Grace in the News

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Veterans Administration, Geared to Men, Shortchanges Special Needs of Women

By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES - ABC News
March 2, 2010

The first day Kristine Wise returned from eight months military service in Iraq, she knew something was wrong. Driving from San Diego to Bakersfield to see her brother, the road signs triggered flashbacks.

"One said 'railroad,' but instead I saw 'roadside' and in my mind a roadside bomb," said Wise, who supplied parts to combat vehicles in the first wave of the war. "I would see 'beware' and my mind would see 'Baghdad.' I couldn't explain it."

The depression and panic attacks began long before her honorable discharge in 2004, but the battle to get the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to take her symptoms seriously was just as difficult. READ MORE...

Later in the article they list two very valuable resources:
"Those seeking support can contact Grace After Fire, a nonprofit dedicated to helping women veterans, or Swords to Plowshares."

All, COL Platoni is an exceptional woman, doctor and soldier. She was at Ft Hood in Texas on November 5th at the time of the attack. She is also a former Board Member of Grace After Fire, and as an active duty reservist has asked to continue as one of our astute Clinical Advisors. We love her, miss her, and send her our prayers for continued strength and safety during this trying time.

God bless you, Colonel.

Read the Story online

DEATHS AT FORT HOOD/Louise Farr

When Ohio psychologist and Army Reserve Colonel Kathy Platoni heard panicked civilians shouting and saw them carrying the wounded toward her Fort Hood building last week, she thought it was yet another training exercise. Too quickly she learned that the scenario was real. The San Diego psychiatric nurse, Captain John Gaffaney, died in front of her. “He tried to rush the shooter and took at least five rounds,” Platoni told me by phone from Fort Hood. “He fought so hard to stay alive.”

I had met Platoni in August when her 467th combat stress control team passed through Los Angeles. The reservists, along with the 1908th medical detachment, were heading for northern California’s Camp Parks to train before deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan next month. At the time, I was researching a story about post traumatic stress disorder for Los Angeles magazine, and seven reservists talked with me around a hotel conference table. In the group was Major L. Eduardo Caraveo, a warm and thoughtful Virginia psychologist who had succeeded Platoni on a 2004 deployment as combat stress team officer in charge at Guantanamo Bay.

My plan was to reconnect with Platoni, Caraveo and their colleagues after their 14-month deployments so that I could write about their experiences. Three months after our Los Angeles meeting, Major Caraveo was dead, one of 13 killed, including five mental health workers, allegedly by Nidal Malik Hasan, the army psychiatrist authorities are blaming for the shooting frenzy.

The military will get a bad rap over not stopping the madness before it happened; for not spotting and ousting a disturbed -- perhaps fanatical – soldier. But Caraveo, dressed in fatigues, weary from jet lag and speaking in a softly accented voice that indicated his roots as a Mexican immigrant, talked in August about the difficulty of integrating the concept of mental health into an environment whose dominant motif is war. The military, he pointed out, is a world of its own, and its psychologists and psychiatrists are doing nothing less than attempting to upend an entrenched culture.

“It’s a very difficult task. It’s going to take a while, but I think we’re making definite strides,” Caraveo said, about the millions of dollars the Department of Defense has been pouring over the past few years into research, new treatment programs, and PR campaigns designed to reduce stigma. “It’s an opportunity to act in a prophylactic way, rather than be reactive,” the major said. “I think in the past, we have been more reactive. Sometimes it’s too late.”

Sadly, it was too late for Major Caraveo and the other Fort Hood victims. “He filled our souls,” Colonel Platoni, who is also Clinical Psychology Consultant to the Chief, Medical Service Corps., says about her fellow soldier. It may not be too late for some of the ground troops in Iraq and Afghanistan as Caraveo’s 1908th medical company, and the 467th, which also suffered losses at Fort Hood, want to continue with their deployments, according to Platoni. “If they split us up and send us home, they’ll traumatize us even more. We’re hanging tough, but we need each other, and we’re geared up for the mission,” she told me yesterday.

Like many military mental health reservists, the colonel shuttered a private practice and left a worried spouse behind to deploy to Afghanistan and embed with troops. This can mean living in tents and huts, eating and hanging out with the soldiers to build trust, then helping them cope with their boredom as they wait for something to happen, and their fear when it does. Emotional fallout from the war continues as alcoholism, PTSD and suicide rates mount. But how much worse might they be without these stress team workers?

“I think most of us make a choice to do this kind of stuff and make sacrifices, so at that level we can identify with the troopers,” Caraveo said, as we sat around the table. “Typically, when you put on a uniform, you don’t talk to other people about emotions. So when they start talking to us, it’s very humbling for them and very humbling for us. We help.”

