Female veterans report more sexual, mental trauma

[LiberalNation]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/19/women.veterans/index.html?iref=mpstoryview



As a member of the National Guard, Christensen transported tanks in Iraq. She says she was shot at and was nearly a victim of a roadside bomb when a convoy in front of hers was hit.

"You have this fear, 'Oh, my God, I still have to go through there,' " she recalled. " 'Am I going to make it?' "

Christensen says that she was sexually harassed by a superior while serving in Iraq and that the harassment added to the pressure created by just being in a war zone.


Westrup says another factor contributing to poor mental health is the high amount of sexual trauma reported by women screened by the Veterans Administration. She says many women have trouble reporting the trauma to their superiors out of fear of retribution.

"When you are in a war zone, your survival depends on people watching your back and on unit cohesion," Westrup said. "The same individuals who attacked you are those who will be protecting you, or you'll be fighting alongside the next day."

[Abbey Marie]

I can't believe it- a derogatory post about the military from LN! :rolleyes:

While this may be a very worthwhile story, it gets lost in all posting against the Military on a regular basis...

[LiberalNation]

Yeah how dare people report bad news about the miltary. Clearly they should be able to rape, murder, and commit crimes with impunity. After all they are the "troops".

[stephanie]

I love hearing from a 18yr old how life works...:dance:

[Abbey Marie]

Yeah how dare people report bad news about the miltary. Clearly they should be able to rape, murder, and commit crimes with impunity. After all they are the "troops".

Way to miss the point entirely.

Are there any other groups that do wrong that hit your radar? How about al Qaeda? The Mafia? The Taliban?

[CSM]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/19/women.veterans/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Hmmm...sounds like a great reason to keep women out of the military!

[AFbombloader]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/19/women.veterans/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Hey LM, do you think that if I looked around I may find other groups of women that have had an increase in sexual harassment, trauma, etc? Maybe female police officers or even female students? Yes it is horrible, yes it is wrong. And yes, it gets old hearing all about the big bad military from you, one who will never serve.

AF:salute:

[LiberalNation]

Hey LM, do you think that if I looked around I may find other groups of women that have had an increase in sexual harassment, trauma, etc?
and when they make yahoo news I'll post them too.


And yes, it gets old hearing all about the big bad military from you, one who will never serve.
and why pray tell should the military get a free pass? Not to mention who says I'll never serve.......

[rppearso]

The military is like a cult, they think the rules dont apply to them because there the "troops" they just make up the rules as they go along because congress does not stop them until someone does something way way past the line like shoot up a convient store and then all the sudden there not a marine/soldier there the odd man out because of course the military would never train someone to comit violence and then stress someone out to the point they snap and then wonder why it happened and claim we dont know what happened its all so confusing this person is dishonorable blah blah. There is so much double talk and talking in circles in the military its not even funny. It is way past due for congress to put the screws to the military command and have abuse reporting procedures directly to congressional representation, they should impose that a congressional rep speak to trainees and enforce a non confrontational avenue of complaint for abuse and every military regulation that is passed should be held up to the same scrutiny as congress passing a law not just some O-6 mandating things.

If you get sucked into the military and do not fit into the cult you then become a slave to the cult especailly if they start the draft again. There is a certian level required to fight and win wars in the 21st century and anything beyond is part of the cult mentality which is hazing, that line has always been blured and blured on purpose to allow the military to do f***ed up stuff with total impunity and all they have to do is throw out a buzz word (like disipline, or training) there is very little accountability.

This is the case whether male or female, the acadamys have this same problem, maybe if they gave academy people normal weekends and let them have a car then they could have a life and I can bet that would mitigate alot of problems, you still have people that will do it regardless but instances of rape would drop exponentialy and as far as war zones maybe if they dident deploy people for 12 and 24 months it would drop the rate of instance alot.

I also notice military people dont like to look at the root cause of anything, they just say oh thats unfortunate and a tragity, hey dip shit this stuff happens for a reason but to admit that fact and fix it would be to abandon the cult fads (all a tradition is is a long running fad that no one stopped), just from talking to military people in person and on various forms they are not going to fix it internally thats why congress needs to tighten the screws so tight to drive these problems out to close the gap between normal levels of criminal activity that happens as a result of human nature and the crime that is caused from being mind f***ed by the military every waking moment of your life.

[AFbombloader]

and when they make yahoo news I'll post them too.


and why pray tell should the military get a free pass? Not to mention who says I'll never serve.......

I will totally ignore the totally unreadablepost by rrpearso.

I hope you would post them, but I feel you would not. Your posting history is very numerous but very antimilitary, maybe a better word would be negative to the military. Why would we assume you would join when you have shown no positive feelings for? Would you o to a college you treated the same way? Or a restaurant, store, whatever?

I never asked for the military to get a free pass. But what you need to see is that the military is a cut from all of society. Therefore, we will have the same issues the rest of the US has. They get highlighted more for us.

AF:salute:

[JohnDoe]

Things like this only make sense to me... not the free pass garbage and that angle, but the stress that women and men are under, while they are serving in a war zone must be tremendous, life or death type things that we can't possibly even imagine, while living here in the comfy USA....

I can understand women not wanting to report the sexual harrassment by their superiors or by other equals while in a war zone, and I can understand the added stress on the men that might have excelerated the sexual harrassment.

This does not mean that it should be forgiven, especially if rape is involved!!!

Just that War is ugly.

Another reason for me not to send our troops in to this stress and possible death, unless it is absolutely necessary and all other means and some, have been exhausted.

And honestly, I differ with many of my Democratic friends on this and have had major battles with them over this, and call me old school if y'all like but i really do not believe that women soldiers should serve in a war zone, or at least be limited... in serving in a war zone. I don't believe they should be taken from their kids and believe there are plenty of jobs for them to do here in the USA.

jd