[117th Congress Public Law 98]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



[[Page 40]]

                                     

[[Page 136 STAT. 41]]

Public Law 117-98
117th Congress

                                 An Act


 
To designate the medical center of the Department of Veterans Affairs in 
  San Diego, California, as the Jennifer Moreno Department of Veterans 
Affairs Medical Center, and to support the designation of a component of 
   such medical center in honor of Kathleen Bruyere. <<NOTE: Mar. 14, 
                         2022 -  [H.R. 3665]>> 

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) As of January 2021, of 1,255 health care facilities of 
        the Department of Veterans of Affairs, two are named for women 
        veterans.
            (2) From 2002 through 2006, Jennifer Madai Moreno was an 
        active member of the San Diego High School Junior Reserve 
        Officer Training Corps (JROTC), which is a Department of the 
        Army Honor Unit with Distinction, the highest rating by the 
        Army. She was also chosen to be a member of the San Diego 
        Unified School District Brigade Staff. As a high school senior, 
        she rose quickly to become the top junior marksman in California 
        through the Civilian Marksmanship Program.
            (3) Moreno accepted a JROTC scholarship to the University of 
        San Francisco (USF) for Nursing, becoming the first person in 
        her family to go to college. While at USF, she was chosen for 
        Leadership Development Training. She ultimately achieved the 
        highest level of physical fitness in her ROTC unit.
            (4) Following her graduation from USF with a Bachelor of 
        Science degree in Nursing in 2010, Moreno received her 
        commission in the United States Army as a Second Lieutenant 
        Nurse Corps Officer.
            (5) Upon commissioning, Moreno served as a Gold Bar 
        Recruiter from July 2010 to September 2010.
            (6) Moreno was chosen to attend and completed the Basic 
        Airborne Course in Fort Benning, Georgia and Army Medical 
        Department Officer Basic Course at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas.
            (7) Moreno was then assigned to Madigan Army Medical Center, 
        Joint Base Lewis McCord, Washington in January 2011, where she 
        served as a Clinical Staff Nurse on medical-surgical unit. 
        Moreno earned her certification as a Medical Surgical Registered 
        Nurse in February 2011.
            (8) Moreno volunteered for a position with U.S. Army Special 
        Operations Command in 2011. She was selected into the SOC 
        Cultural Support Team program. She was deployed to Afghanistan 
        in June 2013 with the Army's 75th Ranger Regiment.

[[Page 131 STAT. 42]]

            (9) On October 6, 2013, Moreno was attached to a U.S. Army 
        Ranger unit on a night mission in the Zhari district in Kandahar 
        province to capture a high-value target when four explosive 
        devices were triggered.
            (10) During the last moments of Moreno's life, she 
        reportedly heard a call to help a wounded soldier struck by a 
        blast. Moreno did not hesitate to respond to the call for help. 
        As she made her way to help a fallen soldier, she triggered the 
        fifth explosion, which ended her life.
            (11) Moreno was the first Nurse CST member to die in action. 
        Part of her legacy is the number of young women coming from 
        medical fields seeking out voluntary assignments to join the CST 
        program.
            (12) Moreno was the first combat casualty to be buried at 
        Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego since the post-9/
        11 conflicts began. She received full military honors.
            (13) After graduating from college in 1966, Kathleen Mae 
        Bruyere was accepted into U.S. Navy Officer Candidate School, 
        after which she was assigned as an on-campus Navy recruiting 
        officer in California.
            (14) Bruyere was named to the staff of Rear Admiral Allen 
        Hill in 1975, becoming the first woman to serve as flag 
        secretary to an admiral.
            (15) In January 1976, Bruyere was chosen as one of 12 Women 
        of the Year on the cover of Time Magazine.
            (16) In 1977, Bruyere joined five other women officers who 
        sued the United States Secretary of the Navy and the United 
        States Secretary of Defense over restrictions that prevented 
        women from serving on combat aircraft and ships. This led to the 
        1948 Women's Armed Services Integration Act being struck down as 
        unconstitutional, overturning a ban on women serving at sea.
            (17) In 1987, as Special Assistant to the Chief of Naval 
        Operations for women's policy, Bruyere helped conduct an 
        examination of the status of Navy women, including career 
        opportunities and complaints of sexism. The study led to 9,000 
        sea-duty and command jobs opening up for women on 24 combatant 
        ships.
            (18) In 1991, Bruyere was assigned as Commanding Officer for 
        the Navy Recruit Training Command at Orlando, Florida. At the 
        time, it was the Navy's only boot camp that included women. 
        Bruyere oversaw the training of 30,000 enlistees, one third of 
        them women.
            (19) In 1994, Bruyere retired from the Navy as a Captain 
        after 28 years of service.
            (20) From 2012 until shortly before her death in September 
        2020, Bruyere was an active volunteer at Miramar National 
        Cemetery, devoting almost 4,300 hours to helping visitors locate 
        their loved ones' graves and providing information about 
        veterans' burial benefits.
            (21) Bruyere was buried at Miramar National Cemetery with 
        full military honors.
            (22) In May 2021, a panel of San Diego-area members of the 
        Armed Forces, veterans, and military spouses recommended that 
        the San Diego VA Medical Center be renamed in honor of Jennifer 
        Moreno and an internal space be renamed in honor of Kathleen 
        Bruyere.

[[Page 131 STAT. 43]]

SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF JENNIFER MORENO DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 
                    AFFAIRS MEDICAL CENTER.

    (a) Designation.--The medical center of the Department of Veterans 
Affairs in San Diego, California, shall after the date of the enactment 
of this Act be known and designated as the Jennifer Moreno Department of 
Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
    (b) Reference.--Any reference in any law, regulation, map, document, 
paper, or other record of the United States to the medical center 
referred to in subsection (a) shall be considered to be a reference to 
the Jennifer Moreno Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON DESIGNATION OF MEDICAL CENTER 
                    PHYSICAL COMPONENT AFTER KATHLEEN MAE BRUYERE.

    It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
should designate a prominent physical space within the Jennifer Moreno 
Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, as designated pursuant to 
section 2, in honor of Kathleen Mae Bruyere.

    Approved March 14, 2022.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--H.R. 3665:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD:
                                                        Vol. 167 (2021):
                                    Nov. 15, considered and passed 
                                        House.
                                                        Vol. 168 (2022):
                                    Mar. 3, considered and passed 
                                        Senate.

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