Military Sexual Trauma - Seeking Justice-- The Huffington Post


Grace After Fire is listed as a resource ladies - here is where women can come and feel safe to talk. Where there is still pain, let us gather and offer our love, tolerance and gentle hand of help.

Feel free to reply and share your thoughts - Grace.

See a video of the Veterans' Affairs Senate Committee Meeting on July 9, 2009.

The gun is heavy in my hand, cold, solid. I sit on the edge of my bathtub and stare at .... read more. By Kayla Williams

I served right alongside my male peers: with our flak vests on during missions, we were all truly Soldiers first. Read More

Grace After Fire Boardmember Kayla Williams described the misconception that women do not participate in combat, and therefore, are not eligible for service-connected benefits. Read More

 Recent News

Have an article related to women veterans? Submit it here!

here is an article i was featured in regarding the fight for PTSD benefits...

More vets may get treatment for PTSD

keep trying to get the word out for all of us - past, present, future...

www.fatiguesclothesline.com

Fatigues Clothesline
Regina Vasquez
PO BOX 194
San Marcos, TX
78667-0194

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/fatiguesclothesline

I am a Marine Disabled Vet who experienced Military Sexual Trauma along with Sexual Harassment and Gender Discrimination. One day while getting ready for school I had an epiphany and now I know what I need to do. For the longest time, for about 12 years I lived with the vision of the two men rapping me in my head. About a year ago I got tired of it and decided to get help. I went through group counseling along with individual only to find out that yes I needed to talk to someone and now I'm ready to make it public so I am able to help those who suffered like me move past it all. I participated in a clothesline project for sexual trauma survivors. For this clothesline project we got to write or make art on our T-shirts by telling our story. When we were done we all got to hang it in front our town's court house on a Clothesline, hence the Clothesline project's Name. I didn't mean to take a lot of attention away from the other gals because I felt they need the validation as well but my T-shirt gained so much attention. While standing behind them acting like an observer I heard complete strangers say "I can't believe this kind of things happen in our military" and such. This is where my epiphany came from. Why not bring the public in by making a "Fatigues" Clothesline for all the woman and men who did and still serving for our great Nation? It will be discreet, meaning no names but still be able to have some validation and Justice for our Soul. I named it "Fatigues" because one fellow veteran pointed out, it is what we were wearing while going through it all and after suffering for so long we feel fatigued. What I'm asking from you is to take time and I know how painful it is but well worth it in the end because for some of us, we were denied our justice due to circumstances. For some of us we may not want to tell people what happened to us. This is a good tool in helping with the process. You will be able to tell your story and no one will know who it came from and still gain the satisfaction of knowing your story is being told and heard. I want you to do this for me, please take a uniform shirt and turn it inside out. Reason for turning it inside out, it's because even though we were raped, harassed, any kind of abuse whether it be verbal abuse or physical we still take pride in serving our nation but what we go through is what we cover up with that pride for our Nation by wearing the uniform. Freedom isn’t free, this is another way of telling the public what we endured for their freedom. So I’m asking again, no names, your story on a uniform shirt turned inside out about what you experienced while serving our country’s freedom and in return earn validation, justice for your soul and a chance to be heard. My goal is to hang all the Uniform Shirts up in a year or a year and a half in front of our Nation’s White House so that everyone will see what we go through by serving for their freedom. I want to hang them up on a national holiday, Veteran’s Day by next year if not the following year. This is a safe way of being heard for all of us. No command getting involved, no anyone but our freedom of speech through our uniform shirts. By doing this it will allow the civilians a chance to better understand us and to educate them on the matter. Fatigues Clothesline Regina Vasquez PO BOX 194 San Marcos, TX 78667-0194 I will take them, protect them, will not share who they came from and guard them with my heart till it’s time to hang them.

I am a Marine Disabled Vet who experienced Military Sexual Trauma along with Sexual Harassment and Gender Discrimination.

