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My entire family is military. My dad served in the US Navy. All the men, on my mothers
side, served in the military, forever. And I'm the first female in my family to serve
in the US Military. I'll be honest with you...I don't share my story a lot. I am a victim
of MST - Military *** Trauma. Military *** Trauma is, is uh, one of the most demeaning,
defacing, deplorable things that an individual can endure. It's not so much as the ***...that's
not the problem. The problem is how you're defamed, defaced, told that you're...you know,
you wanted it, or that you, uh, encouraged it, or you're a liar. The statistics are alarming...19,000
*** assaults last year, within our active duty military. 19,000 people are not lying.
There's a lot of people that do Vet business, and a lot of different types of organizations,
but when I reached out to them...it was nothing there for women...it was nothing there for
me. They treated me like I was still on active duty, they talked to me like I was still on
active duty. And it just continued to bring up all of the negative things that I had experienced
from that. And I, uh, wanted to die. I knew I felt worthless...just really worthless.
And I started drinking, and just the behavior and staying up all night...I just kinda gave
up on housework and bills, and...just gave up on it. And I walked away from all of it
just easily. I got on the internet and started looking for women veterans like me and organizations
like me. I was just starting one-on-one counseling through the VA. They do great when you get
in there...but I still needed something in my day to day. And I found Transcendental
Meditation. The very first day that I learned was so powerful for me. And it felt really
good. And I was like...I should get everybody to feel like I feel. Once I started meditation
my weight starting coming down, I feel better, um, I'm a lot more healthier, I have a lot
more energy. I'm able to be a lot more focused and just be happy about living. Never would
I ever have thought that I would be organizing women...I wanted to make sure that women,
like me, that suffered from suicide ideation, that are victims of MST, that have had some
traumatic experiences and had a lot of stress and don't know how to transition back from
active duty...that there was something out there that actually worked. And it saves lives,
and it can save lives and it's gonna save more lives. And we just gotta make sure everyone's
aware.