Women are in Combat
At a veteran’s event I was talking to a Lara a female employee of the Veterans Administration (VA). We spent a lot of time talking about issues within the system. She had served 10 years in the Army before she was medically retired due to her Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Like most people I assumed her PTSD was from a sexual assault. I was wrong, she had combat PTSD. She explained that my assumption was a major reason many female veterans will not reach out or file a claim for PTSD. I assumed that any female who has PTSD must have gotten it from sexual assault not combat.
I have said in the past that I have yet to meet a female veteran who had not at a minimum been sexually harassed. She continued to educate me and said I was the third person that she had heard that from but she had not been sexually harassed or assaulted during her time in the Army. We continued to talk and she told me that most people still struggle to believe that female veterans served in combat let alone having PTSD from a combat experience. She discussed a female veteran who could get a 100% disability rating if she included her PTSD. She refused to ask for a rating for PTSD because it would be assumed her PTSD was from a sexual assault not combat. She feared what others would think so she refused to ask for the rating because of the shame associated with sexual assault. She did not want to be seen as a victim.
Lara continued educating me on her experiences and discussed how she had been struggling for quite a while because there are no groups for female veterans with combat PTSD. She tried to go to a combat PTSD group and an older veterans asked what was she doing there, women can’t have combat PTSD, women don’t serve in combat! That is a huge misnomer. There has been over 800 women wounded and 130 who gave the ultimate sacrifice since the wars started in 2001.
Recently women have been ok’d for combat by the military, even some have made it through Army Ranger school. Female veterans see combat whether we like to admit it or not. In the past women were not trained for combat but they continued to take on rolls that place them in the line of fire during support missions. Women have been in convoys since day one of Desert Storm. On today’s battlefield women receive and return fire. One of the most effective ways for our enemy to do damage to our psyche is road side bombs or Improvised Explosive Devices (IED). These tactics focus on convoys, and females are a part of them, leaving them susceptible to combat just like their male counterparts.
Female veterans need and deserve the same treatment males get for their psychological issues. According to my source, female veterans do not like to attend combat groups because most of them are full of older veterans who have not seen or believe women should be in combat. These females have earned and deserve their own groups for PTSD. The numbers of female veterans speak for themselves. They were 1.9% of casualties and 2.4% of all deaths. More than 280,000 women have served in OIF/OEF and they now make up to 20% of new recruits. Females are 14.5% of the 1.4 million in the military and 18% of the 850,000 reservist. Many of these women have been directly exposed to combat and have earned the benefits.
The center for women veterans was established by congress in November 1994. There has been little done for women veterans until recently when they started to fight for their rights. I have had several conversations with the Women Veterans Program Coordinator at a local VA hospital about women’s issues. She is working hard to make the Women’s Clinic a safe place for female veterans to go. I have sent several of my female clients to the women’s clinic and they have been happy with the care and services they have received.
Our women veterans deserve to be treated just like male veterans and have the same benefits from the VA. If you are a female veteran or know one, please visit or support the women’s clinic at the VA if they have one. The Women’s Healthcare System offers a variety of health services to address the unique needs of female veterans. Female veterans have earned the right to the same benefits male counterparts receive, take advantage of them. The more female veterans utilize their clinic the funding will increase. Don’t be scared to get what you have earned. Don’t let other’s assumptions stop you from getting what you deserve.
For questions or comments, I can be reached at bo@afterdutyvets.com or visit our website at afterdutyvets.com.