One day while getting ready for school I had an epiphany and now I know what I need to do. For the longest time, for about 12 years I lived with the vision of the two men rapping me in my head. About a year ago I got tired of it and decided to get help. I went through group counseling along with individual only to find out that yes I needed to talk to someone and now I'm ready to make it public so I am able to help those who suffered like me move past it all.
I participated in a clothesline project for sexual trauma survivors. For this clothesline project we got to write or make art on our T-shirts by telling our story. When we were done we all got to hang it in front our town's court house on a Clothesline, hence the Clothesline project's Name. I didn't mean to take a lot of attention away from the other gals because I felt they need the validation as well but my T-shirt gained so much attention. While standing behind them acting like an observer I heard complete strangers say "I can't believe this kind of things happen in our military" and such. This is where my epiphany came from. Why not bring the public in by making a "Fatigues" Clothesline for all the woman and men who did and still serving for our great Nation? It will be discreet, meaning no names but still be able to have some validation and Justice for our Soul. I named it "Fatigues" because one fellow veteran pointed out, it is what we were wearing while going through it all and after suffering for so long we feel fatigued. What I'm asking from you is to take time and I know how painful it is but well worth it in the end because for some of us, we were denied our justice due to circumstances. For some of us we may not want to tell people what happened to us. This is a good tool in helping with the process. You will be able to tell your story and no one will know who it came from and still gain the satisfaction of knowing your story is being told and heard. I want you to do this for me, please take a uniform shirt and turn it inside out. Reason for turning it inside out, it's because even though we were raped, harassed, any kind of abuse whether it be verbal abuse or physical we still take pride in serving our nation but what we go through is what we cover up with that pride for our Nation by wearing the uniform. Freedom isn’t free, this is another way of telling the public what we endured for their freedom.
So I’m asking again, no names, your story on a uniform shirt turned inside out about what you experienced while serving our country’s freedom and in return earn validation, justice for your soul and a chance to be heard.
My goal is to hang all the Uniform Shirts up in a year or a year and a half in front of our Nation’s White House so that everyone will see what we go through by serving for their freedom. I want to hang them up on a national holiday, Veteran’s Day by next year if not the following year.
This is a safe way of being heard for all of us. No command getting involved, no anyone but our freedom of speech through our uniform shirts. By doing this it will allow the civilians a chance to better understand us and to educate them on the matter.
Since this facebook is under construction, I am starting by getting the message out and after the first of July/2010 I will make available a P.O. Box for all to send the shirts to. I will take them, protect them, will not share who they came from and guard them with my heart till it’s time to hang them.

Susan Burke, a highly regarded Washington DC based attorney is preparing to file a class action lawsuit to change how the U.S. military deals with rape and sexual assault committed by its personnel. The suit will ask for damages as well as changes in the military’s practices. As Burke puts it, “You shouldn’t have to ag......ree to be raped in order to sign up and serve your country.”

Burke is looking to add more plaintiffs to this suit and someone to fly out and speak with her at a press conference within the next two to three weeks. If you are a victim of sexual assault the military and would be interested in being part of this historic lawsuit, please contact Susan Burke at: 202 232-5504 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting**************202 232-5504******end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Burke is particularly seeking women who were assaulted post 2004 , but all women and men who have served in the military and survived a sexual assault during their term of service are urged to please contact her as soon as possible.

	Washington, DC – House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) praised legislation approved in the House of Representatives today that makes strides toward ending the disabled veterans tax known as concurrent receipt. “Ending the disabled veterans tax has been a key priority for Congress, the President, and for military and veterans service organizations. I am pleased this legislation brings us closer to providing the benefits disabled military retirees deserve and have earned. While there is still more work to do, this legislation is the critical first step on the path to full concurrent receipt for this most deserving group of military retirees,” said Skelton. H.R. 4213, the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act, includes a provision to provide full concurrent receipt of military retired pay paid by the Department of Defense and disability compensation paid by the Department of Veterans Affairs to those forced to prematurely leave their military careers due to disability retirement under chapter 61 of title 10, United States Code. The legislation ends the disabled veterans tax and provides full retirement and disability benefits to 77,000 of these disabled service members for two years, in anticipation of extending it to all 136,000 medically retired veterans over four years.

U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan remembered friends and colleagues Monday in solemn Memorial Day ceremonies to commemorate all of the nation's war dead.

Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal praised them for their sacrifice, and a steel construction beam from the World Trade Center was unveiled, with the inscription "WTC 9 11 01."

Full Story

Has anyone seen this article? http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpps/news/in-tide-of-new-ptsd-cases,-fear-of-growing-fraud-dpgapx-km-20100502_7343903 I was so angry after reading it. Of course there will be more cases of PTSD. We have been in two wars for almost 10 years now! Every system is open to fraud. I am worried that this is an attempt to reduce support for veteran’s services, especially support for PTSD care. Why was this article all over the popular media? I guess we will soon see. I did find a rebuttal buried on a veterans website http://veteransforcommonsense.org/index.php/veterans-category-articles/1693-vcs#
Why wasn’t the article supporting veterans shown all over the popular media?
In response to the rising suicide rate, the DoD wants warriors to be “strong” and seek out mental health care instead of “sucking it up”. The government can’t have it both ways. Caring for us will cost the American taxpayers money.

