Military Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

New Program Addresses Military Sexual Trauma Among Women Veterans

The Department of Veterans Assistance launched a new program that aims to support women veterans, especially those who have experienced military sexual trauma.

People of all backgrounds experience sexual violence, but sexual harassment and assault against women veterans is especially pervasive.

According to the United States Department of Veteran Affairs, one in three women veterans report experiencing sexual violence during their military service.

To provide resources that better address military sexual trauma, the West Virginia Department of Veterans Assistance has launched a new Women Veterans Program.

The program will be led by Jessica Lynch, a West Virginia resident who was taken as a prisoner of war in Iraq in 2003.

Lynch joined Gov. Jim Justice’s virtual press briefing Wednesday to share news of the program’s launch, and her hopes for what it can accomplish.

“It’s going to be a very exciting job that I’m willing to take on, and I hope that we are able to reach more women veterans across the state,” she said.

Edward Diaz, cabinet secretary for the Department of Veterans Assistance, said addressing gaps in resources for survivors of military sexual abuse was a top priority entering his current position.

Women veterans are “just so much more likely to have experienced sexual harassment, sexual assault and, of course, unfortunately, rape,” he said. “It needs to be addressed not only on a national level, but also within our home state here.”

Diaz said that social stigma surrounding sexual violence often discourages survivors from coming forward and seeking the resources they need.

“A lot of the women who have gone through this — and even men who have gone through this — they aren’t as comfortable talking to male veterans,” he said. “They’re reluctant to come into our offices. They’re reluctant to come in for assistance.”

Plans for program outreach remain under development. But the Department of Veterans Assistance plans on hosting community events, and directly contacting local veteran communities around the state.

The goal is to spread awareness about the resources available to survivors, and help them to access support.

“There are initiatives across every state and territory in the U.S. trying to address this problem — trying to make sure that women are heard,” Diaz said. “From a state level, I wanted to bring this forward.”

Diaz said that Lynch has remained an important and passionate supporter of women veterans in West Virginia since her military service.

When looking for someone to lead the program, this made Lynch an obvious choice.

“Over the past several weeks getting to know her on a personal level, I’m in awe. I’m truly amazed of her character … being able to empower women veterans across the state,” he said.

Justice applauded the Department of Veterans Assistance for their new program, and Lynch for her work leading the project.

“You’re stepping up for West Virginia again, and you’re stepping up for our women’s veterans and everything that need help, need help, need ambassadors,” he told Lynch.

Health care providers have also made recent steps toward advancing resources available to women veterans. Earlier this month, the Berkeley VA Medical Center opened a new clinical space to specifically address the needs of women veterans.

Justice said it is important to continue advancing resources for women veterans.

“Let’s try to do any and everything we can to salute and help our women veterans,” he said.

Capito: Republican Senator Is Wrong To Block Military Promotions

For months, U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville has blocked hundreds of high-ranking military officers from promotion.

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito says military promotions have been stalled because of one senator, and she disagrees with his approach.

For months, U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville has blocked hundreds of high-ranking military officers from promotion. The Alabama Republican has done so in protest of a Pentagon policy that allows the federal government to reimburse travel expenses for out-of-state abortions for servicemembers.

While she agrees with Tuberville on the policy question, Capito says she doesn’t think holding up military promotions is the way to resolve the dispute, especially with global conflicts raging.

“Sen. Tuberville has picked the wrong people to hold accountable,” she said. “These are not the ones that are decisionmakers or policymakers at the DOD.”

Though the Senate confirmed three promotions on Thursday, Tuberville objected to 61 others late Wednesday, drawing the ire of his and Capito’s fellow Republican senators.

Still, Capito wouldn’t commit to a proposal from Democrats to bypass Tuberville’s objections. Democrats would need nine Republicans to vote with them to achieve that.

Those confirmed Wednesday include Navy Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to serve as a Pentagon service chief and the first woman to join the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

PSC Rejects Recommendation To Increase Price Of Veterans’ Grave Markers

The Public Service Commission of West Virginia announced it will not implement a recommendation from its own task force and the funeral industry to increase the price of veterans’ grave markers by 51 percent.

On Thursday, the Public Service Commission of West Virginia announced it will not implement a recommendation from its own task force and the funeral industry to increase the price of veterans’ grave markers by 51 percent.

The West Virginia Cemetery & Funeral Association asked the commission to increase the marker fees in 2022.

