JEnifer joined the Royal Navy at the age of 29. She became an aircraft engineer and won numerous awards. Two years after registering, in 2006, she was raped and again in 2011. She said she did not report the two attacks because she did not want to risk losing her career.

In 2014, she was sexually assaulted by a superior officer, and this time she decided to report the incident. “I tried to downplay it and move on… but it didn’t work out.”

During the ensuing investigation, which lasted more than two years, Jennifer said she was bullied and harassed. Her alleged perpetrators countersued, and she was confined to her base. “I’m no longer a victim,” she said. “That’s the military way. They manage situations to get the results they want.”

A military court ultimately acquitted him. Two years later, in 2018, Jennifer was discharged from the hospital after suffering traumatic injuries. “We are only a few months away from receiving the 15-year long service medal,” she said. “I’ve completed.”

This spring, the first strategy for female veterans will be released. The Office of Veterans Affairs (OVA) announced in January that it had spent £445,000 to better understand the needs of more than 235,000 female veterans in the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, and to provide support for the alarming number of women who have experienced this condition. Military personnel provide support. Military sexual trauma.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Johnny Mercer told the House of Commons: “Essentially the point of the strategy is to ensure that voices that have been ignored for too long are heard. I know there is unmet need and suffering.” The question is – how Best address needs and pain?

“It is extraordinary that only 2 percent of research globally focuses on female veterans,” said Dr. Lauren Godier-McBard, co-director of the research center. Center for the Study of Military Women, Established in 2022. “The government is finally starting to realize that many female veterans have different care, health and support needs than male veterans. They have different experiences with service, and not always good ones. For too long, women have Veterans feel like they’re being ignored.”

In 2021, 30 organizations collaborated to produce this report We have also servedthis first overall study, funded by OVA, which supports retired women. While some veterans take pride in their military careers and thrive after leaving, female veterans are two and a half times more likely than civilian women to have suicidal thoughts, the report shows. They are also more likely to be unemployed and less likely to receive benefits.

Older female veterans became military recruits when women were unable to serve, marry, have sex, or become pregnant. Women have been deployed in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan, but many feel their contributions are not recognized. For example, a woman was asked if she wore her husband’s medal. The UK’s male-dominated veterans support sector is made up of more than 1,000 veterans’ organizations and charities, but as one woman explained, “People say, ‘We’re fair to everyone’. This means ‘we Will treat everyone like a man”.

Eleven years ago, Tony Wright Founder forward assistanceA North East-based charity that helps veterans recognizes female veterans are a “hidden population” and has hired mental health trauma therapist Paula Edwards, who specializes in supporting women with complex needs. Further investigation. work with More than half (52%) of 100 female veterans said they had been assaulted while serving in the armed forces, with many internalizing the stigma and blame. Some said their complaints of inappropriate behavior, and in some cases criminal behavior, had been dismissed and the perpetrators promoted. 20% of women said they had been in local authority care and 50% had joined to escape a home environment where they had suffered many adverse childhood experiences such as abuse. “Statistically, if you have been victimized in some way early in life, you are more likely to be victimized again,” Dr. Godier-McBard said. “Unfortunately, this creates a compounding problem for some women. They have had negative experiences in the armed forces, resulting in poor mental health and poor well-being after service. We certainly encountered this in our research with veterans This model.”

Female soldiers who are attacked face the secondary trauma of institutional betrayal and a loss of trust in those who are supposed to fight alongside them. One female veteran explained: “You literally risk your life for them…and then this horrible thing happens to you and it all goes away.”

“We are still investigating sex crimes in the armed forces in a misogynistic manner,” Edwards said. “Women in the military need to be afforded choice, respect and dignity. Instead, we still see a culture of victim blaming. Equally alarming is the extent to which the military covers up these crimes.”

In 2018, Wright and Edwards founded In Her Honor, the only charity dedicated exclusively to female personnel and veterans. It provides trauma-informed treatment and practical help with housing, employment, claims, benefits and civilian life. It supports over 5,000 women and receives 5 new inquiries every week. Many of the women who participated in the “Salute to Her” report, no man’s landpublished in 2019, also provided evidence for the groundbreaking work of the House of Commons Defense Subcommittee ask In 2021, it will be led by Conservative MP and former soldier Sarah Atherton.

