brokebird

I'm climbing out of the black pit to make another stab at getting my PTSD recognized. I'm looking at Reps for vets, but would like a thumbs up or down. 20% in lawyer fees, I'm fine with. Suggestions?

Hey all. Just found you in a fit of frustration over being denied PTSD/MST claim. Haven't gotten up the fortitude to read the details, but it seems pretty obvious that the eveluators are under the age of 30. I don't think they realize what we were facing back in the 70s. (And still do.) Rape was a woman's fault, because only nuns could be raped. Everyone else asked for it. Women in the military were either whores or lesbians. Both deserved to be raped. Women weren't emotionally capable of being in combat, but nurses were expected to deal with a flood of mutilations and dead bodies on a daily basis. There was no thought that the situation might have been traumatic for them. In fact, they were repeatedly told they were lucky to be 'safe' behind the lines. If you got pregnant, you were discharged. Everyone expected you to get pregnant. Now. If there was a Gyn posted to the local med center, their priority was seeing wives. Three month waits for a routine appt were not unusual. Female officers were pressured to join the Officer Wive's Club. And go to the meetings. If you filed a sexual harassment complaint, you were shunned by everyone. Because everyone knew all the details. If you object to being humiliated, you were too sensitive and were told to suck it up. After all, you chose to join up. I was twice denied assignment at CENTCOM because I was female. Females, particularly officers, were routinely barred from deployment with their units because they were too much trouble. Newt Gingrich said women couldn't deploy because we get infections in field conditions. After the 1st Gulf, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force Merrill McPeak (chosen by Cheney) testified to Congress that he would never allow women to fly fighters. Then he told his officer corps that if you were not a pilot, the Air Force did not owe you a career, because only pilots could command units. I was in 4 years before women had the option to wear pants or a long sleeved shirt. Because they didn't exist. Lots of fun in Arctic conditions. There was a lot of resentment because the services were cracking down on racial discrimination. Women took the backlash. But none of it was written down or official. That just scratches the surface. But my young friends seem to have no clue of the realities back then. Maybe we need to go back and explain that reality to the VA.