Earlier this year the US military lifted a ban on women serving in its elite combat forces declaring the days of Rambo are over. But as more women join the armed forces, those who return their tour of duty are facing a different kind of battle. Homelessness and poverty are growing problems in the ranks of female veterans and many are struggling with another issue - sexual assault by their fellow soldiers. Aaron Thomas has more.
REPORTER: Aaron Thomas
The backstage excitement is building at this most American of contests - a pageant. But tonight is no ordinary event.
REPORTER: Is that what you will be wearing under your dress?
FEMALE VETERAN: No, but it's in my heart and spirit.
The contestants are all serving or former members of the US military and they've each raised thousands of dollars for a special cause.
FEMALE VETERAN: I'm a veteran and I hate to see female veterans being on the streets and not being able to be helped.
The very existence of homelessness amongst female veterans is a largely unreported and uncomfortable issue in America. It's estimated there are up to 55,000 homeless female veterans across the country. This event's organiser, Jaspen Boothe, was once one of them.
JASPEN BOOTHE, EVENT ORGANISER: It was a huge slap in the face. In return for the service, I rendered to my country, I was offered poverty in return. However, if I was a male veteran, the possibilities were endless. There were all types of programs and, you know, training, and housing that was available if you were a male veteran and programs that treated you with dignity and respect. Come on in please.
A few years on and Jaspen has managed to create this.
JASPEN BOOTHE: This is the living room of the Alexandria Home.
She started a foundation called Final Salute, which now runs three transitional houses for homeless female veterans and their children. It is a start, but Jaspen is still frustrated by the lack of services for women.
JASPEN BOOTHE: Enough is not being done and I personally don't think you can do enough for a person who has raised their right hand and said, "I will die for anyone in the world" - not just Americans.
The past decade has seen a number of foreign conflicts with female soldiers in the frontlines. As a result more and more are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
TRACY ORONA, VETERAN: In Iraq I was on suicide watch. I had a recurring dream of I'm on tower guard duty and we're getting mortars just thrown at us, left and right. And I off myself and that's it.
Tracy Orona was deployed in Iraq in the troop surge of 2007. She left the army at the end of 2008 to return to normal life but her life didn't return to normal.
TRACY ORONA: I remember coming back from Iraq. I went to Walmart and pretty much freaked out. There were so many people, so many noises, going on and I literally had to run out because I couldn't stand it. I didn't go shopping until 2:00am in the morning.
REPORTER: Because of the crowds?
TRACY ORONA: I couldn't unless I was intoxicated and then it was like okay.
Like many others, Tracy turned to alcohol to numb her anxiety and insomnia, drinking nearly two bottles of tequila a day, and after separating from her husband, she found herself homeless, bouncing between friends and relatives.
TRACY ORONA: This soldier right here, he tried to commit suicide and he was also our best friend so they ended up kicking him out. It's just kind of sad.
Currently Tracy is boarding here with her uncle's ex-wife, but that, too, could prove temporary. Homelessness is an all-too-common consequence of PTSD.
REPORTER: You still have trouble with dreams and sleeping?
TRACY ORONA: Yes, last night I went to sleep at 2: 00am and I sleep with the monkey, I don't know if you see him behind me. That's who I sleep with and I try to think of him as my dream catcher in a way.
The only thing that's gone right for Tracy was meeting another veteran called Joe Leal.
JOE LEAL: I started to notice that there were some alcohol issues. She was screaming for help. So we wanted to get her connected to a service officer to help her with a disability claim, a councillor for drinking and then I became like her sponsor and I'm not even an alcoholic.
Joe Leal has founded an organisation called Vet Hunters that helps homeless veterans get off the streets. Today they're taking supplies to a homeless camp under an LA Freeway.
JOE LEAL: Smells right here - be careful.
Their mantra is to leave everyone better than they found them and in return they get plenty of help in finding troubled veterans.
JOE LEAL: So, any new people here? I see that?
WOMAN: I'm, I don't think you met Joey yet. Joey has gone right now though.
JOE LEAL: And the females over there? Same ones?
For the most part the females that we're running into, they want out. They're like, I can't do this. Not to say because they're females, they're survivors, but they are usually getting - for example Sandra, the one we got from underneath the bridge - she said, "Joe, I can't be here. All these guys either try to rape me, they try to assault me."
This is one of the worst streets right here.
Los Angeles' Skid Row is another place where the Vet Hunters regularly look for former soldiers in need.
VET HUNTER: How you doing brother? You playing Lotto. You got that itch?
MAN: Yeah. I been trying.
VET HUNTER: How you doing on socks today? You okay?
MAN: I need a little bit of socks.
VET HUNTER: A little bit of socks? Here, let me get you a set. Hey the only thing I'm asking right now, is do you know where the female veterans are at around here?
MAN: Female veterans they be like way back that way.
The challenge for the Vet Hunters is that homeless female veterans tend to hide their problems and avoid the streets and shelters.
JOE LEAL: They don't want to go to a shelter. People will fry to bully them, assess them, they're dealing with their own issues, they don't want to be around civilians or crowds. They want to be around other females and in a female veteran program. They need counselling, a majority of them need a support element.
