Sisters-in-Service
Are you a women veteran who feels unseen and unheard? Do you struggle with finding your purpose after service? Sisters-in-Service is a podcast that gives women veterans the platform to talk about those exact issues and more. Hear from other veterans, military spouses and Veteran Service Organizations (VSO) just like you that have overcome their transition from the military. Every Tuesday this podcast encourages women veterans to stand up and be counted because as a group we have a voice. From your host - Cat Corchado - The Voice Connecting Women Veterans
Sisters-in-Service
The Power of Empowerment: Stories from Women in Service
Get ready for an empowering episode as we sit down with Dr. Amelia Duran Stanton, a passionate advocate for women veterans and the author of "The Lotus Within." This episode dives into the multifaceted experiences of women in military service and the essential role of self-care in achieving personal and professional success. Dr. Stanton shares her unique journey, starting from her childhood and continuing through her more than 30 years of service in the Army.
Through our conversation, listeners will gain insights into the challenges women face in the military, the importance of camaraderie, and how empowerment can transform lives. Dr. Stanton emphasizes the value of strategic planning and prioritization, providing actionable advice that anyone can utilize to find their own path to success.
Whether you’re a veteran or simply someone looking for inspiration, this episode is filled with stories of resilience and encouragement. Join us as we explore how women veterans positively impact communities while focusing on their growth and well-being. Tune in, share your thoughts, and don’t forget to take care of yourself!
https://www.amazon.com/LOTUS-Within-Purpose-Ignite-Passin/dp/BODDR1GMD1
Welcome to Sisters in Service podcast. Most of you know me as a strong advocate for women veterans in being recognized not only as veterans but also as women who are changing the world through our passion of serving even after service. This podcast is my passion, by telling all the stories of military brats, military spouses, active duty and veterans, not to forget the veteran service organizations that help us along our transition journey. I want to thank you in advance for listening. I hope that you will join me. Every week, a new podcast and episode comes out every Tuesday, so I hope that you will join and I hope that you enjoy. This podcast is brought to you by Small Space Pilates. Are you ready to get fit and fabulous from the comfort of your own home? Look no further than Small Space Pilates. With live online Pilates and strength training classes, a video library and a no perfection allowed policy, you can achieve your fitness goals without ever leaving your house. Click on the link for your complimentary week and start your journey to feeling fabulous today. Welcome everyone to another episode, the latest episode of Sisters in Service podcast.
Speaker 1:You know me, I am your host, kat Corchado. This podcast is where we delve into the world of all things military that affects us as women in service and after service, while creating a balanced and fulfilling life. Today, I'm thrilled to have a very special guest, dr Amelia Duran Stanton. Dr Stanton is not only a seasoned military professional with over 32 years of service she's still active duty, y'all just saying but she's also a dedicated physician's assistant, an educator and a passionate advocate for women's empowerment. Her book, the Lotus Within, is a testament to her commitment to helping women unlock their full potential through strategic planning, time management and prioritization. I think I need all of those as a fellow boss and mom. She understands the unique challenge that women face and she's here to share her expertise and lessons learned. Dr Stanton, welcome to the Sisters in Service podcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, kat. I'm really excited to talk about this topic, because this is a passion of mine for 70 years now. And I'm looking forward to our discussion.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you, I'm glad that you're here. So I always ask this one question, and it is this so you are active duty, still in the Army. So my question to you is did you pick the Army, or did the Army pick you?
Speaker 2:So the background of that is I was finishing high school during that time frame and my mom told my sister and I that she's going bankrupt. We have no money for college. Because I was really, really looking forward to going to school and then all of a sudden it came crumbling down. My mom was crying all the time. It was like we got to do something and I wanted to travel the world and learn things. So my sister and I were in the same grade, even though she's a year ahead.
