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American Women Warriors' Road Back Home

Kirsi Crowley, Author

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Women Return From War


Picking Up The Pieces


Women Veterans Battle To Mend Themselves


Raquel Ramirez, a young veteran who returned from deployment with the U.S. Army in Kabul, Afghanistan, could not adjust to living back at home. She ended up homeless, sleeping in her car, suffering from anxiety, anger, road rage and drinking heavily. She didn’t know her problems were triggered by post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, a common condition affecting war veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, struggling with change and past trauma.

“I knew what the normal was in Afghanistan. I knew what to look for. But for some reason those things were abnormal over here,” she says, describing how her mind worked when she was speeding on a California freeway, having flashbacks about explosions.

Whanja Brown only thought about joining the military when her partner left her deeply in debt. Now she has to learn again the basics of civilian life. Sue Max, Gwen Chiaramonte and Mary-Ann Rich were sent to Iraq as reservists, deployed for the first time in a war zone just before retirement age. Daniela did not get to deploy, because she was brutally raped in the military base at home. She tells a disturbing story of a female soldier in the male-dominated institution of the U.S. military.

Join American female veterans on a journey where they give a brave and profound account of their deployment in the military and in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq with constant pressure of random attacks and inability to return to civilian routines. Their journey led them to personal struggles with PTSD.

They describe the experience of war from the female perspective: being a minority in the combat zone, but also about war and its consequences. They tell about the loneliness and trauma that breaks the souls of possibly hundreds of thousands of American soldiers. They explain about the hatred many soldiers start to feel towards the nationals in the crisis zone, feeling confused about the goals of the war effort. The aggression has led to well-documented cases of torture. Gwen Chiaramonte supported soldiers who needed mental support. She explains how she feared her depressed fellow soldiers could go on a killing spree on the base. 

The veterans talk about lack of support from commanders, the bullying, and isolation in the ranks under pressure. At home, they could not share their experiences with loved ones or neighbors who are far removed from their anguish. The war is imprinted in their nightmares about black trash bags where they collected body parts of the wounded in a hospital or which could be filled with explosives on roads in the crisis zone.

You can also follow stories of reservists who were sent to war for the first time, although they were near retirement age. A reservist nurse, Sue Max, had to carry vast sums of money in the middle of Baghdad inside her uniform and visit local contractors to pay them.

One in five new military recruits are women. Over 220,000 American women have served in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Until recently, they were not regarded as having been in combat, although in contemporary war zones the front line is everywhere.

All of them tell a story that cries out for individualized support for returning combat veterans over a long period of time. The veterans did not recognize their PTSD symptoms when they returned home, only much later.

From this page, you can take three paths to follow the veterans’ often harrowing journeys to war and personal struggles with PTSD. You can follow the timeline through specific parts of their journey: before the military, during deployment, traumatic return and solutions they have found to adjust back to civilian life. Alternatively you can read the individual stories from beginning to end. The information path leads to an overview of the veterans’ journeys and to specific issues related to female veterans. Women speak for themselves in the videos at the top of the pages. You can also navigate to specific videos with hyperlinks in related parts of the text.

  1. Raquel Ramirez Saw Structure in the Military
  2. Whanja Brown Joined to Pay Her Bills
  3. Linda Stanley's Reasons
  4. Daniela: Poverty Prompted to Join
  5. Gwen Chiaramonte Was Called at 58 Years
  6. Mary-Ann Rich Was Moved by Vietnam Veterans
  7. Sue Max Believed She Can Cope
  8. Raquel Ramirez's Deployment
  9. Whanja Had Multiple Deployments
  10. Linda Stanley Was Posted to Balad, Iraq
  11. Daniela: Abused in Military
  12. Gwen Chiaramonte Gave Therapy to Soldiers
  13. Mary-Ann Was Called Up to Tikrit
  14. Sue Was Exposed to Attacks Continuously
  15. Raquel: Return Was a Culture Shock
  16. Whanja's Return: Alone And Overwhelmed
  17. Linda Stanley Returned Home with PTSD
  18. Daniela: Accepting Therapy Was Hard
  19. Gwen Felt Angry at the Army
  20. Mary-Ann's Return: Therapy Was Hard to Find
  21. Sue Max Returned with Fear
  22. Raquel Ramirez's Future
  23. Whanja Brown Is Determined to Study
  24. Linda Healed with Painful Therapy
  25. Daniela's Future: School and Healing
  26. Therapy Helps Gwen
  27. Mary-Ann Takes One Day at a Time
  28. Sue Heals in Therapy
  1. Raquel Ramirez Saw Structure in the Military
  2. Raquel Ramirez's Deployment
  3. Raquel: Return Was a Culture Shock
  4. Raquel Ramirez's Future
  5. Whanja Brown Joined to Pay Her Bills
  6. Whanja Had Multiple Deployments
  7. Whanja's Return: Alone And Overwhelmed
  8. Whanja Brown Is Determined to Study
  9. Linda Stanley's Reasons
  10. Linda Stanley Was Posted to Balad, Iraq
  11. Linda Stanley Returned Home with PTSD
  12. Linda Healed with Painful Therapy
  13. Daniela: Poverty Prompted to Join
  14. Daniela: Abused in Military
  15. Daniela: Accepting Therapy Was Hard
  16. Daniela's Future: School and Healing
  17. Gwen Chiaramonte Was Called at 58 Years
  18. Gwen Chiaramonte Gave Therapy to Soldiers
  19. Gwen Felt Angry at the Army
  20. Therapy Helps Gwen
  21. Mary-Ann Rich Was Moved by Vietnam Veterans
  22. Mary-Ann Was Called Up to Tikrit
  23. Mary-Ann's Return: Therapy Was Hard to Find
  24. Mary-Ann Takes One Day at a Time
  25. Sue Max Believed She Can Cope
  26. Sue Was Exposed to Attacks Continuously
  27. Sue Max Returned with Fear
  28. Sue Heals in Therapy
  1. Before the Military
  2. Deployment
  3. Return
  4. Future
  5. PTSD
  6. Military Sexual Trauma
  7. Female Soldiers
  8. Reservists
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