility that you truly have.

Jay Ruderman:

So I understand how important your service at the time was and the deep responsibility that you had for people who were not much older than you, but I understand that there were a few things that happened at that time that completely changed your life, and some very difficult things that happened to you. Can you tell us what happened at that time?

Jas Boothe:

We were in Fort McCoy, Wisconsin. It was very hot in the Midwest. I’m from Chicago, so I’m used to it and I know. But for some reason, it was taking a serious toll on me and I did not feel very well. I’m very in tune with my body and I’m like, “Something is not right.” We all know, they tell you in the army like to suck it up and drive home. As a woman, you didn’t get to have a bad day. And I would get belittled whenever I would try to go get checked out. I would get told things like, “This is why women shouldn’t be in leadership positions. You’re really showing why you’re the weaker sex. You are just the kind of leader that would get troops killed in combat.” And when they told me that, I never complained again.

So fast-forward to August, we were at a training event and then a commander tells us we need to pause the training event and I need you all to come with me. Then he tells us that a hurricane hit New Orleans. And now, people that are from that area usually don’t evacuate, they just kind of hunker down because storm systems come through so very often. But this storm system was just not a fleeting storm or a category two hurricane. This hurricane was Katrina. And a lot of us are slowly realizing that we’ve just lost everything that we own.

Soundbite:

For the survivors of Hurricane Katrina here in New Orleans, there were pleas for help by any means available, from people perched on rooftops or wadding through the streets in search of higher ground. For a second day in a row now, there are still rescues going on as we come on the air tonight.

Jas Boothe:

Me and my son lost everything that we own. Luckily, my son was with my aunt in Missouri and so at least I knew that he was safe. I was fortunate, but a lot of my troops were not able to get in touch with their friends and family members. And so we had to do a two-week pause ex because obviously they couldn’t focus if they didn’t know if their families were safe. I don’t have anything to go salvage. My son is safe. So maybe this is the time for me to go check on my health. So I went and got that checkup. And I got a call two weeks later to come and get my results.

Jay Ruderman:

And I understand you were diagnosed with cancer at that time?

Jas Boothe:

Yes, I received a diagnosis of a very aggressive neck and throat cancer.

Jay Ruderman:

So at this time, obviously with Hurricane Katrina and the devastation of your property and your health and your life being in danger, I understand you had to leave the military at this time.

Jas Boothe:

You know what, that wasn’t the first thing I thought about. That did become an unfortunate reality. But the first thing I thought about was I wasn’t going to be able to keep my promise to those families.

Jay Ruderman:

That must’ve been devastating.

Jas Boothe:

It was just hard at that time because I knew that I had gotten them ready, that we were ready and we were going to go in and come out together. And then abruptly, I just had to leave them and not know what was going to happen, who was going to come back, and it was going to be my fault. And I basically have 48 hours to go tell them bye, get my stuff together, and go off to the hospital, make a call to my family, let them know I was going to go be in a hospital and just hope for the best. It just happened that quick.

Jay Ruderman:

And I understand you did not tell your son about your diagnosis or that you were even in the hospital?

Jas Boothe:

No. He was a happy little boy and I didn’t want him worried about me. And I also didn’t want him thinking about if he was going to go from one parent down to none. How do you even prepare a child for that?

Jay Ruderman:

And can you tell us a little bit… I saw some of the pictures of your treatment and it must have been just so difficult what you went through.

Jas Boothe:

It was horrible. I spent six months in the hospital. I had two surgeries, 30 cycles of radiation. And it was horrible. I lost my sense of taste. Radiation, it just burns you and all you feel is just physical pain and you just burn from the inside out. But I will tell you what gave me perspective in going through that treatment, because during that time, troops were getting devastated from IEDs.

Soundbite:

For these men, making the roads safer for others may often feel like an impossible mission, but they do manage to clear three out of four bombs that are found. And on every journey, never far from their thoughts, the memories of colleagues who haven’t returned.

Jas Boothe:

And I would see these, my brothers and sisters being wheeled in, burned, some with missing limbs, and I said, “You know, at least I can still look in the mirror and see myself.” And I would suck it up just for them. And I would see them come in, I would just smile and speak to them. And I said, “You know what? They got it way worse than I do.” It was hell going through it, but I just wanted to stand up tall for them.

