“After Fire” — The Challenges Facing Female Veterans
Women vets are encouraged to suppress their feelings and not appear “weak.” This leads to isolation and an absence of support.
Women vets are encouraged to suppress their feelings and not appear “weak.” This leads to isolation and an absence of support.
Female vets must be recognized as contributing members of society, with valuable abilities and talents to bring into their communities.
When you see the graphic that the suicide rate has increased 150 percent among veterans since 2001, you know that something is desperately wrong with how the country is handling the needs of veterans.
Would anybody enlist if they knew a court ruling had put forth, “Rape is an occupational hazard of military service.”
StJohn is very clear that emotional issues around military service must be resolved before women can move forward. “We acknowledge the impact of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Military Sexual Trauma (MST), and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).
“It is estimated by veteran suicide counselors that perhaps as many as three times as many veterans have taken their own lives than the number who died in the Vietnam War.”
On the pavement at the northeast corner of 54th Street, a man dressed in combat fatigues was sitting behind a black plastic crate.
A sexual attack is a trigger for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Susan McCutcheon, The Director of Family Services, Women’s Mental Health and Military Sexual Trauma, Veterans Health Administration (VHA) stated, “MST is an experience, not a diagnosis. PTSD is the diagnosis.”
October 12th-16th was Military Rape Awareness Week, and several organizations were on board for the implementation of activities. Data was put out to the media including: 1 in 3 women in the military have been raped or assaulted; 37 percent of victims are raped multiple times; 14 percent are gang raped.
Enmeshed in the stories of women who have served in the military, are the accounts of sexual harassment and abuse that are starting to see the light of day. The issue of Military Sexual Trauma (MST) has consistently been swept under the rug.