When Janie comes marching home

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, was declared between the Allied nations and Germany in World War I, which was then known as 'the Great War.”

The date was commemorated the following year as Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of the war.

All-in-all, it took 60 years for the Veterans Day we know today - a time to recognize and honor all veterans, living or dead, serving in war or peacetime - to become a reality. And it will, unfortunately, take many more years before the nation is able to fully serve the diverse military population we have today.

SHIFTING DEMOGRAPHICS

While the overall number of U.S. veterans is expected to decline in the next few decades, figures released last month by the Office of the Actuary within the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs show the density of minority and women veterans surging.

Between 2010 and 2040, the overall number of African American veterans and Hispanic veterans is expected to jump between three and four percent.

In addition, while women currently comprise about 9 percent of all veterans, by 2043 they are expected to nearly double their number. This will mark the second doubling of the demographic for the military, which saw roughly 900,000 women veterans in 1990 quickly grow to more than 1.8 million today.

Among veterans, women are the fastest growing demographic in the nation and, while improvements have been made to provide earned benefits to the group and answer the challenges of women returning from combat, the population remains largely underserved.

In fact, it has only been in the past few years that the public has been privy to exactly how seldom women veterans are accessing or able to access Veterans Affairs programs that have long been tailored to serve a majority male population. In many areas, Veterans Benefits still do not include core services needed by women. For instance, although VA hospitals are charged with offering comprehensive health care to all veterans, about a third of the nation's facilities do not have a gynecologist on staff.

UNDERSERVED WOMEN

A December 2011 report on homeless women veterans by the U.S. Government Accountability Office notes an uptick in the number of women who had contact with the VA from 2006 to 2010, but the actual numbers are shocking.

In 2006, 1,380 women veterans contacted the VA because of homelessness. By 2010, the number had more than doubled, but still comprised just 3,328 women.

Further, the report found that many women weren't offered short-term housing, and that many shelters lacked safety standards and/or limited or refused minor children.

A follow-up report in March 2012 by the VA inspector general noted similar concerns. Few shelters had separate floors for men and women, or offered facilities with doors that lock. Just like the larger population, women veterans are much more likely to be challenged by sexual trauma and domestic violence, and such issues are especially prevalent, and unanswered, for many homeless women veterans.

Even for servicewomen generally, the instance of post-traumatic stress disorder far outpaces what is found in male counterparts. According to the VA, about 4 percent of male veterans suffer from PTSD, but that number jumps to 10 percent for women veterans. And, to complicate the problem, much of the research done on PTSD came from studies of male veterans, mostly from the Vietnam era.

Only in recent years have researchers began to connect the dots between historical PTSD instances and sexual trauma, and many of the supports available for male veterans - for instance, peer networking - remain absent for women.

While one out of every five women rolled in VA health care screen positive for military sexual trauma, about 30 percent of VA medical centers and other medical resources aren't equipped to provide services.

According to a study released this year by the advocacy group Disabled American Veterans, post-9/11 women veterans have higher unemployment rates than male veterans and non-veteran women.

In addition, women veterans are twice as likely to be homeless as non-veteran women, and more likely to be a single parent. The lack of adequate mental health services for such women has exacerbated these problems.

BETTER WELCOME HOMES

As of Sept. 30, the VA reported 15,070 women veterans were living in Iowa, or about 7 percent of the overall veteran population. Beyond that number, however, there is little we know.

Women veterans seeking help at the Iowa City VA Hospital can choose from a relatively wide variety of services, but it is unclear exactly how many within the Iowa demographic have taken advantage of earned benefits.

Nationally, and despite an ongoing awareness campaign, women are less likely to know about or apply for benefits and, when they do, a majority continue to report they are often initially misidentified as a spouse or family member instead of as the veteran.

Challenges not prevalent among male veterans, like child-care services for those undergoing treatment, are an issue for this expanding demographic. Federal laws also continue to negatively impact and limit access to women veterans, especially in the realm of reproductive health care.

And while health care benefits often are the most discussed, there are a host of federal programs aimed at veterans, the vast majority crafted to serve the majority male population.

From vocational rehabilitation to alcohol and drug abuse treatment to home loans to education services, the new landscape of veterans needs to be addressed.

Here in Iowa, we can start on Veterans Day by acknowledging the national bias and demanding a better accounting of veterans services in terms of gender equity and friendliness.

On the eleventh hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 2014, let's all lay down our partisan arms and begin a path forward that fulfills our promise to all veterans and truly thanks them for their service.

' Comments: (319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com

Guest columns have also been published by veterans Cheryl King and Sarah Else.