Outreach to Women Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan: A VA and National Guard Collaboration

Women in the military have served in the Iraq War (Operation Iraqi Freedom [OIF]) and are serving in the Afghanistan war (Operation Enduring Freedom [OEF]), and the Iraq transition to stability operations (Operation New Dawn [OND]) in numbers that are unprecedented in U.S. history. In Wisconsin, the 2009 mobilization of the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the Wisconsin Army National Guard resulted in the state’s largest deployment since World War II. A total of 3,218 soldiers representing units from 36 Wisconsin communities were deployed to Iraq. Of these troops, 337 were women. On their return in 2010, all of these troops faced readjustment issues.