Chapter Assistant Jacqueline Kohler has recently completed the necessary training from MOAA national to be a surviving spouse liaison.

Furthermore, she was also one of six female veterans recently honored during the fifth annual Outstanding Combat Female Veterans of North Carolina Ceremony Program.

Jacqueline Kohler, Army, served in the Afghanistan war and now volunteers with Triad Honor Flight group that takes area veterans to Washington, D.C.

State Department of Military and Veterans Affairs Secretary Walter Gaskin said that female veterans “have stood shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts.”

Women have served in or near combat settings dating back to the American Revolution, according to Combat Female Veterans Families United. But the involvement escalated from the middle of the 20th century during World War II to the present day. Approximately 7,000 women were deployed to serve in the Vietnam War, more than 40,000 served in combat zones during the Persian Gulf War and an estimated 150,000 women were deployed to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars from 2001-12, Combat Female Veterans Families United reports.

Women now account for 15% of active service members in the U.S. military.