Life after Service

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When veterans come back from the military, they have some options: try to slip back into life as they knew it before, or find groups for those with common experiences that can help support them through the transition.

The latter is becoming less common with younger generations of service members.

Jody Frost, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, said the number of people seeking out those organizations has decreased.

Frost, who served from 1981 to 1984, never went overseas, and did not qualify for the Veterans of Foreign Wars. But she did serve as a member of the American Legion, and was their secretary for a while.

“I was the only woman, and one of the younger members,” she said.

The Hermiston Veterans of Foreign Wars post has about 300 members, though not all are active. Of those, only a few are women. Though numbers are dwindling overall for those organizations, the number of women that seek out those organizations is even lower.

According to a 2015 U.S. Department of Defense report, women make up 16.8 percent of the military, or about 357,276 members.

Amber Randall, an Air Force veteran who served in the early 2000s, said she and some of her peers keep in touch with other veterans through social media, including several Facebook groups, but it’s rare to find groups where younger veterans meet in person.

“A reason why the younger service members aren’t so close knit, I think, is because the other groups seem to be inundated with older vets that served in a totally different

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