They joined for adventure and opportunity, and to escape what they feared could be a dead-end life.
They signed up with the military because times were changing and women were being encouraged to serve.
They were promised a college education and a career path.
After a while -- after failed relationships, the birth of children, personal tragedy and substance abuse -- armed forces veterans Sandra Perkins and Catherine Premo found it increasingly difficult to find a job
Then they had no roof over their heads.
Now they are living at Crisis Ministries, Charleston's homeless shelter.
Perkins, 54, and Premo, 56, are among a growing number of homeless female veterans turning up at shelters and VA hospitals around the country, and they present specific challenges to service providers.
Women account for 3 percent to 4 percent of the national population of homeless vets, which can number about 200,000 on any given night, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless.
The Department of Veterans Affairs also said it expects the number of homeless female veterans to rise dramatically in years to come.
Homelessness tends to afflict veterans some years after they have left the military, according to Crisis
Ministries and VA officials. Women today make up 14.5 percent of active-duty military personnel and nearly 20 percent of the Reserve and National Guard, according to the Department of Defense.
Though a few women, using male pseudonyms, participated in the Revolutionary and Civil wars, it wasn't until the 20th century that women began to play a more critical -- and official -- role in the military.
BY ADAM PARKER
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/aug/08/homeless-female-vets-on-rise/
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