Jay Ruderman:

And my understanding is that you did come through, you beat cancer, but you still had, and to this day, have complications from what you went through.

Jas Boothe:

Being that I had radiation so close to my brain, I developed lifelong mental health issues. I have cognitive decline. But I will tell you, through that whole experience, cancer probably was the easiest part of what I experienced during that time because I left the hospital homeless.

Jay Ruderman:

Can you talk about what that was like to be homeless at that time after everything that you’ve gone through and having served your country?

Jas Boothe:

By the grace of God, my cancer did get in remission. It did respond to the radiation after six months of treatment. Due to Katrina, I didn’t have a home or job to go back to. At that time, they had warrior transition units. I let the unit commander know that I don’t have a home or job to go back to, and it’s basically, “Hey, the military doesn’t have a place for you right now because you’re not fit to serve, and so here’s your Duty 214, you need to go to the VA and get services because you’re a veteran now. And so I had always thought that the VA was only for Vietnam era veterans. And so I had a glimmer of hope that I was going to go there and get services.

And I go to the VA and I say, “Hey, I was sent here because I had to leave the military due to medical complications and the hurricane, and I need housing for me and my child because I’m a veteran.” And the lady looks at me and she says, “Yes, you’re a veteran but you’re a woman.” And I said, “Yeah, last time I checked, and I was also a soldier and a woman.” And she said, “Well, we have support services and housing for veterans, but not women veterans.” And she said, “Oh, but you mentioned you had an illegitimate child, so you need to go get on welfare and food stamps like other women that don’t have fathers that support their children.”

Jay Ruderman:

That must been completely devastating. Here you are, someone who’ve spent years in service to our country, and you need help and the VA is just not there for you.

Jas Boothe:

As I said, when I was in the hospital and when I would walk through the hospital corridors, there were men and women who had been injured and wounded by war. And so when I go to a system that looks at me differently because of my gender, I know, and I’m well aware that IEDs do not gender discriminate.

Jay Ruderman:

Right. So what did you do at that time? You’re essentially turned away by the VA. What ended up happening?

Jas Boothe:

I called my aunt, slept on her couch, and I went and got on welfare and food stamps because that’s all I qualified for. I went from being an army officer, having housing, having a job, having BA to take care of me and my son, to getting a couple of hundred dollars a month in food stamps to just basically feed my child and nothing more.

Jay Ruderman:

There were some statistics that I didn’t think about, but people should know that women veterans are two to three times more likely to be homeless than any other group in the United States adult population. That’s shocking to me. People that have served our country, that have given their time and possibly been injured, either physically or psychologically, that they’re two to three times more likely to be homeless?

Jas Boothe:

Yes. And most people also don’t know that over 70% of the homeless women veteran population have children in their care. They also don’t know that neither HUD or VA even tracked women veterans as a homeless population prior to 2011, when the government accountability office did an audit to ask them, “Hey, how many women veterans are you currently serving and tracking?” And everybody just looked around the room like, “Well, we don’t really track them.” They also didn’t know for the co-ed programs that actually had a woman veteran or two and a child that they were housing them with registered male sex offenders because they didn’t do background checks on them. So we were put in the worst possible situation. So you either put them in a bad situation, you don’t take them in, you don’t take in women with children, you have restrictions on the children, the ages of the children or the sex of the children. And for those that didn’t take in children, they asked them, “Well, why don’t you take in children?” And they said, “Well, the VA doesn’t pay us for the children. They only pay us for the veteran. So there’s no financial incentive on taking in children.” So you’re reducing supporting and keeping families together due to a financial incentive. These people have gone to war and already been separated from their families due to their service, and you are willing to separate them again for a price tag.

Jay Ruderman:

So I also read the statistic that 82% of women veterans do not use the VA for healthcare. It sounds like our country, well at least the VA, the government, is not set up to help women, especially women who have children.

Jas Boothe:

I would say it definitely takes time to make changes and I think the VA has started to get better, but I think women veterans just didn’t… When we initially went to the VA, when you went there, all the posters were male. Even the VA’s model is outdated and archaic. Some VAs don’t even have the same standard of care. Not all VAs have a women’s clinic. You can’t go to every VA and get mammograms. And so it’s just like we want to be served equally, but men and women are different in our biology. And so you can’t say we serve all veterans equally when I as a woman can’t go to every VA and get obstetric care if I’m pregnant. And so for me, it’s like I raised my right hand, I accepted all of the dangers, but I’m not seen as equal from a support service standpoint.

