Three ex-servicewomen tell of the horrors faced by women in the Army, and how support in the face of sexual assault and medical discharge has been lacking for far too long
Women who leave the military are to be supported in civilian life by veterans’ charity Help for Heroes through a new ‘Help for Her’ campaign. Examining data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and Government reports, the charity identified far higher rates of sexualised behaviour towards women in the military, as well as higher rates of medical discharge.
And, due to unresolved trauma, stigma, fear, loss of trust and shame, it found many ex-forces women find it hard to identify with the term ‘veteran.’ Julie-Anne Fulford, a Very Seriously Injured (VSI) complex case manager at Help for Heroes, says: “The Help for Her campaign is aimed at every woman who wore the uniform.
“We understand that their military experiences are all different and unique. Giving a voice to women who’ve served, and their loved ones, is important, because for so long, women’s service and its impact have been minimised, overlooked, or treated as an afterthought. Too many women I meet still feel they must justify their pain or explain why they’re ‘entitled’ to support.”
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An alarming 67% of military women – who currently account for 9% of those serving in the Armed forces, with a goal for this to rise to 30% by 2030 – experienced at least one sexualised behaviour in the last 12 months. This compares to 34% of men, according to a government survey.
And 60% of women who served said they did not feel prepared to leave, due to having no new job lined up. Ms Fulford continues: “Giving women a voice is about validating their experiences, challenging outdated narratives about what a veteran looks like, and ensuring no one feels invisible or alone.”
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said its Raising Our Standards programme, introduced in 2024, will tackle unacceptable behaviour and includes a new prevention taskforce, addressing the root causes of violence against women and girls. It sits alongside a new women veterans’ forum and a female veterans’ toolkit to help service providers meet their needs.
The spokesperson continued: “Unacceptable and criminal behaviour has no place in our Armed Forces. We always encourage reporting to the Service or civilian police and are introducing stronger protections and support through new measures in the Armed Forces Bill, a Violence Against Women and Girls Taskforce, and our Victim Witness Care Unit.” Here three ex-servicewomen tell us why Help for Her is vital…
“I was raped by a colleague”
Gemma Morgan, 52, who lives in Herefordshire with her husband and three children, is an Ambassador for Help for Heroes, public speaker and author of Pink Camouflage.
Joining the military in 1996, aged 22, she was awarded the Carmen Sword of Honour by the Princess Royal, for the best young officer in the corps. In 1998 she went to Kosovo as an unarmed observer, during the ethnic cleansing, before the NATO campaign. Returning traumatised, after witnessing atrocities, she says: “I wasn’t sleeping, was having flashbacks, was hyper vigilant.”
When she asked for help, she says: “The Army said my illness was due to my genetic factors, not attributed to my service.” Then, in 1999, she says: “I was raped by a colleague. I was struggling to cope with [undiagnosed] PTSD, self-medicating with alcohol. I let my guard down.” Keeping her ordeal quiet, because of what she describes as “an atmosphere of misogyny’ she says: “I became suicidal. I carried on serving, but struggled daily with my mental health.”
Permanently medically downgraded by the military doctor, and with no chance of promotion, she continues: “I left the military of my own accord, feeling disillusioned and angry. I didn’t want to identify as a veteran and carried a deep shame. In 2006, I was hospitalised and formally diagnosed with PTSD, as a direct result of my military service.”
After therapy, she wrote her memoir, Pink Camouflage – a soldier’s battle within. Of the Help for Her campaign, she says: “It’s so important because it exposes the gender specific challenges that so many ex-servicewomen face. Many women don’t identify as veterans, due to trauma or stigma. As a result, they’re not seeking or receiving the support they need. This campaign highlights some of those issues, like the sexualised experiences and the higher rate of medical discharge for women than men. If we want more women to serve we have to fix the systemic barriers they’re facing both during service and after.”
“Out of the Army I had no idea what to do with my life”
Megan Lloyd, 41, lives in Surrey with her husband Jim, 40, a civil servant and her son, Oscar, 15. She’s an RSPCA animal rescue officer, after being medically retired from the Army in 2023.
Joining the Army at 16, by 24 she’d served in Northern Ireland and completed three tours of Afghanistan. Serving mainly in the Intelligence Corps, she made captain in 2018. Shortly after being commissioned, she was seriously injured in a military training trial – requiring several operations to reconstruct her hip. The last in 2022 damaged the nerves in her right leg, resulting in ‘foot drop.’
She says: “I was medically retired in January 2023. Out of the Army, I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. I feel bereft.” Struggling with walking and driving, her employment prospects were limited. She also had to buy a house to keep her son in school and says the MoD took a “long, long time” to make necessary adaptations.
Unemployed, she says: “I went from being an officer, to what felt like a prisoner in a house that was unsuitable.” In pain and with no resettlement help, she felt very isolated. Luckily, she now has her dream job working with animals, but says: “The new Help for Her campaign from Help for Heroes is vital. I look back to the early 2000s, and how poor behaviour towards female service personnel was normalised. There was a culture of ‘what happens in the mess stays in the mess’.
Describing sexual assault of women as “endemic,” she continues: “Women in the armed forces are crying out for the support that just isn’t there for them right now. Women can fight for their country just as well as men. And that is something that should be celebrated. If this campaign encourages female veterans to come forward to get the help they need, brilliant.”
“I suffered four miscarriages and was expected back after a week”
Gemma Kemble-Stephenson, 43, is a community sports co-ordinator for Help for Heroes. Twice the world’s and three times England’s Strongest Disabled Woman, an Army veteran, she lives in Cardiff with her husband Martin, 43, who works for Natural Resources Wales, and their daughter Esme, 16.
Of Help for Her, she says: “It’s about time. I was medically discharged in 2018, aged 36, and suddenly faced with a completely different life. Joining the Army at 17, she wanted to go into the medical field and did several tours, including multiple deployments to Bosnia and Afghanistan, sustaining various injuries, including to her spine – also developing osteoarthritis in both knees and her back.
By her mid-30s, she kept losing sensation in her feet and legs, which doctors attributed to her pain. Forced to leave her job, she says: “Out of the Army I didn’t know who I was.” Claiming the transition programme is geared towards those who’ve reached their career’s natural end, she adds: “That wasn’t me. I tried to write my CV at 36, sky high on medication for the pain.”
Feeling like a failure, she went from being the main breadwinner to unemployment. She says: “When you serve [in the military] you hypermasculate yourself to fit in.” Proving yourself “better than the lads” is also important, she says, adding: “I had a daughter while serving, and was expected to be a great mother – but to put my Army career first. I suffered four miscarriages and was expected back after a week.”
On leaving, she continues: “There was no group for medically discharged women. Through Help for Heroes I tried new sports and grew in confidence. And I joined an adaptive sport away from the charity to hopefully inspire others. This campaign is massively overdue. It’s the support I wish I’d had.”
*For more information go to helpforheroes.org.uk *With thanks to ITV’s Good Morning Britain (GMB)
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