The PSC created a task force to study the matter. The task force found installation prices had not increased since 2006 and agreed with the industry’s request.

“The commission recognizes the sacrifice our veterans and their families have made in the service to our country,” the PSC said in a press release. “In light of this, it is our desire to keep the total charges associated with veterans’ grave markers as economical as possible.”

In its discussion of the decision, the PSC noted that most of the cost information the funeral association provided was based on internet research rather than records they are required to keep.

“It will take much more information than the commission received if we are to further burden these families with additional costs while they are burying their honored dead,” PSC Chairman Charlotte Lane said.

Military Voters from 31 Countries Used Mobile App During Midterms, Warner Says

The West Virginia Secretary of State’s office has released information on the use of a mobile voting platform for overseas military voters.

The app, developed by Boston-based company Voatz, uses biometric identity verification and blockchain technology to secure the ballots. However, election and cybersecurity experts have expressed concerns about internet-facing voting systems, such as this one, being vulnerable to attack.

Of the state’s 55 counties, 24 made the app available to overseas military absentee voters in the general election pilot program.

According to a news release from the Secretary of State’s office, 144 qualified voters from 18 counties cast ballots using the mobile voting app during the general election.

State election officials say those voters were located in 31 countries across the globe.

As part of an earlier pilot program, 13 voters from two counties used the app to cast ballots from six countries in the May primary.

Secretary of State Mac Warner says an audit of the app and the mobile ballots will take two to three months.

WVU Fellowship Winner Aims To Help Veterans Access Benefits

You might not expect a veteran to be less-than-honorably discharged due to mental trauma…but that’s the issue many veterans are facing today. One student at West Virginia University is going around the state with lawyers to help veterans get access to benefits.

Thirteen percent of discharges from 1991 – 2013 are less-than-honorable, according to a study by Swords to Plowshares in conjunction with Harvard Law School. That’s more than 500,000 veterans, who are less qualified for benefits, and carry a life-long stigma. WVU student Garrett Burgess hopes to help solve that problem. He’s partnering with WVU College of Law’s Veterans’ Advocacy Clinic. Garrett says he plans to enter the military, and that’s is the reason he wants to help the clinic.

“Whether that is what I want to do with my career…there’s not really that aspect that I’m aiming at, but rather the kind of things that we all should be doing and serving as military officers is what my ultimate goal is, and that’s helping one another out as much as we can,” said Garrett.

The clinic provides veterans with lawyers to fight a bad paper discharge. Director of the clinic Jennifer Oliva says these discharges mostly stem from lower-level misconduct, such as drinking or being absent without leave.

“What we find out, though, is that when people are traumatized…when they’ve been in combat…they’ve been shot at…they watched their battle buddy die in front of their eyes or get blown up with an IED…there’s a lot of trauma there, and it often affects the person’s behavior,” said Oliva.

The clinic believes many of these veterans are suffering from acute symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Congress recently confirmed that some less-than-honorable discharges are the fault of bad screening procedures for PTSD and other mental health issues. It wasn’t until 2014 that a mental health official was required to review discharges. And a program providing mental health care to veterans with other-than-honorable discharges is expected to come out soon. However, the official reviewing discharges can be a physician with training on mental health issues, and the new program is limited to veterans in immediate mental health distress.

It’s these issues that inspired Garrett to use his Newman Civic Fellowship to help the Veteran’s Advocacy Clinic. The fellowship is led by a non-profit called Campus Compact. Universities nominate one person per school to receive the fellowship, and from there, Campus Compact chooses fellows. There are almost 300 Newman Fellows nationwide this year. Those students will have a resource guide to learn a number of skills so they can complete a project of their choice. They will learn how to network in the community to reach out to groups, and how to use your assets wisely.

Garrett will be travelling across the state, giving presentations and talking to veterans about discharge rights. Law students will be going with him to help people fill out claims and answer legal questions.

West Virginia Museums to Let Military Members in for Free

Several West Virginia attractions are participating in the National Endowment for the Arts initiative to offer free admission to active-duty military members and their families.

The Blue Star Museums program includes more than 2,000 museums across the country offering the deal from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

Participating state attractions are the Huntington Museum of Art, the Spark! Imagination and Science Center in Morgantown, the Watts Museum at West Virginia University, the Marion County Historical Society Museum in Fairmont, the Museums of Oglebay Institute in Wheeling, the Arthurdale Heritage museum and the Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences in Charleston.