But with gain comes loss. Even though women are serving alongside their male peers, the old ideas and concepts of who can be a warrior still hold. These preconceptions lead both the military and civilians to treat these brave women differently than their male counterparts, despite the fact that both sexes are experiencing the same events and participating equally in the field.

The NY Times had a thoughtful article about women and their roles in the military. It also faces the ever present problem of PTSD in our soldiers, and the unique problems that arise when the condition arises in female soldiers. Overall, men and women experience PTSD almost exactly the same, but the way society treats the sufferer varies drastically between the sexes.

Perhaps it is time to put aside these archaic preconceptions and make sure that we treat our returning soldiers with respect and care – all of out soldiers, both men and women.

…In Iraq and Afghanistan, the military has quietly sidestepped regulations that bar women from jobs in ground combat. With commanders needing resources in wars without front lines, women have found themselves fighting on dusty roads and darkened outposts in ways that were never imagined by their parents or publicly authorized by Congress. And they have distinguished themselves in the field.

Psychologically, it seems, they are emerging as equals. Officials with the Department of Defense said that initial studies of male and female veterans with similar time outside the relative security of bases in Iraq showed that mental health issues arose in roughly the same proportion for members of each sex, though research continues.

“Female soldiers are actually handling and dealing with the stress of combat as well as male soldiers are,” said Col. Carl Castro, director of the Military Operational Research Program at the Department of Defense. “When I look at the data, I see nothing to counter that point.”

And yet, experts and veterans say, the circumstances of military life and the way women are received when they return home have created differences in how they cope. A man, for instance, may come home and drink to oblivion with his war buddies while a woman — often after having been the only woman in her unit — is more likely to suffer alone.

The army’s most decorated serving war hero today claimed the government was failing to care for soldiers with mental trauma caused by combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for saving the lives of comrades during two ambushes in Iraq, said it was “disgraceful” that some veterans were not getting the treatment they needed.

He told the Independent that the government had not done enough to help soldiers suffering from severe combat stress, depression and mental breakdowns.

Beharry said military charities were being used to patch up holes in soldiers’ care.

“These are people who have served this country. Why can’t they get treatment? I don’t think the government is doing enough for soldiers,” he said.

Read the rest of the article.