Jay Ruderman:

And so just to give a magnitude to this issue, there are 1,800,000 women veterans who are unscreened and unaccounted for. That’s a tremendous number that they’ve served our country, but they’re just not receiving services from the government.

Jas Boothe:

And not only that, when you look at homelessness, HUD has a point in time count where they say they go out and count all veterans who are homeless, one night a year on the coldest night of the year in January. So that system is severely flawed because they may say, “Hey, we went out and we counted that there were 40,000 homeless veterans on one night.” Well, the problem with that is you’re not going to find women veterans and their children in two degree below zero weather anywhere. If you do find a woman veteran on the street with her child, people are going to call child services, she’s going to lose her child.

Also with that is you’re saying one night we counted everyone. You didn’t. So I tell people, I always put the unemployment numbers next to the homeless numbers. So the unemployment office may say, “We had 450,000 unemployed veterans.” And then the point in time count said, “Well, we had 45,000 unemployed veterans.” So you’re telling me that 400,000 unemployed people are able to maintain their household, but there are only 40,000 people who are homeless. It doesn’t match up, but obviously less looks better. But the problem is with those of us who are service providers who are telling you no, there are actually 55,000 women veterans who are homeless, but you’re only saying there are 40,000 total veterans. But if you look at the fine print at that number at the bottom of the page, it’ll say, “This is just a small number. We didn’t count everyone, but this is what we were able to capture.” They don’t put that upfront, but they will present that number as the gospel to make you think that the problem isn’t as big as it is.

Jay Ruderman:

How is it that so many people who’ve served in our military, so many women are homeless, are not receiving services, are unemployed? What’s going on in our country?

Jas Boothe:

I can’t recall how many times we would get emails from businesses, sports teams, “Hey, we have 50 free tickets to this, 50 free tickets to that. You guys can come sit in the front row. Hey, you want to come sit on the 50 yard line, do X, Y, and Z?” And we would meet all these people who would give us business cards and say, “Hey, when you got out of the military, if you need a job, you need anything, please reach out to us.” Our country gives us this false sense of security that once we leave the military, they will take care of us. And so once that uniform comes off and you reach out to these people, that email bounces back, “Oh, such and such is in a meeting,” or, “You know what? We’re actually not hiring right now.” “Do you mind if I come to a game?” “Oh, you know what, maybe next game, maybe next game.” Because you know what? You are no use to them anymore. That uniform gets them business. It’s a great optic for them. But a veteran struggling isn’t a good look for them.

Jay Ruderman:

Do you feel that people look at female veterans different than they do their male counterparts?

Jas Boothe:

100%. And I think part of that is what the media has portrayed for so long, not just local media, even in movies, men have always been the war fighters, they’ve always been the heroes. What they don’t show is we’ve been right there beside them. And it is not a competition. The thing is, whatever we raised our right hand in service from or for, we’ve accepted the same dangers. When you have insurgents that are bombing bases, those bombs don’t have a gender identifier. When you go to Arlington National Cemetery, yes, there are women there too.

So when I first started my advocacy and I would go out to events, all men were portrayed as heroes and war fighters and we just need to help them because of everything they’ve done for our country. And for women, it’s just like, “Why are they having kids that they can’t support? And why did they not use their military service to her advantage?” It’s just like they always give the men the benefit of the doubt and they just assume that the women are in those positions because they put themselves there. We’re all painted as damsels in distress or birds with broken wings.

Jay Ruderman:

What was the turning point that caused you to say, “I need to do something,” and led to the creation of Final Salute?

Jas Boothe:

So what I originally thought that, well, maybe the VA doesn’t have any supportive services for women because maybe I was a freak accident. Maybe women don’t go to the VA. Or maybe women veterans don’t end up homeless. Maybe it was just me. And so being that I am a Chicago native, I would watch the Oprah show every time I got the opportunity to watch the Oprah show. And so around 2009 or 2010, Oprah is getting ready to go off air. And so I’m home watching one of her last shows, and I happen to catch a combat veteran who is a female who is living on of her car

Soundbite:

Food, I like to call it my kitchen. Microwaves are very easily accessible all times night, anytime of night. So a lot of my food is microwaveable.