Speaker 2:So we were looking for the recruiters during high school because they were over there in the quad in school and we said, okay, air Force. When we talked to them, they're like no, they're too soft, we need something a little bit more harder. We talked to the Marines and the Navy. I'm not a very good swimmer, I'm sure they'll teach me, but we, the army one it was because we were. We grew up really strict because my sister and I grew up in the Philippines and the way that they were talking, I was like we can do this, this is not hard. We always had to do chores, we had homework, we had stuff to do aside from going to school. So I was 17. I told my mom, and my sister told my mom she was already 18 that we were joining the army, but I was 17.
Speaker 1:So she had to sign paperwork for you, right yeah?
Speaker 2:I was so surprised that she signed it too. I was like oh no.
Speaker 1:I'm committed. Now I have to go.
Speaker 2:I really have to go. But when I was supposed to leave for Fort Leonardwood the night before and I hardly cried, but I was crying my eyes out, yeah, oh my God, mom, and it was during the Rodney King fire.
Speaker 1:Oh yes.
Speaker 2:And half of it was burnt or almost burnt. So it was a tumultuous time and I was 17 and I signed up for five years and all my friends were like what in the world are you doing? But after that step in basic training I was like I got this. This is awesome, I love it. Singing cadence, going to formation. They fed us three times a day and you're like'm good, you get to eat for free yeah, so, yeah, so that the army. Basically I chose the army.
Speaker 1:So long story short it's funny you said that. Do you have any? Did you have any military background or anyone in your family that was military prior to this? Because it it's, and the reason I'm asking this question is it's unusual for someone to go. Yeah, I took to it like a duck to water. It was great.
Speaker 2:Right, I do, but more distant, for example, my grandfather on my father's side. So my paternal grandfather was actually a lieutenant in the army in the Philippines. He was in World War II, part of the Bataan Death March and he was actually one of the men that had to do that march. In fact, I went home this Christmas and we actually went to go see the memorial because he made it and then he was the concentration camp. He died, um, in the concentration camp.
Speaker 2:So that's a service of side-by-side with Americans, cause I, even whenever I come home and discuss um his legacy is like I learn new things every time I go home. One of them was that they told me that he he walked by my hometown and my grandmother's family tried to pull him out of the line when they were marching to during the death march and he was so committed he said I can't, I can't leave my men. So even that learning about that is like my God, like bigger than yourself, type thing. Yes, and also growing up I saw pictures of him and also my father who, because he was he never met his dad because his dad died during the war, but he went to military school. So like he, he went like. From a young age I could see like I just love the uniform. His hair was straight and and just just with that. So as far as legacy in the military, those are the two that I can recall just within my immediate family.
Speaker 1:The. It's very interesting that you said, oh, I went to the Air Force and they were too soft. I'm an Air Force I oh, I went to the Air Force and they were too soft. I'm an Air Force veteran. I was like I need soft. No, actually my dad did 22 years in the Air Force and I was a military brat and so I've been a military brat, military spouse, and then active duty military, now a veteran, and I saw so. We did a lot of overseas tours with my dad and we saw the army bases and we were like, oh, my god, right, the airport space are so pretty and they're like oh, like oh, but um, the only reason I went into the Air Force is because it was something I knew, I was familiar with it, it felt familiar, you know, I mean as much as it can be without actually being in, and that's actually why I picked the Air Force. And what year did you go into the Army? 1992.
Speaker 2:And we say soft in like a sisterly way or a friendship way, because we're jealous of the Air Force.
Speaker 1:No, honestly, I've heard all the jokes about the Air Force. You know like, oh, ha ha, you know, and I'm like, yeah, just bring it, because I just, I just laugh out loud every time that paycheck gets deposited.
Speaker 2:In fact, my sister got out of the Army being listed. She joined Air Force ROTC and became an MI officer in the Air Force. Yeah, kudos to all the air men and women, because we're all jealous of you. So whenever we're ribbing you, it's not because we don't like it, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:I didn't even think about that going in it was only afterwards I was like wait, why are we hating on Air Force? I used to do a live with a bunch of Marines and they were like, oh, Air Force Mafia, I go. Yes, we are.
Speaker 2:Yes, you are.
Speaker 1:So when you first went in as as a woman and I'm speaking woman to woman because, yes, you're well, I was quite, I was quite pretty much a little bit ahead of you going in, but did you? What were the discrepancies for you, for women going in the military, going in the army? If there were any?
