Post-Iraq, veteran moms can't put stress to bed
Darryl E. Owens Sentinel Staff Writer
June 30, 2008
1 2 next Army Spc. Elizabeth Jackson shut down emotionally during her tour in Iraq. It was her way of dealing with the stress and danger.
Coming home, she found it hard to turn her feelings back on and become a mom again.
"I had a lump in my throat holding him, but [I] still couldn't cry yet," said Jackson, 26, of her reunion with Christopher just three days before his first birthday. "He was still my son, but it took me a little while to get the tenderness down. It was like a 'Why are you crying? Suck it up!' kind of thing."
Doctors later diagnosed Jackson with post-traumatic-stress disorder, or PTSD -- an old diagnosis that's finding a new gender to victimize. The Deltona woman is among thousands of female veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan with the mental disorder that World War I veterans knew as "shell shock."
As the current war and multiple deployments continue, the numbers will only surge, experts fear.
Women are "being exposed to combat in ways never seen before and are coming in to seek care for PTSD," said Amy Street, a psychologist with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Trend rises
158: Women the Orlando VA Medical Center treated for post-traumatic-stress disorder during the 6 months ending in March.
143: Treated during the previous 12 months.
3,005: U.S. Army servicewomen diagnosed.
40,000: Troops from all military branches diagnosed.
193,400: Women have served in or near Iraq and Afghanistan -- about 11% of troops deployed.
SOURCES: Pentagon, Veterans Affairs
Darryl E. Owens can be reached at dowens@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5095.
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These women brought the ghosts back with them. No safe zones. Iraq horrors are gender neutral. Bombs do not remain intact when a woman drives up to them. Bullets do not change their path when a woman is walking by. Jets and helicopters are not suddenly provided with magic shields because a woman is the pilot. Add in the fact some men still will regard women as objects instead of worthy of respect. They have to worry about the enemy trying to kill them at the same time they have to worry about some of the men they serve with attacking them.
They have to fight for their right to be there, to serve the nation with just as much devotion as the males, doing jobs needing to be done with just as much courage. While men develop with less emotional tendencies as females, women have to fight against their emotions more than males do.
Yet women are the last to be served by the government. They have different physical and mental health care needs than men do but no one bothered to prepare for the increase in their numbers. Women do not want to see male doctors or male psychologists. Too many of them have endured sexual abuse and verbal abuse by men in the military and too many cannot trust a male to provide care to them. As the need to address this grows, they wait. Why?
Did they suddenly enter into the combat zones? Iraq was invaded in 2003 and women were there. Afghanistan was invaded in 2001 and women were there. The Gulf War was in 1991 and they were there. The rest of the combat missions came before that and women were there. Since the beginning of this nation, women were there on the front lines. They were not the last to serve so why are they the last to be served?
Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
http://www.namguardianangel.org/
http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington
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