The United States has been at war in Iraq for over 20 years – longer if you include the time between the first Iraq war and the one still going on now. From the US alone, 2.77 million soldiers have served in Iraq during that time, including over 225,000 from the Army that have served three or more deployments. Many in special forces have served even more than that. Much of the attention to war veteran’s issues has been centered around men, but Jessica Putnam Phillips asks in her work, “What about the women?”. As a veteran herself, Jessica focuses on the female perspective of the US soldier and draws attention to how what they go through after deployment is often different than what men go through, and how the public perception of that experience is often even more different.
Watch this video and then respond to the questions below:
What are your reactions to Jessica’s work and her ideas?
Have you spent time considering the ideas she is talking about?
Have you ever talked to a veteran about their experiences coming back from war? Have you talked to any women who might have had to go back into other service roles after their military service?
