Women Return From War
Picking Up The Pieces
Women Veterans Battle To Mend Themselves
Raquel Ramirez, a young veteran who returned from her deployment with the U.S. Army in Kabul, Afghanistan, could not adjust 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, a common condition with war veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. "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 describes how her mind worked, when she was speeding on the Californian freeway, having a flashbacks about explosions.
Seven female veterans tell about their personal struggle with PTSD, after serving in Afghanistan or Iraq during recent years. They describe the human side of the war: blown-up buddies, fear and courage, loneliness, getting to know the people of the countries considered as enemies, sexual assaults committed by their fellow soldiers. One of the soldiers did not make it to deployment, because she was raped by her fellow Marine in the base at home.
Retired Major Linda Stanley says that Iraq and Afghanistan are unlike the previous wars. There is no enemy line. You can get mortared everywhere. Carnage, turmoil and trauma become everyday experience in the war area. Soldiers return to the United States where the war is only seen in the empty glazes of the veterans. Many isolate themselves, unable to function in the civilian life after the pressures of the war, imprinted in their brain. Stanley returned home feeling empty, after nursing blown-up bodies of soldiers in Iraq, despite years of experience and coping skills learnt as the military nurse. She is worried about the hundreds of thousands of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Will they end up homeless in the streets, like many Vietnam veterans, if the society does not see their plight?
The worsening collapse of the U.S. economy pushes many young people to consider military career. Whanja Brown and Daniela joined the military, because they needed money. Whanja's partner ran her deeply into debt. After serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, she has paid her debt, but she is picking up her pieces, fighting against feelings of isolation and anxiety. She got burned and lost three friends in the war.
One in five new military recruits are women. Well over a quarter of a million 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.
Recently, the United States has started to wake up to the fact that many of its warrior women return home shattered, suffering from PTSD and sexual trauma.
Daniela never got to Iraq or Afghanistan. Having joined the Marines to get a job and money, she was placed as the only woman in a group of male company and brutally sexually assaulted.
Gwen...
Sue...
Mary-Ann....
One in five new military recruits are women. Well over a quarter of a million 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.
Recently, the United States has started to wake up to the fact that many of its warrior women return home shattered, suffering from PTSD and sexual trauma.
This is on top of the shock of returning to worsening economic climate:battling to find a job, housing and adjusting to civilian life. Despite this, you don't yet see many of them living on the streets. They may sleep on a friend's couch or in their car, quietly, privately dealing with their past as a wounded soldier, but with no visible injuries. But there is a danger and fear of a new Vietnam-like generation that ends up on the streets within a few years, if there is no safety net to catch them if they fall.
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