In honor of Veterans' Day, we usually close our offices, but today we want to take the time to commemorate the women and men who serve in our armed services.
After the horrific Fort Hood shooting last week, we're finally seeing some national media attention on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and the effect that it has not only on those who have served in active combat, but on those around them as well. Since 2001, more vets have died by suicide than in combat. We already know that servicewomen suffer from an extremely high rate of PTSD, often including trauma from sexual assault by U.S. servicemen, and that care for returning servicewomen is woefully inadequate, as is investigation and prosecution of rape by U.S. servicemen. This recent survey on rape in the military shows just how extensive it truly is. Wives of returning servicemen who suffer from PTSD are also at greater risk for domestic violence, and may themselves suffer from PTSD.
One of the police officers who responded and stopped the shooter was a woman, Sgt. Kimberly Munley, who was injured during the attack. Our thoughts go out to the families of the 13 women and men murdered in this attack, and the families of the many soldiers and civilians who have died in Iraq & Afghanistan.
In better news for the military, the American Medical Association has called for the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy on gay and lesbian servicemembers, and there is some talk that such a repeal may be a part of the 2011 defense budget bill. There's no way to know how much of that talk has been generated because of the, "Don't Ask, Don't Give" protest against the President and Democratic party's failure to move of LGBT rights legislation. But since a recent survey of troops found they really don't care if fellow servicemembers are lesbian or gay, we can only hope that this disgraceful policy is on its way out.
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