RISE, A Modern Guide for the Purpose Driven Woman Winter 2014 | Page 27

Adrian will always question herself,
just never out loud. [I have to be the
strongest one for my family, can’t let
them know how scared I am. Did I
make the right decisions? Was it worth
being separated from my newborn and
toddler girls for 7 years to make sure
they had steady benefits and reliable
monetary support? Will my children
and my family ever forgive me for
continuously choosing to be away for
work? I spent 12 years on active duty
in the Army for a good reason, right?]
I believed in defending my country,
freedom for my children and their

Meet Anne. Anne is a recently separated veteran from six years of activeduty military service in the United
States. After dedicating a large portion
of her adult life, the fragrant years of
her young womanhood, Anne’s tour in
the military is over. She struggles on
a daily basis to endure the love from
her family and her boyfriend. They
are all so loving and supportive, and
it makes Anne want to scream. Anne
doesn’t sleep at night. She is haunted
by memories and nightmares of the
physical abuse she suffered while in the
military. Anne’s anxiety causes her to

1948: The Women’s Armed Services

Integration Act of 1948 grants women

permanent status in the Regular and Reserve
forces of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps as
well as in the newly created Air Force.
children to come, to set the ultimate
example of sacrifice (both for their
benefit and at their expense). These
are the questions, and there are many
more. They are endless, and now
that I chose to leave active duty in the
pursuit of my brand of happiness, I’ve
risked it all. There is no more stability, no reliable income, no midnight
recalls, no more scrambling to find a
babysitter with no notice overnight,
no more $2,000 plane tickets to see
my own children once a year.
Many late nights I find myself surfing
the web, browsing for ways to reinvent myself. I know I am not alone; I
know there are thousands of veterans
like myself, trying to find their way
and their place. Even this superficial
existence is difficult to reach, and
disallows attention or thought to personal relationships, mending friendships affected by long distance and
exhausting pauses, finding the things
on a daily basis that make us happy
and fulfilled as people and as women.

flinch in her sleep at the slightest noise
because the most recent assault she
suffered before getting off active duty
was a forced entry-into her private
quarters-situation. She is discovering that she sleeps best in the daytime
hours when less people are moving
around in her house and she knows
the door will stay locked and deadbolted once she engages them. She is afraid
to let her boyfriend (or any male)
get too close to her, both literally and
figuratively. This has forever impacted
her life because she will always think
about being brutalized at the wrong
time; she can’t hide the darkness that
moves across her face when her boyfriend unknowingly grabs her in a way
that reminds of an instance when she
was being abused. Anne doesn’t want
to talk to her boyfriend, or anyone,
about these events. It’s not for the
reason most people would think. Anne
does not blame herself for being a victim in those events, Anne doesn’t want
to look into the eyes of her loved ones
gazing upon her and see pity. In Anne’s
mind, talking about these things with

Active Duty Women Serving
Today: 214,098
Percentage of the Military: 14.6%
Number of Female Veterans:
1,853,690
Though the gender difference is
not as evident as the civilian population, female Service members are
at least twice as likely to be single
parents, compared with male Service
members, in both Active Duty and
Reserve components. Of Service
members who ever deployed to
OEF/OIF, single parents make up 17
percent*
The current projected percentage of
U.S. Veterans who are women is 10
percent**
In Federal Year 2009, the average
age of women Veterans was 48 years,
compared to 63 years for their male
counterparts**
In FY 2009 and FY 2010 PTSD,
hypertension, and depression were
the top three diagnostic categories
for women**
About 1 in 5 women seen in VHA
respond “yes” when screened for Military Sexual Trauma (MST)**

*Information from the Department of Defense, Report
on the Impact of Deployment of Members of the Armed
Forces on Their Dependent Children, 2010
**Information from the US Dept of Veterans Affairs