The VA is reaching out to female veterans, who sometimes are hesitant to identify as veterans at all – The American Homefront Project

The VA is reaching out to female veterans, who sometimes are hesitant to identify as veterans at all  The American Homefront Project

Women make up the fastest-growing group of U.S. veterans. But fewer than half of female veterans are enrolled in VA health care, and some women are hesitant to even self-identify as former service members. Jeannie Liedtke served 12 years in the Air Force. On 9/11, she was part of rescue efforts at the Pentagon, bringing lights so that operations could continue all night. Then, she deployed to Iraq where she drove convoys, saying she wondered "Am I going to blow up today?" as she navigated through the desert. But you would never know she served from walking through her home in San Antonio. Only one photo from the military, a picture of her at basic training, sits in her bedroom.

She never wears her Operation Iraqi Freedom Veteran hat nor asks for a military discount. When she left the service, she didn’t even tell people she was a veteran. "I really refused to have any affiliation with the military at all because I felt like they just pushed me out the door and said, 'Okay, have a nice day,'" she said. She said she felt no support for the PTSD that began on that day in Arlington, Virginia. "I remember them hanging the flag on the side of the Pentagon," Liedtke said. "I remember them bringing bodies out of the