Women Veterans with PTSD

Woman warrior, with hands so small,
Don’t let them see you cry.
Stand up firm, and proud, and tall,
While you watch your brothers die.
And if bombs explode, and blood is gushed,
Keep your head up high.
You’ll never be one of the guys,
If you let them see you cry.
And if they push you down, and tear your clothes,
Remember it’s all right.
Gotta be a tough girl now,
So don’t let them see you cry.
-Woman Warrior by Deb Eskie

Excerpts:


As a woman, a feminist, and an advocate against the war in Iraq, I am particularly interested in the stories of female soldiers fighting alongside men as a minority group within the military. Women warriors have existed since pre-biblical times, but have struggled for equal opportunity within our modern U.S military. Though, they have served as supporting roles in every American war, it wasn’t until the Gulf War of 1991 that as many as 40,000 women went to war, four times the number of female soldiers in Vietnam. After the Gulf War, President Clinton signed the military bill ending combat exclusion for women on warships (Holmstedt, 2008). According to Kristen Holmstedt (2008) “about 90 percent of the career fields in the armed forces are now available to the best qualified and available person, regardless of gender” (para. 7). In 2007 more than 160,000 female soldiers were deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan (Corbett, 2007).

In her book Love My Rifle More Than You: Young and Female in the U.S Army, Kayla Williams describes her experience as an American soldier, and how she was used to sexually insult and humiliate an Iraqi detainee, while her male counterparts flicked cigarette butts at him (Burke, 2006). Twenty-one year old Tina Priest, a soldier serving in Iraq, shot herself in 2006 after filing a rape charge against a fellow soldier. The army failed to verify her claims. Other vets diagnosed with PTSD reveal that after coming home from Iraq to their children, they could not function as capable mothers (Corbett,

Why do you think more women experience PTSD from war than men do?
Eleanor: It’s the inherent nature of women. They’re sensitive and nurturing, and are affected on a deeper level. If women see injured children and women crying for their husbands in Iraq, it’s that much more traumatic. The military should open up and expose their problems and not act above reality. That way, people would benefit from their pain.
Daniel: I think it's a combination of a lot of things. First of all, women have a more difficult time just existing within the military. There's a lot of potential for trauma day to day, whereas men don't really have to deal with that. That is probably the main reason, but there may be others. Society basically conditions men from a young age to be jaded toward violence, for example, and at the same time our society tries to shelter women from everything.

War is ugly. It is violent, messy, and sickening. I don’t expect any aspect of it to be pleasant or humane. My theory is that the men who perpetrate disgraceful acts against their female counterparts most likely have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as well, as I refuse to believe that anyone is immune to the dire affects of war. Perhaps women truly are better at identifying their emotions, while men suffer in silence.