Landmark Bill Bolsters Care for Female Veterans
By Laura Fitzpatrick Wednesday, May. 05, 2010
Obama Signs Bill Boosting Support for Female Veterans - TIME

President Obama signs the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health
Services Act at the White House
America's daughters have been serving in the U.S. military for
centuries, and they're being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in
unprecedented numbers. But back home, they're still not guaranteed
that the bathrooms at veterans' health care centers will be stocked
with tampons. The Government Accountability Office published an audit
this spring that found some of 19 health care facilities it surveyed
did not always have private bathing areas, even in mixed-gender
units. Such lapses in women's health care are growing more painfully
apparent as the number of females using the Veterans Affairs (VA)
health care system is projected to double in the next five years. But
in a landmark step toward addressing their needs, President Obama on
Wednesday afternoon signed a bill bolstering care for female
veterans, which was part of the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus
Health Services Act of 2010.
"Our obligations to our troops don't end on the battlefield," Obama
said at the signing in the State Dining Room at the White House.
"Just as we have a responsibility to train and equip them when we
send them into harm's way, we have a responsibility to take care of
them when they come home."
Among other measures, the legislation - which was passed with broad
bipartisan support - requires the VA to train mental health
professionals in caring for the 1 in 5 military women who have
survived sexual trauma, which increases the risk of mental health
issues like posttraumatic stress disorder by nearly 60%.
The bill also authorizes research on the effects of the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan on women's physical, mental and reproductive health.
U.S. soldiers have to carry a lot of heavy gear - duffel bags,
bulletproof vests, thick boots - through Iraq's dry, 120-degree heat.
A reluctance to add to the load by hauling water may lead more female
soldiers to become dehydrated in the desert, according to Dr. Samina
Iqbal, a member of the VA's national Women Veterans Health Strategic
Health Care Group, who notes that some 34% of women return home with
genitourinary issues - reproductive system disorders, urinary tract
infections and the like - compared with just 8% of men.
The legislation also requires a comprehensive assessment of the
unique barriers to care that women face. Veterans' advocates
speculate that limited access to childcare and the perception that VA
hospitals are geared toward old men are among the reasons that female
veterans are less likely than males to use veterans' hospitals, even
for such gender-neutral care as colon cancer screenings and flu shots.
In addition to the bill's specific provisions, the legislation
serves as a high-profile reminder that women fight and fall wounded
overseas, and come home with scars that aren't always healed by a
health care system that has roots dating back almost a century, to a
time when service members were mostly men.
Advocates of the bill also note that it sends a message to female
veterans that their needs are important to their country. When one of
the bill's sponsors, Washington Senator Patty Murray, travels around
her state holding veterans' roundtables, she often finds female
veterans more reluctant than men to voice their health care concerns.
"They wouldn't speak up," she tells TIME. "They'd wait until the end
of the meeting and walk up to me and whisper, 'I need to tell you
what happened to me.' " Getting Obama to sign the bill, she adds, "is
a recognition of the service that women do and the needs that they
have when they come home."

"Women And The VA" [on All Things Considered] Thursday, May 13, 2010 NPR radio broadcast.

"Women now make up about 15 percent of the military, and they are becoming a large segment of
the veteran population. The number of women using the VA is expected to double within the next
15 years.

Susan Kaplan of member station WFCR visits a facility in Massachusetts to examine how the VA cares
for vets with claims of sexual abuse."

NPR : National Public Radio : News & Analysis, World, US, Music & Arts : NPR Check your local
radio listings

America's New Veterans: Getting Help Amid Hurdles : NPR
"During this series, we will look at some of the specific challenges some veterans face and what the
VA is doing to help them."

Check your local radio listings or catch podcasts or transcripts.

Alice

Dear Regina,


many thanks for reaching us.

We are producing a story on assignment from the Italian edition of Vanity Fair, together with Enrica Brocardo (journalist).


We want to underline that Vanity Fair Italia, has a strong humanitarian side to its political / current affairs section, and has in the past dedicated many articles on topics of public relevance like this one.


We have been extensively researching the topics regarding the sensitive issues of veteran women with MST or PSTD or both. Respectively, we have met with Helen Benedict, Professor of Journalism at Columbia University and author of the book, " The Lonely Soldier", as well as the Counselors from the Brooklyn Veteran Center and talked extensive with Susan Avila-Smith, as well as the women from SWAN, who are actively helping us reaching female veterans (was it Susan Avila Smith that sent you our contact info?)

We would like to hear your story, make an interview and also take your portrait. If that interferes with your personal interests, which should be protected over any other thing, we can find a specific way to take a portrait without disclosing your identity.
On the other hand, bear in mind that seeing your face has a great meaning to other women because it shows
them that they can stand strong against any form of oppression.
In both cases, we can have your name kept confidential.

Our aim is to bring these stories to a broader public (European) as we also have women currently deployed in their respective armies, and we feel it is necessary to make them aware of the situations they might encounter.

We certainly understand the delicacy of the subject, and have full respect of your person, your family and your story.

We are currently in New York and have been given until the 9th of May (14 days) to complete the assignment, including interviews and photography.


As as we are getting a few contacts in the area of Austin, though, we are considering the possibility of flying there.

If you think you are interested in giving other women the chance of hearing your voice and your story,

please contact me when you have a free moment on 646 26 26 380 and we can talk.


