For the most part, women veterans who served overseas or in a war zone have been given short shrift by the military and public. Some reportedly even have felt discouraged from seeking services to which they are entitled.

So it is pleasing to see that the new Dorothy Kubik/Katherine Galloway Post 12097, Veterans of Foreign Wars, has officially opened within West Seneca Post 8113. There are the requisite 41 eligible veterans to constitute a new post; seven of them are men, some of them military spouses of the women building up the post.

The point worth celebrating here is the recognition of the service and the sacrifices of women from this region who carried this nation’s colors to such places as World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the current war in Afghanistan and the one in Iraq, women have been on the front lines, elbow-to-elbow with men. It can be seen as a nod to political correctness that women serving overseas or in a war zone aren’t necessarily visualized in the same manner or in as rough situations as their male counterparts. But any parent with a daughter serving in Afghanistan understands full well that she is not in a safe area.

Current wars have few set battlefields. American troops face insurgents, guerrilla warfare and door-to-door searches and fighting. A woman’s job may be driving a supply truck in support of military efforts, but with roadside improvised explosive devices, that task can be just as dangerous—as attacks on convoys in the early days of the Iraq war proved.

Yet women were underrepresented at veterans’ posts and were missing out on mutual support and help with services and health benefits such as mammograms, gynecological and other basic care needs and prescriptions.

Marlene Roll, an adviser to the new post, wanted to bring the women together to give them a shared-experiences social outlet and a place to talk. She discovered an overall desire to celebrate women veterans, especially considering that the word “veteran” often is viewed as an accolade for men.

VFW Post 12097 has been in the forefront of changing the approach to women veterans. It’s a credit to that organization that its members have chosen to welcome home female veterans with a new post designed to serve them.