Eleventh Global Studies Conference

Abstract

This on-going research explores women veteran’s experiences with traumas during the fifteen-year occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. As the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan continue, women have sustained physical, emotional, and psychological trauma resulting from repeated deployments, moral violations, physical and sexual violence perpetrated, and reinforced by the military institution. My research explores the individual experiences of women veterans with traumas of war, specifically regarding moral injury and how that effects their lives. Moral Injury is relatively new area of war trauma that the Veterans Administration is currently studying regarding its symptomatic overlap with PTSD (VA.gov). I hope to explore the experiences of women regarding issues of moral injury, how they perceive their experiences in war, as well as how they feel about their experiences within the military institution.