Thank you once again

Pietro Chelli

Military Sexual-Assault Report:

Reports of sexual assault in the military increased 11 % last year, according to a Department of Defense study released on March 16, 2010. While the study did not conclusively explain the increase, the Pentagon called the rsie in reports "Encouraging" and suggested that a 2005 sexual-assault policy overhaul might be part of the reason more victims have come forward. The study also highlighted a 16% increase in sexual assaults occurring in combat areas.
The typical case involved 18 to 25 year old enlisted male and female victims(Either military or civilian). The report estimates that only 20% of sexual assault victims report their experience to authorities.

Story also found on Report:
DOD Releases Annual Sexual Assault Response, Prevention Report

VA Recognizes ?Presumptive? Illnesses in Iraq, Afghanistan - Public and Intergovernmental Affairs
The Veterans Affairs Department took steps Thursday to make it easier for veterans of the Persian Gulf war of 1991, or the Iraq or Afghanistan wars to qualify for disability benefits, by showing only that they served in one of those conflicts and suffer from any of nine diseases, including malaria and West Nile virus. Veterans who meet those two criteria will automatically be given “presumptive status,” which had been given to veterans from earlier eras with certain diseases. The seven other diseases are brucellosis, campylobacter jejuni, coxiella burnetii, mycobacterium tuberculosis, nontyphoid salmonella, shigella and visceral leishmaniasis.

IN OUR OWN VOICE:
WOMEN VETERANS TELL THEIR STORY
March 26, 2010

The Psychotherapy & Spirituality Institute is in the early stages of developing a
theater project designed to give voice to women’s experience in the military. This event
will be devoted to the stories of women veterans -- in monologues performed by an
actor, in video interviews, and in conversation with women veterans present at the
event.

It is sponsored by Intersections International and is one in a series of
Intersections’ Veteran-Civilian Dialogues, designed to facilitate conversation between
veterans and civilians about the effect of war on us all.
Men and women, veteran and civilian: ALL ARE WELCOME!

Where:
Intersections International
274 Fifth Avenue (bet 29-30th)
New York, NY 10001

When: March 26, 2010

Time: 6:00-9:00PM

RSVP: Mary Ragan
212.285.1552

MARCH www.thankyouforyourservice.us NOW LIVE

Our March issue of our Online News Site Thank You For YOUR Service just went Live. Read the many stories from Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, from Military Support Groups, about PTSD and TBI and much more.

NEW TALK SHOW PROGRAMS

Listen 24/7 To the speakers talking from the Military Community Youth Ministry Banquet and Event in Colorado Springs. Listen to Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, U.S. Army (Ret), his daughter Rebekah Sanchez - Ft. Hood Club Beyond Staff and more.

Listen LIVE March 5, 2010 at 11:00am (MST - National Guard Soldiers from many States will call in LIVE from Kosovo to say hello to family and friends.

Listen LIVE March 6, 2010 at 9:00am (MST) - More Ft Carson Soldiers will call in from Afghanistan and share progress and positive stories.

Listen LIVE March 8, 2010 at 9:00pm (EST) - Listen to Jody Shiflett Outreach Director with Air Compassion For Veterans. Last month, Air Compassion for Veterans (ACV) provided 530 free flights to injured service members and their adversely affected families so that the wounded warrior can have access to the best medical treatment options in the USA.

To Listen to Audio of TalkingwithHeroes Programs either LIVE or later 24/7 at your convenience go to: TalkShoe Community Call

For Details on these news programs go to: TalkingWithHeroes.com

More Programs will be announced soon including with Living Patriots and Honor and Remember (See story in the March issue of Thank You For Your Service.

Please help us get this information out to more people

Thank You
Bob Calvert
Host: TalkingWithHeroes.com
Editor: Thank You For Your Service
Email: bob@talkingwithheroes.com

Among active-duty soldiers, there were 12 potential suicides: one has been confirmed as suicide, and 11 remain under investigation. For December, the Army reported ten potential suicides among active-duty soldiers. Since the release of that report, three have been confirmed as suicides, and seven remain under investigation.

During January 2010, among reserve component soldiers who were not on active duty, there were 15 potential suicides. For December, among that same group, there were seven total suicides. Of those, five were confirmed as suicides and two are pending determination of the manner of death.

In January, the Suicide Prevention Resource Council and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention selected the Army’s “Ask, Care, Escort” model for inclusion in their national registry of programs reflecting “best practices” in suicide prevention. The Army’s model is one of only thirteen suicide prevention programs, nationwide, included in the registry.

Army leaders can access current health promotion guidance in newly revised Army Regulation 600-63, Health Promotion at: http://www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/r600_63.pdf and Army Pamphlet 600-24 Health Promotion, Risk Reduction and Suicide Prevention at http://www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/p600_24.pdf.

