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VA CONFRONTS SEX TRAUMA AS FEMALE RANKS GROW --
Rising number of women veterans challenges and
changes the types of care provided.
VA web site on Military Sexual Trauma
here...
http://www1.va.gov/visns/visn03/womenvets/sextr.asp
Story here...
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/
fea/healthyliving2/stories/110306dnlivvawomen.33cd1dc.html
Story below:
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VA confronts sex trauma as female ranks grow
Rising number of women challenges, changes the types of care provided
By KAREN M. THOMAS / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
As a young Army private fresh out of high school, Jaime Theiss of Plano
didn't think much about a platoon leader's invitation to his Fort Hood
quarters in 2000.
It was late, she was tired, and she was caught in paperwork limbo
without a room at the post. She took the key the soldier offered,
entered his room and fell asleep on his bed.
"I grew up close with my brother and his friends. Someone giving me a
key and going into a guy's room was no big deal," Ms. Theiss, now 24,
says.
But when the platoon leader returned, according to her sworn statement
and Army court documents, his advances led to sexual assault. And that
spiraled Ms. Theiss into psychological turmoil from which she is still
trying to recover.
Now medically discharged from the Army, Ms. Theiss is one of thousands
of veterans who have suffered military sexual trauma, Veterans Affairs
records say.
She is also part of a growing number of female veterans seeking health
services at traditionally male-based vet centers and hospitals
nationwide, placing the VA on the front line of treating those with
sexual trauma.
The number of military women and men who have made allegations of sexual
assault has increased over the past year, partly because of Department
of Defense policy changes in 2005 to address the issue. And, while
evidence is mostly anecdotal, some experts think that those now serving
under dangerous circumstances in Iraq may experience a greater risk of
sexual harassment or assault than their stateside counterparts, causing
the number of allegations to go even higher.
"The VA will definitely feel the repercussions and get more business,"
says Terri Spahr Nelson, an Army veteran and psychotherapist who treats
sexual assault victims. She wrote For Love of Country: Confronting Rape
and Sexual Harassment in the U.S. Military (Haworth Press, $29.95).
Female veterans now number 1.7 million. The VA projects that by 2010, 10
percent of all veterans will be women, compared with 2 percent in 1997.
The VA's budget for women's health-care service has also grown, from $21
million in 2000 to an estimated $43.5 million in 2006.
While the VA has made vast improvements in treating women since 1992,
critics say services are not evenly distributed throughout the VA
system. There is a gap, the critics say, between what is offered to
active-duty service members and what the VA offers them once they leave
the military.
"Unfortunately, this gap often results in an escalation in symptoms for
survivors of military sexual trauma," says Anita Sanchez, director of
communications for the Miles Foundation, a private, nonprofit
organization that provides services to military victims of violence.
Trauma compounded
When sexual assault happens in the military, some experts say, there are
differences that can make it more difficult than for victims in civilian
life.
Two of the biggest differences, says Ms. Nelson, are that often military
women cannot avoid their perpetrators, and, before recent policy
changes, many were unable to get prompt medical treatment.
"If you are raped in college, you can leave college," she says. "But in
the military, you have to prove you are eligible for early discharge.
You can't walk away from the situation or the person. The person who
raped you might be nearby, or you may have to report to him."
Ms. Theiss says her three-month struggle to leave the Army after her
assault was as traumatic as the assault itself. Ms. Theiss said she
still had to present Army paperwork for him to process. She pressed
charges against him, and the case eventually went to trial. The soldier
pleaded guilty to counts that included indecent assault and adultery,
although his version of events differed from Ms. Theiss'.
A military judge sentenced him to serve six months in a military prison,
reduced his military rank and gave the soldier a bad-conduct discharge
from the Army, court records say. Efforts by The Dallas Morning News to
reach the soldier were unsuccessful.
Ms. Theiss says keeping appointments to see a civilian social worker or
tend to her medical needs was made difficult by her superiors, who told
her she needed to "soldier up." The social worker found she had
post-traumatic stress disorder, and she was then medically discharged.
The ordeal, she says, has left her with an inability to trust others.
"I have walls built up between me and new people that I meet that are
pretty hard to break down," Ms. Theiss says. "And when it comes to a
relationship, I think I'm going to get hurt pretty much."
Experts say many don't report attacks by a higher-ranking officer
because of reprisals, and many victims fear losing their military
careers. Others see military sexual assault as the ultimate betrayal,
they say.
One VA study found that almost 75 percent of female veterans raped never
reported the crime. Other research shows 20 to 40 percent of female vets
say they have been sexually harassed or assaulted.
"This is just clinical information, but I have asked the women, and some
have been abused by a father or a brother, and then they suffer military
sexual trauma. They say, 'The military was my salvation, my way out.'
They find that betrayal worse than what they suffered in their own
families," says Alina Suris, who heads military sexual trauma services
at the Dallas VA Medical Center.