It turns out networking on this army reserve base is one of the best ways to find those in need, but it is still difficult.
JOE LEAL: They're not always going to come out and open up to you. For example, we just had a female soldier that just walked up and she asked us if we could fix her tyre. Now I know that's not related to homelessness, but one thing that took place right in front of me was how hard it was to ask for help with a tyre. Imagine them opening up to try to tell you that they have a homeless situation? That's even harder.
When we go to replace Private Maria Aveles's tyres, it turns out that she, too, is homeless. Bouncing between houses and living out of her car.
PRIVATE MARIA AVELES: After I got out of the military, I tried to stay with my mum for maybe a week. She didn't want me there anymore so I had to leave from there.
Maria's story is the same one I hear over and over here, an unsupportive family and the wrong skills for a civilian job leaving her with nowhere to turn, until Joe swings into action.
JOE LEAL: We know people that could help you out with this and then we will start talking about addressing your homeless issue.
PRIVATE MARIA AVELES: I haven't had anybody help me before like that, it's kind of emotional. It's a big deal, it is. Thank you.
JOE LEAL: That's what why we do what we do. That's why we're out there raking this money, so if you find yourself where you're not eating or whatever the case, I promise you, we will help. You know what's crazy - a soldier to be on food stamps - that's so crazy, you have served your country and you are on food stamps. I don't mean that in a bad way.
PRIVATE MARIA AVELES: It helps.
JOE LEAL: I know it does help, and you know what? I've been there. I'm just saying that I wish we didn't have to live that so with much love and respect.
PRIVATE MARIA AVELES: Thank you.
JOE LEAL: Give me a hug. Don't worry about it man. We got your back.
DR LORI KATZ, PSYCHOLOGIST: The number one reason why female veterans are homeless is because of untreated sexual trauma.
Dr Lori Katz is a psychologist who's been working with female veterans for over 20 years.
FEMALE VETERAN: I'm a Vietnam Air Force veteran.
Today at the Long Beach Veterans Affairs Hospital, Dr Katz has brought together a group of women who have all graduated from her 10-week treatment program called Renew. They all suffer from Military Sexual Trauma - or MST and many had gone for decades without talking about their assaults by fellow soldiers or seeking therapy.
FEMALE VETERAN: Why did I do that? I'm ashamed. Why was I so ashamed? I knew it wasn't my fault. I knew it wasn't my fault. I knew when he beat me, I knew when he shot me in the neck, I knew when he held a gun to my head, I knew when he broke my back.
DR LORI KATZ: Some of the unique factors about MST is it happens in an environment where someone continues to work and reside. The whole environment becomes a fear-inducing environment. They don't know if it is going to happen again or the friends of the perpetrator might gang up on them to get retaliation, if they report it.
FEMALE VETERAN: After all of that, he got his friends. They beat the ever-loving out of me and buried me. They thought they'd killed me.
DR LORI KATZ: Military sexual trauma is extremely prevalent. Many women when they first come are so shut down that they don't even make eye contact. They have difficulty feeling - any feelings. They're very numb.
FEMALE VETERAN: I guess I always had to make sure I was working, so I didn't have to think anything about what may have happened to me in the military. It was taken from me.
FEMALE VETERAN: I'm able to move on. I'm getting my motivation back slowly but surely, and my son is going to be able to have a mother. I'm - in four days I will be a year sober.
WOMAN: That's great.
FEMALE VETERAN: I never thought the day would come.
DR LORI KATZ: This is huge, you have released so much and you are all doing so much better.
FEMALE VETERAN: You showed me that people out there do care. I didn't think nobody cared and that is what touched me the most, that you showed me that I was somebody. That I was somebody - that somebody really cares.
The Ms Veteran America event is about showing that some people do care. While the contestants proudly strut their stuff, the fight for equal recognition as veterans still has a long way to go in America.
JASPEN BOOTHE: They don't equate the service and sacrifice the same as they do to the men. Just say you had a homeless male veteran and you're like, oh you're homeless, America's failed you. You're probably homeless because you went to war and you have PTSD. But when it's a woman it's like, what did she do to get herself in that situation.
Curbing the epidemic of sexual abuse of female soldiers is going to be key to reducing the flood of homeless veterans. It is a problem that last year's pageant winner, Denise Gordon, knows only too well and one she is determined to tackle on behalf of thousands of women like her who have been sexually abused in their country.
DENISE GORDON: ... it's an opportunity to break down barriers and have this conversation about something that needs to be fixed.
JASPEN BOOTHE: She has become the symbol although she's experienced military sexual trauma, she's not presenting herself as a victim, she's presenting herself as a beautiful woman that's had both good and bad experiences in the military, but also saying, hey, there are some women struggling that America has forgotten about.
PRESENTER: The winner of Miss Veteran America 2013 is Elania Gootrome.
Every female veteran I spoke to about this story, was still proudly and deeply committed to the US military. They know that to break the cycle of abuse and abandonment, they've got a fight on their hands.
Reporter/Camera/Editor
AARON THOMAS
Producer
VICTORIA STROBL
Research
TAMAR ANKESHIAN
Original Music Composed by
VICKI HANSEN