Parents: Don’t let your girls grow up to be soldiers

By Beth Grimes
According to a report in a The International Herald Tribune, http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/25/opinion/edbenedict.php> women are now 15% of our military forces and more than 20% of soldiers serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. More than 70% of our female veterans have filed complaints that they were sexually harassed by the soldiers with whom they served and almost a third report being raped. 

Female soldiers are now often wounded in combat, producing the same kind of post traumatic stress disorder suffered by men. Adding sexual assault by their male comrades in arms to this trauma has made them nine times as likely as men to develop PTSD. When women fighters are re-deployed after being on leave, they often have to return to the war with the man or men who raped them. Army brass apparently does not see this a problem. 

How many Americans know that at least 191,500 women have served in the Middle East since 2001? A lot of them will add to the number of male veterans now seeking care from Veterans Administration medical services, including treatment for PTSD. Will female soldier rape victims  be expected to participate in therapy groups filled with men? The VA claims it is going provide more clinics for sufferers of PTSD. How many of these will be for women only? The VA doesn’t say.

Sadly, male officers and political leaders refuse to admit that rape and harassment of female service members is a serious issue. 

 

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