Speaker 2:There were Because during the time frame we could only choose certain jobs, Because now they're allowed combat arms jobs.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:So my choices based on my ASVAB score were like patient admin and also supply. I mean, for somebody who did so well in the test, I was thinking, looking back, it's like these are the only two that you have to offer me. So exactly Some of that things. And also when I went to basic, it was still segregated the women versus the different different sections because later on they integrated them.
Speaker 1:So that's very interesting. You say that because when I went to basic and this was I went in on delayed enlistment. So I went active duty in March of 1980. And it was, they had just recently had men and women in the same dorm. We weren't mixed together because my, my dorm we call my TI my training instructor was male, but he had a female I don't know what you call them now, but you know, feel me a helper, I guess that's what it is. But it was just really, you know, and I didn't know the significance of that. Going in I was like, well, this is just how it is, you know. So when did you decide? Okay, so first of all, when you went in, which one did you pick?
Speaker 2:As far. Oh, I picked the patient admin, okay, because even looking back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, even looking back.
Speaker 2:I'm thinking what if I chose the supply route? You know, because all of a sudden several things opened up for me by choosing patient administrator and I was like you know, my mom couldn't care less which one I picked so by me choosing the patient administration route, it really opened up. Even though I was an administrator, I was around medical people. And I've always been around folks that were educators in medicine and my mom was a dietician. So I was thinking I'm glad I chose being a patient administrator. You chose Exactly In hindsight.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So when you decided that at some point I'm sure you had to go to and I don't know what they call it in the army, but they call it OTS in officer training school. So did you have to become an officer to, I'm assuming, be the doctor that you are now, or does that have anything to do with with your, with being a doctor?
Speaker 2:sure. So let me go through what happened. So a patient administrator is an enlisted mos patient spells just t. So my first duty station was puerto rico.
Speaker 2:I know everybody gets jealous of that super jealous hello and when I was there I saw, um, I was going to go into the enlisted to officer program for nursing but ended up not doing it. When I first went to my second duty station, which was Fort Carson in Colorado, there were a few folks that were enlisted, that were putting in for this call of interservice program, so everybody in the military can opt in for that and I was like what is that? And there were some people that were saying you're not going to get in, it's too hard to get in, You're a pad clerk, you're not even medical. It's pretty much discouraging me. Well, you proved them wrong, didn't you? I know Even the medic. I was like don't listen to them, just do your Just. So I got accepted my first try and everybody's like what happened? Yeah, that two years is considered OCS officer candidate.
Speaker 1:Candidate school. Okay, I know they called it something different. I wasn't sure what it was, though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like back in the day it was only for enlisted, but now they allow officers as well. But I was an E6, an NCO in the army, going to school wearing OCS rank.
Speaker 1:So at some point during your career, you decided to or maybe it wasn't even a decision, maybe it's just part of who you are to empower women. When did women's empowerment become a thing for you, that? When did you feel as though this was something you really wanted to dig into?
Speaker 2:Right. So I think it started very early because when I was living in the Philippines, I grew up with paternal grandaunts and also my grandmother. My grandmother owned her own fashion school, which is like advanced at the time because women are really it's a patriarchal country, so usually it's men that are doing things, but my grandmother was a widow. The war war and she had to make ends meet and she had her own business like teaching people how to do hair and and clothes and and so etc. And I also learned that she was also helping other cousins to live with her so that they can have a better education.
Speaker 2:So just hearing that when I was younger, that you have to help other people when you are fortunate, so I learned that being very young and also when I moved to the United States, I was involved in sports. So a lot of it is just learning and making sure the sports that I was in were team efforts. So the women I played basketball, I played tennis and also, oddly enough, badminton. So a lot of that being in the field of sports. It's like the empowerment already to be able to play sports as a woman.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes.
