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SWAN Pushing For Reform Of Claims Regarding Military Sexual Trauma

16 July 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

Aun Bhagwati is the Executive Director of the Servicewomen’s Action Network or SWAN, and she has headed to DC to meet with the dedicated National Peer Support Helpline caseworker, Rebekah Havrilla, and to meet with policymakers and senior members of the Department of Veterans Affairs to discuss the issue of reforming Military Seual Trauma claims. She is especially meeting with Representative Chellie Pingree, author of H.R. 930 which would revise the current unfair claims policy that discriminates against survivors of Military Sexual Trauma.

In 2010, SWAN and the ACLU sued the VA and the Pentagon for documentation related to military rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and domestic violence. Not all of that documentation has yet to come in. Some of the information that has come in suggests that the Veterans Benefits Administration has a strong bias against veterans who have claims associated with Military Sexual Trauma, which is the term used to describe the psychological trauma associated with military rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment.

The press release from SWAN states:

We intend to make clear that under no circumstances is it okay for the VA to build a two-tiered system, one for mental health patients whose suffering is related to combat trauma, and another for those whose suffering is related to military sexual violence. Under no circumstances is it okay for our policymakers to stand idly by while the federal government routinely denies survivors of military rape, sexual assault or sexual harassment the benefits owed to them by federal law.

Hopefully, the Pentagon will reform the system forthwith.