'I just pulled up my pants and went back to work': Women veterans reveal the shocking sexual and physical abuse they suffered in the US armed forces

Homelessness among women veterans is expected to increase at greater rates as more women in the military reintegrate into their communities following their military service, according to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.

While women currently make up eight percent of the total veteran population and 14.6% of the active duty military, those figures are expected to increase to an estimated 16% by 2035.

In light of these trends, the number of homeless women veterans has doubled from 1,380 in 2006 to 3,328 in 2010.
Now a new photo essay offers an unvarnished glimpse into the lives of those women who served in the armed forces only to find themselves without a roof over their head in their post-military lives.

They tell horrific stories of sexual assault at the hands of their male comrades and superiors as well as the subsequent post-traumatic stress that impairs their personal lives and economic well-being.

The images and stories were brought to the public consciousness by award-winning photographer Mary F. Calvert.
Calvert has used her lens to 'affect meaningful social change and is known for producing work on gender based, human rights issues,' according to her website.

Lurae Horse served in the United States Air Force as a mechanic who worked on the B-29 bomber. According to Horse, she was raped by an anonymous member of her squadron. Afterward, she declined to file an official complaint.
‘I just pulled up my pants and went back to work,’ she said.

Glendy Golden, 58, enlisted in the US Army to escape a sexually abusive home life. She said the Army 'was a way out'. She was sexually assaulted several times during her 18 month military career and when she told her chaplain about it, he simply sent her to medical where she says, they tied her down and beat her.

Butts was a young US Army soldier stationed in Ft. Devens, Massachuetts, when she witnessed a steady campaign of rape within her unit. At night a sergeant or a lieutenant would come in and take a woman to the bathroom. 'You could hear them struggling and screaming and they would come back crying,' she said

When Karen Scott joined the US Army in 1985, she was a lithe, slender and attractive young woman who attended and finished flight school and had a bright future in telecommunications and arial observation. Instead, she became a target for sexual assault and over the next seven years was raped several times and endured a steady campaign of innuendoes, threats, harassment and sexual badgering. She is seen above in Long Beach, California
.

Women who fall victim to sexual assault in the armed forces may find themselves marginalized after coming forward to complain.
Paula Anderson, who enlisted in the US Army, once told her superiors that she was drugged and raped by a fellow soldier. The Army subsequently decided to redeploy Anderson to Korea.

Another homeless veteran, Darlene Matthews, has been living in her car for more than two years while she waits for the Department of Veterans Affairs to extend her a housing voucher. Matthews, who enlisted in the US Army in 1976, says that her time spent at Fort McLellan, Alabama was a harrowing one. ‘I was going to join this all women's army and there would be no sexual problems, but I joined and there were sexual problems,’ she said.



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4814612/Homeless-vets-tell-traumatized-sex-assault.html

Pretty shocking, and begs the question...will women ever really be free of male abuse.

HoratioTarr wrote:Pretty shocking, and begs the question...will women ever really be free of male abuse.

Agreed. I have always said that pair-bonding is a predatory relationship.