From our Moral Injury and Veterans Symposium in September 2015. Presented by Lola Mondragon.

1. Moral Injury:
Racism, Sexism, Betrayal &
Invisible Combat

2. Racism
 2001 “black women made up less than
1 percent of service members, they
represented 3.3 percent of those
discharged under the policy [DADT]”
 “In 2008, 45 percent of those
discharged under DADT were people
of color…even though they made up
30 percent of the military. Women
constituted 34 percent of discharges in
2008 but accounted for 14 percent of
the military.”

3. Sexism
 “While 1 in 6 civilian women
experience sexual assault, for military
women this number climbs to
approximately 1 in 3”
 “3,230 military sexual assaults were
reported in 2009, which represents an
increase of 11% from fiscal year 2008.
163 sexual assaults were reported in
Iraq and Afghanistan in 2008”

4. Sexism
 “79% of women serving in the military
since Vietnam reported experiences of
sexual harassment”
 “a sample of veterans who were
seeking VA disability benefits for
PTSD 71% and 4% of men reported
an in-service sexual assault”
 “37% of women veterans reprt being
raped at least twice, and 14% report
experieces of gang rape”

5. Betrayal
 LaVena Johnson
“Army investigators ruled that LaVena committed
suicide by firing her M-16 automatic rifle into her
mouth. Her body was found beside the rifle in a
contractor's storage tent on a U.S. military base in
Balad, Iraq, on July 19, 2005.
The autopsy report and photographs revealed
Johnson had a broken nose, black eye, loose teeth,
burns from a corrosive chemical on her genitals, a
trail of blood leading away from her tent, and a
gunshot wound that seemed inconsistent with
suicide. Several reporters have suspected that the
chemical burns were to destroy DNA evidences of a
rape.”

6. Invisible Combat
 Definition of Combat:
“a purposeful violent conflict meant to
weaken, establish dominance over, or
kill the opposition, or to drive the
opposition away from a location where it
is not wanted or needed” Wikipedia

7. “Documentation Used To Determine
Service in a Theater Of Combat
Operations” by the VA
 “Military service documentation that
reflects service in a combat theater, or
 Receipt of combat service medals,
and/or
 Receipt of combat tax exemption,
imminent danger or hostile fire pay”

8. Moral Injury
 LA Times:
“New government research shows that
female military veterans commit suicide
at nearly six times the rate of other
women”
“For the youngest women, veterans are
11.5 times more likely than nonveterans
to commit suicide”