Soundbite:

Alicia is a retired Air Force staff sergeant. But for a year now, Alicia has been homeless.

Jas Boothe:

The similarities between me and this veteran I was watching were just crazy. And I just was like, “Wait a minute.” And so I went to look for resources for homeless women veterans, and not one single hit. And I said, “You have got to be kidding me. This is going to be my next mission.”

Jay Ruderman:

So tell us a little bit about what the organization does, what services are provided.

Jas Boothe:

We provide transitional housing for homeless women veterans and their children. We have a 9,000 square foot, eight-bedroom, eight bath facility. We can house up to 10 women veterans and children at a time. We’ve had that facility for the past 11 years. We’ve supported over 8,000 women veterans and children in over 30 states and territories through our program. We provided 17,000 days of transitional housing. We also have a program called SAFE which provides emergency financial assistance to prevent homelessness.

One of my favorite programs is Next Uniform. We just had it a couple of weeks ago. We provide free business clothing, accessories, shoes, free makeovers, and headshots. So when I first left the military and I was looking for employment, I realized when the military transitions you, they tell you just to focus on having a good resume, but they don’t realize for those who have been in the military for a long time, especially women, you’ve kind of wiped away a lot of your femininity in wearing a uniform serving. So I really didn’t know how to put business clothes together, do hair and makeup and things like that. And so we put Next Uniform together which will also provide image consulting and focus on the presentation piece because you need more than a great resume to just get a job.

Jay Ruderman:

So let’s talk about the general public. First of all, how can people change their perspectives of women who’ve served in the military, veterans, issues of homelessness, unemployment? How can they see people like you and amplify your story or stories of others like you?

Jas Boothe:

There is a great resource, the National Military Women’s Memorial. They have so many great stories of women veterans and the many accomplishments that we’ve made, all the glass ceiling breakers that we’ve had in the military. That’s a really great resource to show off our history. If they want to know more about our organization and how they can help, they can definitely go to www.finalsaluteinc.org and reach out to me. I speak nationally through many groups. I’m always willing to educate and let them know how they can get more involvement, how they can look to start things in their own backyard. People always ask what do I want to do 20 or 30 years down the road? And I say I want this problem to not have to exist. I don’t want any veteran to be homeless. Me focusing on women veterans is not an us versus them thing. It’s just me trying to fill a void. There’s so much more that we can do collectively as an American people, and I would definitely appreciate everyone’s support because women veterans are definitely looked at as second class veterans and have been overlooked so long even though we’ve been serving for over a hundred years.

Jay Ruderman:

Well, first of all, I want to thank you and your family for your service to our country. I want to thank all women veterans and all veterans. And I want to urge any listeners to go to your website, to Final Salute, and to check out what you’re doing and to get involved. Thank you so much for being my guest on All About Change.

Jas Boothe:

Thank you for the opportunity. It’s truly been an honor.

Jay Ruderman:

Veterans are incredible people who volunteer to serve, often risking the ultimate sacrifice, putting their lives on the line for our country, for us. It’s our duty in return to support them when their service ends. But too often, long after the parades and celebrations have died down, these brave people are forgotten. Veterans deserve better, and female veterans are no exception. That’s it for today’s episode. Join us in two weeks. We’re going to stay on the topic of veteran advocacy. I’ll sit down with Leroy Torres, co-founder of Burn Pits 360, an organization supporting troops who have been exposed to toxic materials while in the line of duty.

Today’s episode was produced by Kim Huang, with story editing by Yochai Maital and Mijon Zulu. To check out more episodes or learn more about the show, you can visit our website, allaboutchangepodcast.com. If you like our show, spread the word, tell a friend or family member, or leave us a review on your favorite podcasting app. We would really appreciate it. All About Change is produced by the Ruderman Family Foundation. Special thanks to our production team at Pod People, David Zwick, Grace Pina, Morgan Fouse, Bryan Rivers, and Aimee Machado. That’s all for now. I’m Jay Ruderman, and we’ll see you next time at All About Change.