Melissa A. Ramon spent nine years in the US Air Force where she endured military sexual trauma at the hands of her training instructor and fellow airmen. "You see stripes and think it's power and authority. I went along with it because it was my career if I'd have stopped. I had the rules and he didn't. Whatever way he looked at it, it was his word against mine,” she said. Melissa suffers from Military Sexual Trauma and PTSD and has been homeless off and on since her discharge. She has sought help from the VA and several Veteran NGO’s. “They keep denying us, denying the claims and make us jump through hoops and even lose our paperwork. It’s like they are trying to kill us with what they put us through, “she said. Women's shelters will not admit a young man over the age of twelve, so she and her 13-year-old son Sam, bounce from one drug-ridden motel to another outside Los Angeles in Pomona, Ca. In her room at a motel she calls "The Jungle," Melissa clutches her US Air Force uniform under the watchful eyes of her dog "Princess." "That life is dead to me," she said.
Melissa A. Ramon spent nine years in the US Air Force where she endured military sexual trauma at the hands of her training instructor and fellow airmen. "You see stripes and think it's power and authority. I went along with it because it was my career if I'd have stopped. I had the rules and he didn't. Whatever way he looked at it, it was his word against mine,†she said. Melissa suffers from Military Sexual Trauma and PTSD and has been homeless off and on since her discharge. She has sought help from the VA and several Veteran NGO’s. “They keep denying us, denying the claims and make us jump through hoops and even lose our paperwork. It’s like they are trying to kill us with what they put us through, “she said. Women's shelters will not admit a young man over the age of twelve, so she and her 13-year-old son Sam, bounce from one drug-ridden motel to another outside Los Angeles in Pomona, Ca.
Female veterans are the fasted growing segment of the homeless population in the United States and are four times more likely to become homeless than civilian women.
Although the Pentagon recently paved the way for women to serve in combat positions, the US Military has a long way to go. Women are under-represented in the upper ranks and many who signed up for a military career are getting out due to dashed hopes of career advancement and high levels of harassment and sexual assault. Women who courageously served their country in Iraq and Afghanistan have arrived home with healthcare issues including post-traumatic stress disorder, to scattered families, jobs that no longer exist, an impotent Department of Veteran’s Affairs and to a nation who favors their male counterparts.
The challenges for female veterans are unique and difficult to address, especially when programs for vets seldom meet the needs of mothers and many homeless women vets happen to be single parents.
Women have to leave their children in the care of family members or friends when they deploy and many face custody battles when the stress of deployment tears their families apart. Many of these women escaped a difficult situation by joining the military and when they get out find them unable to cope with the stresses of unemployment and a weak economy. In addition, a good deal of homeless shelters cannot accommodate children and those that can often won’t allow a male child over the age of 12.