{"id":54134,"date":"2019-08-14T19:03:52","date_gmt":"2019-08-14T19:03:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/08\/14\/why-women-veterans-are-250-more-likely-than-civilian-women-to-commit-suicide\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T09:48:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T09:48:44","slug":"why-women-veterans-are-250-more-likely-than-civilian-women-to-commit-suicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/education-transition\/2019\/08\/14\/why-women-veterans-are-250-more-likely-than-civilian-women-to-commit-suicide\/","title":{"rendered":"Why women veterans are more likely than civilian women to commit suicide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After four years on active duty, Amy left the Army and moved back to her hometown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, she struggled to find her tribe. At work, she was told her handshake was a bit too firm and lectured about how her direct communication style made her coworkers uncomfortable. At her local VFW bar, the men stopped talking to stare at her, and her attempts to connect were met with awkward silences. A few other attempts to connect with the veteran communities she saw advertised at the VA<\/a> and Facebook left her feeling similarly displaced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn both civilian settings and veteran settings, I was \u2018weird,\u2019\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She explored some of the newer veteran service organizations (VSOs), but most failed to include child care or weren\u2019t kid-friendly. Amy was a single parent, so she mentally crossed those options off her list too. She stayed lonely, and slowly sank into a deep depression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The very word \u201cveteran\u201d calls to mind the image of a man \u2014 particularly a male combat veteran. However, there are more than 2 million women veterans in the United States today, and women veterans are the nation\u2019s fastest-growing veteran population. Unfortunately, this unique population, many of whom have deployed during the past 18 years, rarely benefit from the traditional trappings of the hero returned home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInvisible Veterans,\u201d an anthology released this summer by Praeger Publishing, outlines what happens \u2014 for better and worse \u2014 when women veterans like Amy return home and begin the long reintegration process. My co-editor and I assembled the latest research alongside powerful personal stories to paint a comprehensive picture of the return of these largely invisible veterans, and in doing so discovered that in many ways challenges and health risks for women veterans are significantly greater than those facing their male counterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lonely and dangerous civilian reality<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stories like Amy\u2019s are common. Young veterans in general, and women specifically, often report they feel unwelcome in the very places created to support service members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While on active duty, many women veterans work to hide their differences out of fear of visibility. They work to blend in with their male counterparts, and try to mask issues like traumatic stress, domestic violence and substance use. Many male veterans also experience these issues, but are more likely to seek help and to find resources on the other side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As women move into the civilian world, existing challenges are compounded by the limited services and care systems, both non-profit and government, available to women. Women veterans also report that they leave the military with less of a very important factor: social support. Social support provides astonishing protective health benefits, to include lowered stress hormones, lowered risk of suicide and better overall physical health.<\/p>\n\n\n\t