15% of our active duty military personnel are women. 20% of the new recruits are women. 17% of the reserves are women. The VA is not ready for these women and cannot help women who are veterans very much at all. VA’s don’t have child care facilities so a lot of the women can’t even make it to appointments to help themselves. If women decide to bring their babies with them, they won’t find changing tables. Parents have to bend over and change their babies on the ground. Mothers won’t find a private room for breast feeding their children in the VA. The VA can’t even provide adequate medical care for patients suffering from PTSD like Maricela Guzman who was raped by a superior officer in boot camp. Since she didn’t see any active fighting, she couldn’t get treated.
Sources:
“Honor Military Families with Adequate Health Care” Courtney E. Martin, American Prospect.org, 5/23/2009 http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=honor_military_families_with_adequate_health_care
“The Combat Within: Female Veterans and PTSD Benefits” Courtney E. Martin, American Prospect, 4/13/2009 http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=female_veterans_and_ptsd_benefits
Student Researcher: Kurtis Szerlip
Faculty Evaluator and Instructor: Teresa Henning, Ph.D.
Southwest Minnesota State University