Author Honey Badger

I am an independent woman. I manage my own medications. I take myself to my own medical appointments. I live with chronic pain and autoimmune disease — and I take responsibility for myself every day. I do not need grown men outsourcing adulthood to women and calling it “care.”

It can take years for a woman veteran to reclaim even a fragment of pride after military sexual trauma and institutional betrayal. Some send their medals away. Some stop identifying as veterans. Some never speak of their service again. When a dismissive comment destroys what little pride remains, it is not because that pride was weak. It is because it was never protected.