The Army's comprehensive list of Suicide Prevention Program information is located at Suicide Prevention - Army G-1 Human Resources.

By Tony Perry
Los Angeles Times
OCEANSIDE, Calif. — Kristine Wise remembers driving from San Diego to Victorville, Calif., to visit her brother and seeing haunting messages on the freeway signs. Instead of the speed limit or the miles to the next town, she envisioned: Beware of Snipers. Watch Out for Bombs. 40 miles to Baghdad. Death Ahead.

"It was horrible," said Wise, who served in Iraq with the Army in 2003 and 2004.

The disturbing images are part of the anxiety and panic attacks she has suffered since serving as a supply clerk just as the insurgency was becoming proficient at killing Americans, with roadside bombs and suicide attacks.

In Iraq, her depression ran so deep that she wrote a suicide poem: "The pressure is too great / I'm going to crack and fall apart / ... My casket is now fully covered, it looks nice."

Sent back to Germany, Wise received psychiatric and medical treatment before she was honorably discharged in 2004, two years early.

Now 40 and a student at California State University, San Marcos, she is part of a growing phenomenon: women who have been traumatized by military service. Read more...

By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 5, 2010; 9:12 AM

The Department of Defense will begin making the morning-after pill Plan B available at all of its hospitals and health clinics around the world, officials announced Thursday.

The decision came after a recommendation by the Pentagon's Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, an advisory panel that voted in November to include Plan B and the generic Next Choice on the list of drugs all military facilities should stock. The Pentagon accepted the recommendation Feb. 3, a spokeswoman said.

Read more....

Women at war: Sexual violence in the US military
Helena Merriman reports on a woman whose experience of sexual assault, while serving in the US Air Force in Afghanistan, turned her into a campaigner for the welfare of service women.
Marti Ribeiro was born into a military family.
Her grandfather and father were both in the Air Force - and all her life she had wanted to join the armed forces.
After she finished school she joined the Air Force Reserves and a few years later, in March 2003, she was deployed to Iraq.
While she loved her job as a public affairs specialist, from the time she arrived she was routinely harassed and called Air Force Barbie.
“I had no idea how difficult it would be," she told the BBC World Service.
"My father, who is a retired military colonel, thought the world of me for joining the military.
"I never saw the personality traits in him that I saw in the military - I never saw what I was getting into."
In 2006 she was in Afghanistan.
"You're supposed to carry your weapon at all times in a combat zone," she said.
"But I put my weapon down and walked away to smoke a cigarette and that was when I was attacked."
She was then dragged behind some power generators and raped.
"If I had kept my weapon maybe I would have been able to prevent it," she says.
"But if I had used it I would probably have ended up in jail."
She went to the authorities but they told her that if she filed a claim, she would be charged with dereliction of duty for leaving her weapon unattended in a combat zone - an offence for which you can be court-martialled.
So she kept quiet and the man who attacked her went unpunished.
"It would be my word over his and they are not going to take my word over his," she said.
When she returned from Afghanistan, she did not talk to anyone about what happened. She says she felt it was all her fault.

'Heartbreaking' phone calls
Congressional leaders, who have been holding hearings this month on sexual assault in the armed forces, say that more needs to be done to tackle what recent studies indicate is a widespread problem.
In 2003, in a survey of female veterans conducted by the University of Iowa, funded by the US Department of Defense, 30% of the 500 female veterans interviewed reported an attempted or completed rape.
Equally worryingly, the Department of Defense estimated in its 2009 annual report on sexual assault, that around 90% of rapes in the military are never reported.
Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, who sits on the Military Personnel Subcommittee, successfully lobbied last year for the development of a Sexual Assault Database to encourage accountability within the Armed Forces.
"There are plenty of phone calls that come into my office of alleged assault of women by our military men," she says.
"They are heartbreaking. Some women don't want to go public with it, some have gone public with it and they've been drilled out of the military.
"I'm told that the statistics are that once you have been raped in the military you are most likely to be raped over and over."
She says that not enough prosecutions are happening and that while the Pentagon is taking it more seriously, big changes still need to be made.
"Why is it that when a woman alleges rape, the outcome shows that the man who supposedly did this was demoted or moved to another unit? I want to know why this is happening!"

