It's a little late for International Women's Day (March 8th) and a little early for Mother's Day (May 11th), but it's time to talk about the special needs and concerns of women warriors, and how they're affected by combat trauma. The most recent issue of the Disabled American Veterans' magazine has an article on women combat veterans. The public service poster graphic in particular (see left) is impressive, as is its slogan: "War is Hell: Being a [Woman] Veteran Shouldn't Be." Click on this link to download the March/April issue as a PDF; the article begins on page 19.
It's good news that the VA is becoming more attuned to the special needs of traumatized women veterans, either through PTSD or sexual trauma, or both. Here's a section of the main VA website that addresses VA Programs for Women Veterans. Click here for that link. The programs cover several important areas, including mental health and sexual abuse counseling; medical services for women veterans; education and training; research; compensation for women veterans; national cemetery administration; and demographic trends. According to the VA's own website, women veterans should be able to get help by contacting the nearest VA center, and asking to speak to the women's program manager, who will be able to refer them to the right help. To review the briefly-noted information on the VA website, click here.
There's also a physical facility at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System devoted to women's recovery from trauma, both combat trauma and military sexual trauma (MST). That program is known as Women's Trauma Recovery Program, or WTRP, and it's housed in a facility, called the Women's Mental Health Center Home. This program is open to women from all wars, with programs being developed to focus on OEF/OIF veterans. For more from the VA about women veterans with MST, click here.
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Statistically speaking, according to the VA:
The estimated population of women veterans as of 2001 was 1.6 million, or about 7.2 percent of the total veteran population. 10.26% of the 22.8 million veterans who use VA for healthcare are women. Currently, women make up 14.8 percent of the active duty military force and approximately 22.8 percent of the reserve force. By 2010, they are expected to represent over 14 percent of the total veteran population. Fifty-six percent of women veterans who use VA are less than 45 years of age. Sixty-two percent of women veterans are less than 45 years of age.
When it comes to women veterans and Military Sexual Trauma, though, the figures are worse. We've done a blog post about that separately. To read that, click here.
