How Can We Tell If They're Wounded or Just Menstruating? by Kendall Helland
Veteran: Veteran requested anonymity, US ARMY
Artist Statement: This veteran was born in Wisconsin in 1959. She went into the Army in 1976, inspired by Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country” speech. Once in the Army, she trained as a medic. At night the women soldiers slept with weapons. She got shipped overseas to Germany, where she stayed in an old Nazi barracks. After her active duty ended, she joined the Army Reserves. Here she had traumatic experience of sexual harassment with a supervising sergeant. When her time with the reserves was over she moved to Phoenix to do polling and market research. She went back to school in 2002 and graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 2006. The mix of positive and negative experiences while in the military are reflected in the devils and angels that surround the veteran.