Predators
Dr Kaye Whitley, Director of the US Department of Defense's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (Sapro), says it can be very hard for victims to report a sexual assault.
"We do know that being sexually assaulted takes a great human toll on an individual and there are all kinds of barriers to keep people from wanting to come forward," she says.
One of these barriers, she explains, is that after someone has reported an assault in the US military: "Their command knows, everyone in the unit knows, and it affects 'unit-readiness'."
For this reason there is now a new "restrictive reporting option" so that victims who are afraid of reporting an assault can get the medical care and counselling that they need, without their command having to be notified, and without having to participate in an investigation.
For those who do decide to report a sexual assault, Dr Whitley says the crime is taken seriously.
"We are finding that more and more commanders are referring these cases to court martial," she says.
"One of the things that one of our leaders recently said is that we want to get so good at prosecuting these guys that if there's anybody walking around out there that's a predator, they'll think that the military is the last place they want to end up.
"So we are working very hard on that, we think we can do better," she says.
'Cultural change'
The writer Helen Benedict has been looking into sexual violence in the military for a number of years, and has recently written a play on the subject. She has heard from women whose experiences have ranged from disrespect, to constant sexual harassment, to rape.
"There is a culture that if you report someone, you are seen as a weak soldier who failed to defend yourself," she says.
But she says this does not mean that women should not be serving in the army.
"It is the men who are committing a crime who have a problem. The military has to deal with them and not punish women by shutting them out from this career," she says.
Ms Benedict says that economics may help to bring about the cultural change that she says the army needs.
"The recession means more women are joining the military then ever before. So as women become less of a minority and rise in the ranks and get more power, hopefully the culture will begin to shift," she says.
Meanwhile, Marti Ribeiro is now trying to tackle the issue politically.
She is part of the Service Women's Action Network, which lobbies to improve the welfare of US servicewomen and women veterans.
"This is so that if once my daughter is eligible she turns to me and says 'I want to do what you did,' I can support her," she says.
"But if she asked me right now I would say 'No'."
You can listen to the BBC World Service series on Women at War on World Update all this week until Thursday 18 February.

Female vets find the VA health-care system lacks the resources and initiative to care for women returning from duty

By Jan Goodwin - www.goodhousekeeping.com
Good Housekeeping

"I could spend all day browsing in bookstores," says the former Army Reserve specialist. "It's my favorite thing to do." But it has been four years since the Minnesota native has been in a bookstore — or any kind of shop. Since she returned from Iraq in 2005, her panic attacks have been so severe, she can no longer leave her house outside Minneapolis. The attacks started when she rode city buses — "they sounded like a Humvee," explains the woman, who asked that her name not be used for privacy reasons. That rumbling set off hideous flashbacks to her time in Iraq, where she crisscrossed the country in canvas-sided Humvees doing convoys as a turret gunner. "It was one of the most dangerous things you can do," she says. Read more...

“Administrative discharge.”

The words stung, like I had just been slapped or spit upon. I couldn't follow the rest of the lieutenant colonel's words. Only that the man who raped me was being given an honorable discharge.

My commander was small in stature and had skin deeply creased with age and experience. He always came off warm, calling me by my first name and offering support and understanding. This time, his friendly demeanor gave a surreal character to his “good news.” He intended to give my rapist, his NCO, an Administrative Discharge under Honorable Conditions.

The same shock, disbelief and denial that I had felt after the rape overwhelmed me. I was back on the couch, trembling and in tears, as J slept on his bed, his gun close by. I had sat there then, trying to make sense of what had happened, how a friend – my supervisor and brother-in-arms – could betray me. Now, I was dazed by the betrayal of the Army.

In the cold, makeshift conference room, I was outranked and outnumbered. I sat across the table from my commander and a major; beside me was a female lieutenant, my cold, makeshift advocate.

I fought to stay in control. Anger, building since the attack, boiled up.

J would keep his rank and his benefits. His record would be unblemished. J could reenlist the day after his discharge, and conceivably return to his place on the state honor guard, carrying caskets and folding flags for those who had made the ultimate sacrifice.

The thought repulsed me.

“With all due respect, sir,” I said with the intensity of barely controlled fury, “that isn't acceptable to me. I don't ever want to see this man wearing this uniform again, leading troops again, or dishonoring another veteran at their funeral.”

My commander, Lt. Col. M, wrestled away a wry, uncomfortable smile as he looked around the room, unsure of how to react to my challenge. Gingerly, he reminded me that this action would mean that J would be out of the Army and would no longer hold a position of authority. Lt. Col. M said that this was all he could do, that he didn't have the power to deal a harsher punishment.

I looked over at my advocate. She said nothing. Neither did Major R, my commander’s right-hand man. But I knew what they were saying: Occurrences like this were “steady state operations” in the Army.

I'd seen Army indifference of sexual assault before. When the guys at my first unit would grab my ass or whisper vulgar fantasies to me in uniform, the only action my command took was to offer a collective shrug. From drill sergeant to battalion commander, they all told me the same thing: “You need to grow a thick skin and get used to it” because “this is how life is for females in the Army.”

I was hearing it again in the conference room. Get used to it. This is how life is for women in the Army.

But this time, I wasn’t going to be ignored.

Lt. Col. M wasn't willing to push the issue to someone with the power to administer punishment -- fine, then I would, I told him. I couldn't serve in a unit or institution that granted impunity to, even rewarded, those in positions of power and responsibility for an offense like rape.

