BALTIMORE COUNTY — For Nancy Harris, service didn’t end when she took off the uniform; it simply changed direction.
WATCH: After 27 years in uniform, her mission to serve others continues
After 27 years in the military, she’s now on a new mission: making sure fellow veterans, especially women, feel seen, supported, and connected to resources.
“I started in 1987 in the Army Reserves… and then they sent me to Desert Storm,” said Harris.
Harris began as an Army Reserve medic, deploying to the Persian Gulf during Desert Storm. After returning home, she combined her passion for medicine and aviation, becoming an aeromedical evacuation technician on C-130 aircraft based out of Martinsburg, West Virginia.
Later, she joined the Maryland Air National Guard as a loadmaster, deploying again in support of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“It was an adventure. You were learning stuff all the time,” she said.
But her path wasn’t without challenges.
As a woman in a male-dominated field, Harris says she often had to work harder to prove herself.
“You had to almost be better than some of your counterparts,” she said. “A lot of times they wouldn’t call you by your rank. It was sweetheart and hon.”
Still, she pushed forward.
“I just kept going. I’m sort of a hard head,” she said with a laugh.
Today, Harris continues to serve her community in multiple roles. She’s a certified medical dosimetrist, a senior vice commander at her local VFW, vice chair of the Baltimore County Commission on Veterans Affairs, and a District 7 commissioner. She’s also actively involved in programs supporting women veterans, including helping build a Women Warriors Network.
“Keep serving. Provide information, resources to veterans… and make it better than the way I found it,” she said.
Through her work, Harris helps connect veterans to benefits, organizes outreach events, and supports military families through donation drives and community programs.
She says one of the biggest challenges women veterans still face is recognition.
“There are a lot of women who don’t feel like their service was enough,” she said. “But your service matters.”
Sometimes, that lack of recognition shows up in everyday moments.
“They’ll say, ‘Thank your husband for his service,’” she said. “And I’m like… no.”
Moments like that are why she believes highlighting women veterans, especially during Women’s History Month, is so important.
“We are small but mighty,” she said.
And her message to other women who served or are thinking about serving is simple:
“Don’t let anything stop you. You can do it.”
