Draft for Public Comment: 2012 Report Strategies for Serving Our Women Veterans.

摘要

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is committed to transformation, with the aim of becoming an increasingly Veteran-centric, results-oriented, and forward-looking organization. In line with this commitment, Secretary Shinseki called for the formation of a Women Veterans Task Force (WVTF) in July 2011, to be charged with developing a comprehensive VA action plan for resolving gaps in how our organization serves women Veterans. As an interim deliverable, the WVTF developed this draft strategy report to solicit stakeholder feedback on its initial findings and recommendations. Based on public comments to this draft, the WVTF will finalize its recommendations and develop a detailed action plan for implementation. The urgency of this effort is acute, given the rapid growth of the women Veteran population. Consider these facts, which Secretary Shinseki cited in announcing the formation of the WVTF: Fully 14 percent of active duty and 18 percent of National Guard and Reserves forces are now women. In contrast, the percentage of women in uniform was just 2 percent in 1950. The nature of warfare places women in hostile battle space in ever-increasing numbers, with ever-increasing opportunity for direct-fire combat with armed enemies. Women are sustaining injuries similar to their male counterparts, both in severity and complexity. Women are now the fastest growing cohort within the Veteran community. In 2011, about 1.8 million or 8 percent of the 22.2 million Veterans were women. The male Veteran population is projected to decrease from 20.2 million men in 2010 to 16.7 million by 2020. In contrast, the number of women Veterans will increase from 1.8 million in 2011 to 2 million in 2020, at which time women will make up 10.7 percent of the total Veteran population. The population of women Veterans has grown steadily over the last decade because of the increasing number and proportion of women entering and leaving the military, the more favorable survival rate of women compared to men at any given age, and the younger age distribution of women Veterans compared to male Veterans. In 2010, the estimated median age of female Veterans was 48, compared to 62 for male Veterans.