The armed forces now have a series of “zero tolerance” policies in place, but Edwards hopes more action will be taken soon. “Changing deeply ingrained cultural attitudes takes time,” she said. “But many women don’t have the time.” For example, the Atherton Inquiry recommended formal recognition of military sexual trauma (MST), but the government rejected the proposal. One definition of MST is, “Any sexual activity in which you engage in while serving in the military against your will or when you are unable to refuse.”

Edwards also wants the “emotional harm” recognized and support and compensation provided. According to Durham University, moral injury refers to “a profound sense of broken trust…” that corrodes the sense of self. “A woman’s moral injury is very different from a man’s moral injury,” Edwards said. “A woman who sees other women being raped, beaten or bullied and doesn’t intervene, she has to live with that.” “In addition, she hopes to investigate women who have been discharged from hospital and diagnosed with emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD), also known as borderline personality disorder.

In 2022, of the 393 women who approached Salute Her for help, 133 were diagnosed with EUPD, with devastating consequences in their civilian lives. Symptoms include intense negative emotions such as panic, shame, terror, impulsive behavior – such as self-harm, and disturbing thoughts. “To me, this behavior is a completely natural response to something that a lot of women go through, but it ends up being pathologized,” Edwards said.

Four years ago, Anna joined the army at the age of 17. She is planning a long-term career. Initially, she said, she found the military “wonderful.” People who serve in the armed forces are young. One in five new hires in 2022 Age 16 or 17. The Armed Forces Covenant provides that military personnel receive ongoing support during military service and after retirement. However, the Children’s Rights International Network (CRIN) said girls under 18 like Anna were 10 times more likely to be victims of sex crimes than adult female personnel, based on the force’s own records. CRIN is conducting activities that prohibit the recruitment of children under 18 years of age.

In Anna’s case, within a few months of enrolling, she attended a block party with eight male colleagues at her engineering boot camp (she was one of the few women in the boot camp) and drank alcohol at the party. liquor. She left the room to smoke a cigarette and went to the nearest toilet. As she emerged from a stall, she was raped.

“I knew he would be acquitted,” she said. Almost immediately after reporting the rape, Anna was denied family leave and instead punished for drinking. Partly to hide from her abuser, she isolated herself in her room, became suicidal and was hospitalized.

A sergeant major responsible for Anna’s day-to-day welfare care program then groomed her for a brief sexual relationship because she was deemed “vulnerable”. “Once he got what he wanted, he stopped talking to me. Working in engineering, I was often the only woman in the unit, so the help I could get was from men, which made everything more difficult .

“I went to my CO [commanding officer] File a complaint [about the sergeant major] Because it’s a breach of trust. My CO obviously thinks I’m the problem. For him, it’s extra work, more administrative work. His attitude was: ‘This isn’t true; this isn’t true. She’s making up for it”.

The sergeant major was ultimately dishonorably discharged for gross misconduct. Another time, a drunken colleague walked into Anna’s room uninvited, and a fourth time, when she was a teenager, she was fondled by a corporal during adventure training. Due to the trauma, she was admitted to the hospital with suicidal tendencies. A week before her alleged rapist was court-martialed, she was told she was being considered for medical discharge. “I’m really shocked. On what basis? I’m getting cognitive behavioral therapy and getting along great.”

Last week, Mercer told observer: “Female veterans make a valuable contribution to the Armed Forces. The forthcoming strategy will… recognize their contribution and identify what further tailored support we can provide to meet their specific needs.”

Anna, now 21, was discharged from the hospital last year due to illness. She discovered that her medical records included a diagnosis of EUPD. This prevented her from applying to join the police as she had hoped. “It’s on my civil record and there’s nothing I can do about it. Sexual abuse is just as serious on civilian streets,” she added. “The only difference is that the military is not just a place to work, it’s life.”

www.saluteher.co.uk Supporting retired and active-duty women