THE WAR BACK HOME -- PICKING UP THE PIECES

THE WAR BACK HOME — PICKING UP THE PIECES: Pain of war is ...
Las Vegas Review - Journal - Las Vegas,NV,USA
Women who served in Iraq, Afghanistan work to recover

BY JOAN WHITELY
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

War changes a woman, in ways both great and small.

When relatives set off New Year's firecrackers, Denisse Ramos, 25, of Las Vegas notices her hands clench. It reminds her of mortar attacks in Iraq.


Whenever Sharon Dixon, 50, of North Las Vegas sits in a quiet room to read, the nonstop ringing in her ears is more noticeable and distracting. It's the legacy of surviving the blast of an improvised explosive device in Iraq in 2003.

For more than a decade, Las Vegan Rhonda Decker, 46, has been unable to sleep past about 4 a.m. Ever since serving in the Gulf War, followed by a 2004 tour to Kuwait and Iraq, she suffers from disturbed sleep patterns.

Local female veterans agreed to discuss how their post-war lives are different. Those interviewed all belong, or used to belong, to National Guard or military reserve units that deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan.
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