VA serving high number of women

VA serving high number of women
13 News Orlando
By Margaret Kavanagh
Reporter
Last Updated: Thursday, February 07, 2013

“Being here with other people or just trying to be a civilian is really hard, I was completely different. As if I was an alien from another planet it felt like that. Like welcome to civilian life,” Murray said.

CENTRAL FLORIDA
More and more female soldiers are returning home in desperate need of help.

Now, as the U.S. military is allowing women on the front lines, they’re also working on a plan to help them once they come back home.

Life got difficult for 25-year-old Sarah Murray once she said she got out of the military in 2008.

“It was really hard to adjust to civilian life. I didn’t know how to fit in or find a job easily. I had a hard time socializing with people and I became homeless,” Murray said.

Last year, Murray wound up in a food pantry in Cocoa Beach struggling to make ends meet to feed her 3-year-old daughter.

Bill Breyer, a volunteer with the National Veterans Homeless Support group, pointed her in the right direction.

"This is why we are here, to go out and get these veterans much more out of a life that is due to them as a result of their service,” Breyer said.

Murray said he provided her with information about resources that were available to her.

According to the VA, the number of female veterans using VA Health Care as more than doubled since 2000 from nearly 160,000 to more than 337,000 in 2011.
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