What's being done
Since 2001, VA primary-care clinics nationwide screen every veteran,
male or female, for military sexual trauma. Based on that screening,
referrals are made for services, says Candace Tull, Women Veteran
Program manager in San Antonio.
Services, including in-patient care, individual and group counseling,
and any other treatment deemed necessary, are offered at VA medical
centers and independent vet centers.
"We had a World War II female vet who never told anyone, but when she
was asked, her answer just slipped out," says Ms. Tull. "And that's what
we want. We want to create an environment where a person has permission
to tell you that."
In Dallas, counseling services are readily available. Officials
acknowledge that the system has lagged in offering more comprehensive
medical services to female veterans, such as wellness visits, but say
things are improving.
The Dallas center launched a three-year, $750,000, VA-funded study in
October to evaluate treatment for women with post-traumatic stress
disorder caused by sexual harassment or assault while they served in the
military.
Jessica Jacobsen, a spokeswoman for the Dallas regional office of the
VA, also notes several policy changes that should help victims.
Those now serving in Iraq need only bring discharge papers and can be
treated free for two years for any health-care need, she says. And Ms.
Jacobsen says that the debriefing process given when a soldier leaves
active duty has become more detailed.
The numbers
According to the Department of Defense, 2,374 allegations of military
sexual assault were reported during 2005, compared with 1,700 in 2004.
The increase is caused in part by a series of initiatives announced by
the Department of Defense last year to address sexual trauma. Those
initiatives included a program that makes it easier for victims to come
forward as well as establishing sexual assault program offices at all
major installations.
Experts say it is too soon to tell whether the numbers also reflect an
increase in sexual assault. While evidence is mostly anecdotal, many
experts think that those in Iraq may be at greater risk of sexual
harassment or assault.
"What we know historically about rape and war is it does bring out
aggression and the propensity to do violence," says Ms. Nelson, the
psychotherapist and author. "To do that violence, you see someone as
lesser or less significant. The warrior mentality required for war can
certainly get transferred.
"Why does it happen among female colleagues?" she asks. "There are still
some who think women don't belong in the military, and they are seen as
lesser or not as significant as their male counterparts."
Continuing need
Even though the VA says there is a greater effort to reach those who
need help, not all vets in need of those services find them. It took Ms.
Theiss two years to seek counseling at the Dallas VA Medical Center
after she left the Army. And it took Toni Morgan-DeMore, 57, of San
Antonio nearly two decades to seek help after ending a 10-year career in
the military.
Both women began treatment for their military sexual trauma in 2002 and
say that the treatment has been instrumental in helping them recover.
The Dallas Morning News does not usually identify sexual assault
victims, but both women wanted to tell their stories as a way to help
others.
"I was actually working and overheard someone talking about the Collin
County VA representative," Ms. Theiss says. "I didn't even know that
such a thing existed. I thought I left the military and that was that. I
didn't know I had benefits."
Now considered partially disabled by her post-traumatic stress disorder,
Ms. Theiss says her benefits help pay for college as well as her
counseling sessions.
"It's been really helpful having a counselor," she says.
For Ms. Morgan-DeMore, treatment has been a life-saver, she says.
Like Ms. Theiss, she joined the Army after graduating from high school,
39 years ago. Assigned to the 3rd Army Soldiers Show, she traveled with
her unit throughout the south, performing for Vietnam soldiers. One
night, a female roommate made sexual advances and then physically
attacked her when she refused.
The incident was the first in a long line of sexual harassments over Ms.
Morgan-DeMore's 10 years in the Army, the Reserves and the National
Guard.
She rarely told anyone. The few times that she did confide in someone,
she did so informally without pressing charges.
"I was afraid," she says of one high-ranking officer who harassed her.
"I was of low rank, and he was mighty. He had stripes coming every which
way on his uniform. Basically, I felt like 'who's going to listen to my
story?' And I began to wonder, 'What am I doing to attract this?' "
Over the years, Ms. Morgan-DeMore's life and military career began to
unravel. She divorced, remarried and suffered a nervous breakdown. She
became withdrawn. Several times, she contemplated suicide.
"I never felt safe," she says.
She eventually left the military because of an unrelated medical
disability, not knowing she might qualify for benefits. Two decades
later, a neighbor, also an Army veteran, told her she should apply.
A place to heal
Since then, Ms. Morgan-DeMore has attended weekly group sessions at the
San Antonio Veterans Center. The sessions, according to Dr. Gail
Heather-Greener, who conducts them, teach women skills that allow them
to become more assertive, set boundaries in relationships and build a
healthy social network.
Ms. Morgan-DeMore says she still has anger, and she still has pain. But
she no longer thinks about suicide. Now she wants to become certified as
a teacher to rejoin the work force. Ms. Morgan-DeMore knows there are
others like her who never got help. By telling her story, she hopes
they, too, get the help they need.
"It's like a new dawn, a new day, a new life for myself," she says. "I
can breathe again. I can see hope."
Karen Thomas is an Arlington-based writer.
E-mail
sundaylife@dallasnews.com
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Larry Scott