Speaker 2:Exactly, yeah, play sports as a woman, yes, yes, exactly yeah, so that. And then also in the military, when I went to basic training, there were a few women that were struggling with the pt test because I already knew how to play sports and I was good at it. But the push-ups none of us were prepared for that. But, um, I empowered some of my colleagues, my, my people that were in basic training. We would do push-ups late at night, like everything, night practice.
Speaker 1:Let's do push-ups.
Speaker 2:Because we are going to finish together. So that was one thing. And then there were some folks that were going to active duty reserve National Guard, and there were some collegiate athletes that were in the reserve and I was just in awe of one of them, um, because she knew I was competitive, because whenever we were doing something I would try to beat her, because I knew she was really in our last run.
Speaker 2:I couldn't believe it. I beat her other run, but she knew. Knew that's the way to push each other, is that it's like a competition. So I think that power of empowerment is is you're not necessarily doing everything for somebody, but you are giving them the opportunity to excel, and you all excel together, graduate together.
Speaker 1:So that's the same. I played basketball in the military. I played, I did, I played in high school and then I I was the girl, the lone girl, in the gym on saturdays playing pickup games with the guys. That's right and it was.
Speaker 2:I loved it, it was amazing yeah, I really liked it better than playing with.
Speaker 1:I know, because you can cheat, right, you can cheat right, you can step on their toes, you can elbow them. We're not going to say, oh, she fouled me. You know, I'm like whatever dude.
Speaker 2:You know, the men were like OK, let's bring it on.
Speaker 1:So let's talk a little bit about your book. So the Lotus Within what?
Speaker 2:made you want to write a book. First, I was thinking about during the twilight of my military career. So, having over 30 years now and also knowing my humble background being prior enlisted and then became an officer and also I got promoted leave a legacy. And what is the best way for me to leave a legacy in exponentially helping as many women as I can. So that's why I said okay, initially it was to do a course, an online course, teaching the same concepts, and then, once COVID happened, that I couldn't really teach. So I said I'm going to write a book. And that's when I reached out to a colleague again, empowerment is that she wrote a couple of books already and I asked for her guidance and for her help and she told she connected me with a few folks and then I I did the lead work in getting, uh, an editor, a publisher, et cetera an editor, a publisher, etc.
Speaker 2:And during the time that I was in Germany, because before I got here back in San Antonio, I was stationed in Germany as a commander of a clinic and I created an online course and I did a pilot course and part of it was asking colleagues because they knew me, they knew I was organized. They knew I'm a time manager, I know and I also I'm a stickler for schedules, getting things done. I asked them how can I help you? And those are the three topics that emerged the strategic planning for their future, time management and prioritization. And so that's how the background of the book came about, because a lot of folks just plan a day at a time and also they neglect themselves. They don't think about how to take care of themselves. They're always taking care of everybody else.
Speaker 2:Yes, children, and sometimes even parents, you know yes.
Speaker 2:Aging, but they burn out. Well, this is a way for me to give back to all the women that have helped me throughout my career by putting all the lessons that I learned throughout my whole life throughout my whole life and not just women, it's men that have helped me as well to succeed. And even the reading, the books like simon synek is on there, and a lot of things that I learned from just listening to him. So a lot of the lessons that I learned and and uh were helpful. I put in this book, um, and also the artwork not not the cover, but the inside is my daughter. She did the artwork. She's an art student at UTSA locally. Oh nice, whenever I submitted a photo, they're like you need permission. I was like, so I would ask for permission and nobody would reply and I said you know what? We're just going to have to Just use your daughter.
Speaker 1:Do our own, it's like carte blanche.
Speaker 2:Yeah, by the way, your art works in my book.
Speaker 1:So where in Germany were you stationed? That's right.
Speaker 1:Bavaria the most beautiful part of Germany, nice. I actually went to high school in Germany and it was yeah, it was. It was close to Ramstein. It's a closed base. Now it's Bitburg. It was Bitburg Air Base and I think Spangdolom Air Base is still open. But it's kind of sad because I don't have any place to go back to when you know you do family reunions for school and stuff, which is kind of sad. But anyway, let's get back to your book. So why should women read your book?
