Lucy Del Gaudio is a U.S. Army veteran of eight years (1990-1998). She survived a sexual assault committed against her while she was in the service.
Del Gaudio became a vocal advocate for women in the military and women veterans following her transition to civilian life, spurred on by her own experience and by the murder of Private First-Class Vanessa Guillen at Fort Hood, Texas in 1992.
Del Gaudio has testified in front of the House Armed Services Committee and was appointed by Governor Phil Murphy to the NJ Commission for Women Veterans and also appointed to the Workgroup for Sexual Harassment /Sexual Assault by Veterans Affairs Secretary Dennis McDonough.
Today she works for YWCA Northern New Jersey’s Operation Sisterhood, a program focused on creating a safety net for female veterans as they return to civilian life.
In Part 1 of Military Matter’s interview with Del Gaudio in the last issue, she spoke about the sexual assault committed against her, how she struggled with PTSD and how her family helped her through her tough times.
In Part 2 of our interview, Del Gaudio describes how she went from reluctant veteran to outspoken advocate for women veterans and their needs and she recounts her ongoing battles with the New Jersey Veterans Administration (VA) to make it more responsive and more accommodating to the needs of women veterans.
Military Matters (MM): Would you say the sexual assault committed against you is what prompted you to become an active spokesperson for women in the military and women veterans?
Del Gaudio (DG): Not at first. Once I left the military, I was not out front on this issue. I did not identify as a veteran for a very, very long time. It was about 2011 or 2012 when the school where one of my children attended was having a Veterans Day breakfast.
They invited me to the breakfast, and I was like “oh boy, do you really want me to identify as a veteran?”
I attended. I was the only mom there. I was proud that I was there for my children. After the event, I ran into a high school friend who was still serving in the marines and he was the one who said to me ‘Lucy, you have a story, and you have a message. You should really get involved with veterans.’
I was reticent at first. He invited me to a veteran suicide ruck in Central Park in 2014 and that was my first outing as a veteran.
I started making connections with other services organizations and I started to see the difficulties that women veterans were experiencing in New Jersey when it came to their transition and when it came to their VA health care. So that is when I started to put on my advocacy hat.
MM: Let’s talk about some of the major issues facing women veterans in New Jersey
DG: At a women veterans roundtable Senator Booker held in 2017, I really started saying women need to have a voice, and you have to really start pushing for access to different health care. I had leaned the New Jersey VA does not have a mammogram machine at their locations – those kinds of things.
Also, we have a very high rate of suicide within the women veteran population, we have homelessness, and we have unemployment and PTSD – a lot of it is comparable to what men are experiencing.
You have women vets who are single moms and who can’t get transitional housing in the state of New Jersey. They face the inadequacy of the VA when it comes to health care. So, there are a lot of things that women face – not just in New Jersey but across the country – and it has been a fight.
MM: You have been a critic of the VA in your advocacy work. You mentioned just a moment ago that the New Jersey VA does not have mammogram machines. Has that been rectified?
DG: No, they still do not have mammogram machines. They use numbers against us. The VA tries to say that not a lot of women utilize the VA. But you can’t blame us. We can’t use the VA if they don’t have the services we need.
We have about 26,000 women veterans in New Jersey. Historically we have more women veterans in the South Jersey area and we have a lot in Passaic and Essex Counties.
But when they count the numbers, the VA only uses the number of women who use the New Jersey VA. If they counted all the women in New Jersey who use the VA hospitals in Philadelphia or Delaware or New York City, then we would get our numbers. But they do not do it that way.
Women veterans are the fastest growing segment of the veteran population, and I don’t think the VA is moving fast enough with us.
You have some VAs that are doing amazing things for women but then you have other VAs that are doing very poorly for women and New Jersey is one of them. We really should amp up what we do for women veterans in this state.
Helen Archontou is the CEO of YWCA Northern New Jersey, the organization which launched Operation Sisterhood last year. The program supports women veterans in Bergen County (and elsewhere if needed) as they transition to civilian life.
Achontou spoke about Lucy Del Gaudio’s contribution to Operation Sisterhood:
“Lucy is a national advocate for this work and her impact casts a wider net than just what she does with Operation Sisterhood. We are fortunate that she lives in our neighborhood and that we were able to bring her expertise here to help develop our program. What we know about working with women veterans is that it is really important to them that they have someone they can talk to who has walked their walk. The fact Lucy has had many of the experiences these women have had really helps guide the program in very supportive and empathetic ways.”
Archontou further described the programs available at Operation Sisterhood:
“We have services which can help women veterans with specific needs such as finding housing or clothing. Navigating the many support systems for veterans can be very challenging. We have case managers who are ready to jump in and help. We also have socialization and mental health programs – they can help bring women veterans closer and help break the isolation.
An advantage of having Operation Sisterhood here at the YWCA is it can connect with other programs we have. It links to our sexual violence program – so many women have been impacted by military sexual violence. There is also our workforce programming which includes job coaching, therapeutic art programs and we have authors who come in and speak about their experiences in the military.”
MM: Are there women health care providers working at the VA? Wouldn’t that help this situation?
DG: There was an increase in the number of women working at the VA, but now with the current administration, that number is decreasing.
MM: How do you get the VA to make changes that you think are needed?
DG: I have been talking to legislators for a very long time, but a lot of things have to change. We attend their town halls, we go and lend our voices, but the VA does not seem to work fast enough. I think writing to your legislators can help.
One thing I always ask legislators – when was the last time you walked through the door of a VA? Just walk in – don’t tell them that you are coming – just walk in.
I tell any of them to go and see for themselves what happens at the VA, and I would tell you that nine out of 10 will be incredibly disappointed.
MM: You also mentioned a moment ago the problem of suicide among women veterans. Why is this problem so rampant?
DG: I definitely think for women veterans – it is very hard for us to ask for assistance. But sometimes the kind of assistance that a woman needs is just not there.
Also, there is also a trust factor. Do we really want to go into a VA where there is harassment and assault that takes place?
Yes, it is difficult for us to ask for assistance, but it is also hard for us to navigate the system without people asking ‘did that really happen to you?’
This is why an organization like Operations Sisterhood is creating a safe space for a woman to come and talk and have the opportunity to ask for assistance.
MM: You were part of the team that helped make June 12 Women Veterans Appreciation Day. Is there a significance to that date?
DG: That is the day President Truman signed the Woman Armed Service Integration Act in 1948. It gave us a sense of pride and recognition. We had been recognized, but not the way our brothers in arms had been. It gave us a platform where we could talk about women’s initiatives and about the plight that women veterans experience.
MM: Would you say a victim of sexual assault in the military today has more options for help than you did or is it still that same?
DG: I wish the services that are here today had been there for me. I had nothing. Creating these spaces like with Operation Sisterhood, where a woman can come in and get help with her resume, or her professional development or get help navigating the VA system. I wish I had that. It would have made my life much, much easier.
NOTE: More information about Operation Sisterhood can be found here.
