Women Veterans finding help from peers

Women Veterans Returning Home From the War are Finding Help from Their Peers
Posted:

April 4, 2008 08:08 PM EDT

Women Veterans Returning Home From the War are Finding Help from Their Peers

KOLD News 13 News Anchor Dan Marries
As the struggle to win the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continues, so does the road to recovery for returning veterans. More than 1.5 million men and women have served on the battlefields over there and this weekend some of them are finding help in Tucson. Close to 191,000 U.S. troops are currently on the ground in the Middle East. More than 4,000 have paid the ultimate price, and nearly 30,000 have been wounded. Abel Moreno from Vets 4 Vets says for some of those who do make it home, the battle scars aren't always visible, "war is difficult and the reintegration process is just as difficult."
Moreno knows; he served seven years in the Army's 82nd Airborne. Two of those years were in Iraq and Afghanistan, "myself being a veteran and understanding that I think it's just as hard or even harder for women veterans who return back into society, and that's where our organization takes precedence." That organization is Vets 4 Vets. A group dedicated to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. This weekend the group's sponsoring a workshop for women veterans in Tucson, "I am a veteran and a mother," Astin Tedford, an Iraq combat veteran says proudly, "so I take pride in being both and I work hard everyday at being the best in both worlds. It's definitely a struggle, and it's a healing process that will take a long time."
You might be surprised at the number of war time women. According to Vets 4 Vets, so far 182,000 women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, 16,000 of them are single mothers, 8,000 are homeless, and 3,800 are homeless, "so part of Vets 4 Vets is we have the camaraderie," says U.S. Navy veteran Tia Christopher, "we get to laugh and come together and horse back ride and relax in the sun but also we can talk about some of the challenging issues we might not feel comfortable talking about with everybody but we can talk about it with our peers." Vets 4 Vets is a non profit organization and it does not charge veterans for these weekend workshops. You can help out by making a monetary donation.
If you'd like to do so or just want more information here's the link
http://www.vets4vets.us/.
You can also e-mail Vets 4 Vets at vets4vets@gmail.com
or call (520) 319-5500.