Speaker 2:First, especially for the new year, and also not just reading it one time. They need to read it. I want them to focus on themselves, like the first thing is sit down and this is a time and read about how you can help yourself, cause it's also a workbook, so it's like, oh, I read it, I'm done. Nope, there's homework in there. You got to answer some questions. I have them find their Ikigai, which is their passion in life. I also have them review their adulthood, because some people have certain things that they don't want to think about when they were younger. But, yes, there's silver lining in every story, especially when you're looking back in your childhood, and I also have them write a eulogy, pretty much a. At the end of your life, you're being eulogized. What do you want people to remember you by? So going backwards and going forward, and then, at the moment that you are here now, yourself and your future self that that will help you to make sure that you're on your path and doing what you love.
Speaker 1:I love that. I think that you know, especially as we become adults, we forget. You know, I have a friend of mine that she talks about, you know, being a beginner at things again. And as adults we don't want to be a beginner at anything, because we've lived a long time.
Speaker 1:We're like, oh, I should be an expert at this, you know, or they don't get it the first time and I find there's a certain freedom in learning something for the first time, because you can let your brain go, you can just learn, you don't have to be perfect at it. But I also believe that women, whether you're in the military or in general, whether you're in the military or in general, we forget to look back at our life because we come across things that are so difficult or can be difficult in like right now, and we think, oh, we can't make it through. But we tend to not look back and go okay, circle this, that was hard, that was hard, that was hard, but you're here to talk about it. And I think that we need to look back and say you know what? I'm a badass, I'm just going to say Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yes, so I think it's just important for us to take that look back. So, dr Stanton, where can people find your book? Take that look back.
Speaker 2:So, dr Stanton, where can people find your book? Is Amazon at this point, but those other resources are are. Are there for them to get the book and I hope they grab one for themselves and their besties.
Speaker 1:And grab a friend. Yeah, do it together. So what's up next for you, dr Stanton? Are you speaking anywhere? Are you, you know? Are they going to make a? You know, are you going to be a? Do a Ted talk or something on on your book?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so there's a few podcasts that I'm scheduled to do, aside from this one, so I'll give you, I'll keep you posted on that, and I do have a website. It's called wwwameliavs, which is my initials of my last namecom, so I'll put some media engagements in there, and also I'm giving you information regarding during International Women's Day, on the 8th of March. They can find me talking about the book as well. It's called Voices of Women Summit 2025.
Speaker 2:And I'll provide you that link and also I'll. In the future, I want to do some executive coaching as well as online teaching, where I can provide all of the resources they have so they can focus on themselves by reviewing some of the things that I offer on my offer on on my website. So hopefully I'll see some of you there.
Speaker 1:All right. One last question what is one piece of advice you would give to a woman who is struggling with the either strategic planning, time management, prioritization, or maybe all of the above?
Speaker 2:One piece of advice that I have for all women, and even if you're not struggling, is remember to focus on yourself. Kind of like when you're about to board a plane and you're seated and the airline is telling you all of the things that you need to do in case of an emergency, don't put that oxygen on your child because you love them. You need to put that on yourself first, because that's the best way that you can help someone is if you're taken care of, you're exponentially able to take care of other people, but if you neglect yourself, so just make sure you focus on yourself and then help others.
Speaker 1:Well, I absolutely believe that, because you know I I'm in the fitness industry and I always talk about people who you know they want the outside to look good, but health comes from the inside out. So if you take care of the inside, then the outs it's going to show on the outside and if you're healthy, you can take care of your kids. You could take whatever it is you need to do. I always tell people you know, if your body gives out, where are you going to live? So I think it's imperative to for and I'm glad that you had said that.
Speaker 1:Um so, dr Stanton, thank you so much for being a guest on the Sisters in Service podcast. It's been a pleasure talking to you and for everyone out there I hope you got popped out to me the most make you a priority, whatever that might be. You might need 15 minutes of downtime, you might need a bath, a glass of wine and a good book or some Netflix. Do what you need to do to take care of you, and so thank you for listening and, as always, please stay safe, take care of each other Until next time, and remember it. Please stay safe, take care of each other Until next time no-transcript.