VICTORY recently in the United States appeals court in a ruling in regards to Military Sexual Trauma. Now soldiers will be able to file for disability payments for the psychiatric trauma for an incident that occurred in service. The numbers are astounding. 26, 000 military men and women have been the victim of some type of sexual assault. One can only imagine how difficult it is for civilians to report rape but what about our Military men and women. This is a huge problem for military people because they are trained to think a different way than your average person. So, the reporting of something like sexual trauma is almost never done. Suffering a sexual assault is traumatic, but having to relive it through the litigation of a disability claim compounds the difficulty. A person enters into the military to serve our country and to be around other men and women who have honor and integrity. The solider plans to make a career and be successful within the military until something like MST occurs and then their life as they know it is shattered. Congress considering changing legislation to make it easier for victims of assault to qualify for disability benefits is one small step toward doing what is right.
To read more about this story go to this link: https://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-09-30/sex-assault-victims-rejected-by-va-for-disability-to-get-review.
Until Next Time,
David A. Standridge
