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Abstract: 

This article is aimed toward forensic professionals who serve female military veterans suffering from Military Sexual Trauma (MST). MST refers to the harmful physical and psychological repercussions of being sexually victimized by fellow service members. As the authors note, large numbers of women so victimized suffer from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression, and other mental and emotional diffi culties. This has resulted in heavy demands on the Veterans Administration (VA) medical system, which has historically served predominantly male veterans and is now charged with providing gender-sensitive treatments for this especially vulnerable group.

Keywords: increased enrollment and exposure of women in military service to conflict; increasing female veteran population; resistance to acknowledging and processing MST cases; PTSD; depression; barriers to health care access; disability claims; gender-respon

Affiliations:  1: University of San Diego; 2: student,University of Iowa; 3: Fitchburg State University.