ABOUT

Carma Connor

About the owner

I served on active duty in the uniformed services for 21 years (7 in the U.S. Air Force and 14 in the U.S. Public Health Service) and retired in 2017 at the rank of Commander.

The Women Warriors Connect project began as an opportunity to learn about free resources available to veterans for myself.

However, the more I got involved in veteran programs and communities, the more I learned that women veterans have many different struggles that include Military Sexual Trauma, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, feeling like their service was not appreciated or their service was not even acknowledged, homelessness, stress and anxiety, depression, feeling like their service made them a bad mom, regretting giving up their service to be a mom, choosing not be a mom in lieu of serving a career, and many more.

Many women veterans who served perhaps for just a few years or maybe in a field where they weren't in a 'war fighting' role do not connect to their veteran status. THIS is where I felt it was most important to begin. Because if women veterans don't even recognize their own veteran status, then they're missing out on so many resources and opportunities available to them.

Service History

I first served in the U.S. Air Force for two tours from 1996 to 2003. At Keesler Air Force Base, I was a clinical dietitian in the hospital and worked in inpatient, outpatient, nutrition support, and pediatric specialty clinic settings. At Tyndall Air Force Base, I was the Nutrition Programs Manager and provided all outpatient and wellness programming for the base, to include prenatal, diabetes, weight management classes, cooking demos, and individual nutrition counseling. While at Tyndall AFB, I won the Company Grade Officer of the Quarter Award and earned an incentive ride in an F-15 fighter jet. What an exciting day!!

In 2003, I transferred my commission to the U.S. Public Health Service, The Surgeon General's Corps, and worked in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service. I worked in Chicago (2003-2006) as an Enforcement Officer and conducted in-depth food safety audits at meat and poultry slaughter, processing and canning plants. Then I was a Regional Public Health Trainer (2006-2017) based in Atlanta, GA, and traveled the U.S. conducting 1-4 week, in-depth, regulatory training for Agency employees serving in Food Inspector, Consumer Safety Officer, Enforcement Officer, Compliance Investigator, and Public Health Veterinarian roles.