women have always served

and guess what? like it or not, they always WILL serve. it's THEIR choice (and always was their choice). yet it's 2010 and women are getting a wicked raw deal (from the military and it's services). to be fair, the men ain't getting treated so well in many instances too

this is pitiful. 

By Lisa Rein

Washington Post Staff Writer  

About 1.8 million women have served in the U.S. military, and with 245,000 female soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, it's estimated that within a decade, women will make up 16 percent of all veterans.

Yet until recently, some health clinics for veterans did not have separate bathrooms for women. Some doctors who treat returning service members haven't kept up with medical advances on issues from sexual trauma to prosthetics to menopause. Some Veterans Affairs computers still spit out data mistaking female veterans for wives of men who fought.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is turning its resources to women as the government braces for an increasing demand for services from female veterans.

On Wednesday, clinicians, benefits experts, VA leaders and veterans from across the country discussed the department's stepped-up efforts and the need to do more for women...........

pic: A statue at the Vietnam Women's Memorial, pictured in 2002. Women represent 8 percent of all military veterans. (Gerald Martineau/the Washington Post)