A veteran in search of validation

Emily Yates: A veteran in search of validation
By Gary Peterson
Contra Costa Times
Posted:07/29/2012

OAKLAND -- Sometimes it's as subtle as an arched eyebrow. Other times it's a full-on, in-your-face confrontation. No matter how the message is delivered, it grates on Emily Yates:

You are not a "real" veteran.

"I want to be given credibility where credibility is due, that's all," said Yates, an Oakland resident and UC Berkeley student who served two tours in Iraq during her six years as an Army public affairs specialist. "I'm not asking for anyone to put me on a pedestal. I just don't want anyone to discredit me when I haven't done anything to earn it."

Upon her discharge in 2008, Yates hopped in her car and embarked on meandering cross-country journey. She hasn't slowed down since. In addition to her education -- her major is Near Eastern Studies -- she has immersed herself in activism, music, photography and writing.

But to her, the coming-home experience is diminished when her military service is dismissed as something less than legitimate. She has some theories why that is sometimes the case -- why some have trouble reconciling her anti-war stance with her Army career, or why people in the VA office look at her "like, so who's your father?", or why she was told during a heated debate at a recent Cal Veterans Group meeting to "get the (expletive) out" if she didn't like the way the group was being run.
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