I had trusted J as a friend, a comrade, and my recently appointed boss. He was a noncommissioned officer, a decorated soldier. He was obsessed with power and control, be it through artful manipulation or intimidation. He projected it through the big truck he drove, the gun on his hip, the combat badge he flaunted. J loved to tell people that he was a combat veteran, so he could do what he wanted. And the Army told him that he could.

Not me. The Army told me that I was worthless. I had felt an obligation to serve, to continue on the deployment that I had trained for and committed to. I had always stepped up when the Army called me, and this time was no different. I couldn't let my unit deploy without me. But this dedication I had to my unit and the Army was one-way. After the initial days of support and after I agreed to still deploy, my command treated me as nothing more than a nuisance, a burden, a liability.

The Army doesn’t like to air its dirty laundry, preferring instead to resolve allegations of misconduct “in-house.” Too often, I’d seen that this meant dismissals and hand slaps. So I went to the civilian police the day after I was attacked. Local authorities collected the physical evidence and taped J’s confession when I phoned him from the police station. Police arrested J the night before we were scheduled to deploy, and he was arraigned days later on four counts of Rape by Duress.

The evidence, confession and criminal charges didn’t seem to matter to the Army. Neither did my pain. My commander's intention to give J an honorable discharge reinforced my feelings of worthlessness and dispensability. I was not worth the dark cloud that might hover over the unit if punishments were dealt. I was not worth the blemish on Lt. Col. M's record of “soldier care.” My pain was not worth even a moment of his or his colleagues’ discomfort. The Army’s apathy and betrayal, however passive, hurt more than J's attack.

This indifference ran through the ranks and across gender lines. The lieutenant appointed as my advocate told me that she had once been raped, but decided not to file a criminal report.

“It was easier to just forget about it,” she told me, and implied that I should, too. I was hearing it again: This is how life is for women in the Army.

When I rejoined my comrades, no one would talk to me. Not even the women. They all faulted me for breaking up the unit, for getting J taken off of the deployment. J had a long history with the unit, while I was the new girl.

A few days after I rejoined my unit, we reviewed some video footage from training. At one point, J's face filled the screen. I was paralyzed, lightheaded with fear and nausea. I ran to the bathroom and vomited. Minutes later, a female I had trained with and lived with came in to use the bathroom. As I sat on the floor heaving with sobs, she stepped over me to wash her hands, survey her hair, and leave. I was alone. To her, I was worthless.

Back home, a prosecutor facing a backlog of cases and an aggressive opposition from J’s high-priced legal defense offered J a deal. J pled guilty to False Imprisonment, a misdemeanor, and served on the sheriff’s work crew for 90 days. When the military officially began an evaluation of J’s conviction and service record, Lt. Col. M ordered me to not submit a sworn statement, to not get involved with the military's separation board or to talk to the prosecutor responsible for the case. He said that I would not be allowed to testify.

Major R, mindful of his career, backed the commander.

“This is none of your business,” he told me, “and you have no right to involve yourself in it.”

With every step I took, my command tried to silence me with threats and claims that I didn't have this or that right. Often, it was simple harassment and the silent demand that I “get used to it.”

During my deployment, Major R often accused me of being promiscuous, of spending too much time with men (which made up about 85 percent of the post's population and my entire office), and of putting myself in dangerous situations. He once said this must explain J's actions. With tears and anger, and no regard to military bearing, I rebuked the major.

“I have done nothing wrong,” I shouted. “He made his own decision to rape me.” The major cringed at the word “rape,” then stared at me with contempt and told me to leave his office.

I was fighting Army culture, but also myself. I couldn't be honest about how much I was struggling, how depressed I was, or even the nightmares I was having almost every night, at the risk of losing privileges, my rank, my security clearance and my job. So I stayed silent and isolated myself, even from those at home. I couldn't tell anyone that I was starving myself and that I didn't know how to stop. I couldn't tell anyone about the night I cut my arms and thighs, and my continuing urges to cut. I couldn't tell anyone about the phantom child I felt in my womb, wondering if he would have J’s eyes, or what I would tell her when she asked about her father.

I was exhausted, depleted of the energy it took to constantly be on-guard and feign normalcy. I spent almost every off-duty hour in bed, sleeping, reading or watching movies. I lost almost 25 pounds within a few months into my deployment. When Major R heard of my weight loss, he accused me of staging a ploy to make him look bad and to solicit pity or attention.

I was in the Army National Guard, but to get support, I had to go to the command of another state’s Guard unit. I wasn't a liability to them, I wasn't their responsibility, so they were willing to help. They got me in contact with the prosecution back home, and authorized my return to the United States for the separation board.

read the rest of the story....
at Veteran's Workshop/New America Media