Female veteran Mary Claire Caine wants an apology for the note left on her car windshield. The “This space is reserved for those who fought for AMERICA… not you” note was left on Caine’s car when she was parked in a “veteran-only” parking spot.
Mary Claire Caine served in the U.S. Air Force for four years. The note left on the windshield of the female veteran’s car was signed, “Wounded Vet.” Mary Caine believes that the veteran who left the note likely assumed that a woman who had an advertisement for a prominent real estate business on her vehicle was not truly a veteran.
Caine followed in the footsteps of her two brothers and her father, and entered the United States military. The veteran was stationed in Kuwait during part of her term of service. She shared her story in an effort to remind everyone that veterans come in “all shapes and sizes.” Mary Caine also feels that the “Wounded Vet” who left the chastising note on her windshield owes not just her, but every female Armed Forces member and veteran, an apology.
The female Air Force veteran found the note on her SUV after leaving the Harris Teeter grocery store in Wilmington, North Carolina. The note, which appears to have been written with a red Sharpie, also read, “Maybe [you] can’t read the sign you parked in front of.”
“The first thing I felt was confusion that there was a mistake, and I had to talk to this person and ask them why they were so quick to assume I wasn’t a veteran and that I was taking privileges that didn’t belong to me,” Mary Cain told local WECT News . “For a split second I thought, ‘Am I a worthy enough veteran to park in this spot?’ And then I got very angry at myself for even considering that.”
Mary Claire Caine waited by her SUV in the hope that the “Wounded Vet” who authored the note would soon exit a store, and she could explain that she was indeed a veteran and set the record straight.
“I think they took one look at me when I got out of my car and saw that I was a woman and assumed I wasn’t a veteran and assumed I hadn’t served my country,” Caine added. “They have this image of what today’s American veteran is and honestly if you’ve served in the United States military, you know veterans come in all shapes and sizes. I questions whether the person who left the note was full way of that.”
The female veteran served as an avionics technician at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico from 1996 to 2000. While at the base, she worked on the on the flight line of the F-117 Nighthawk.
“It’s true what the soldiers missing in action slogan is: ‘All gave some and some gave all.’ And, I think that’s very important that sacrifice is sacrifice and I earned the title as a veteran and I’m proud of that,” Mary Claire Caine added.
What do you think about the note left on the female veteran’s windshield and Mary Caine’s response to the incident?
[Image via: WECT News ]
