RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, on April 15, 2011 a story conducted by the Chicago Tribune stated that women are not permitted to serve in direct ground combat in the U.S. armed forces, so by military reasoning, they weren't likely to suffer from combat-related trauma; and,
WHEREAS, according to the Department of Veteran Affairs, women are covered for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, even though their records do not specify that they had combat assignments; and,
WHEREAS, female soldiers role in the military places them at risk for hostile military or terrorist activity; and,
WHEREAS, more than 230,000 women to serve in Afghanistan or Iraq since 2001, about 15 percent of the U.S. forces to be deployed there. More than 750 have been wounded in action and 137 killed. Thousands more - 20 percent by the military's count —came home with POST - TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD); and,
WHEREAS, the non-infantry roles in which women inevitably wind up - are as exposed to roadside bombs and mortar attacks as their most highly trained brethren; and,
WHEREAS, in a report in December by the Department of Veterans Affairs' Office of Inspector General found that women were denied PTSD benefits at a higher rate than men, due to the fact that the VA typically required a combat badge or ribbon before authorizing compensation, something that women—officially restricted to non-combat jobs -couldn't earn; and,
WHEREAS, in fact women are the fastest growing group of Veterans and while deployed take part in stressful and dangerous combat or combat-support missions. After coming home, many female veterans continue to be bothered by the combat they went through. Research shows that high levels of social support after the war were important for those women Veterans; now therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the Mayor and the members of the Chicago City Council, assembled this eighth day of June 2011, do hereby direct the City Council Committee on Health and Environmental Protection to conduct a hearing on Wo...
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