美国国家公共电台 NPR Battling Depression And Suicide Among Female Veterans

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: 

Increasingly, the VA and other organizations are recognizing that women leaving military service have unique needs which aren't being met. Here's one telling statistic¹. Female veterans are nearly 2 1/2 times more likely than civilian² women to take their own lives. The VA has recently found that a high number of those suicides come in the first few months after leaving the military. Jay Price of member station WUNC tells us the story of a Marine³ veteran who struggled during that critical period. He begins with her family in rural Maryland.

JAY PRICE, BYLINE⁴: Deana Martorella Orellana was that girl - the junior high school soccer whiz who made the boys on the field seem frozen in place, so athletic⁵ that watching one of her games then or later in high school or college could make you just stop and savor⁶ the sheer wonder of human potential. Her mother, Laurel Martorella, says Deana was also beautiful and smart.

LAUREL MARTORELLA: Really smart kid and excelled at anything she tried.

PRICE: And eventually she tried the Marines. In 2010, Deana deployed⁷ to combat-torn Helmand Province in Afghanistan. There, she was in one of the small female teams attached to male infantry⁸ units to work with the Afghan women and children they encountered. But when Deana came back, something had changed. Deana's sister Robin⁹...

ROBIN JEWELL: But she said that she could everything except for the kids, and I don't know what that means.

PRICE: Robin says whatever the problem was had to do with something Deana saw or experienced involving Afghan children, but Deana never opened up.

ELLEN HARING: The experiences you have on active duty carry with you, and then they manifest as mental wellness challenges as veterans.

PRICE: Retired¹⁰ Army Colonel Ellen Haring is director of research at the Service Women's Action Network, or SWAN. She's studied the effects of serving in the tiny women's teams in combat zones like Deana did. She says the role creates stresses beyond the obvious ones of combat. Women are pulled from the close support networks of their own units, sometimes see heavy fighting and then are sent back.

HARING: So they return to units that didn't know where they'd been. They couldn't kind of hash through traumatic events that they'd been through together because they didn't have anybody else there who'd been through it.

PRICE: Two years after Deana returned from Afghanistan, she left the Marines but stayed close to Camp Lejeune, tending bar and working as a personal trainer. She was planning to start college, but problems piled up. She'd been living with a boyfriend but moved out. She was charged with driving drunk, then charged again. Deana was reaching a tipping point.

JEWELL: Deana was very much a perfectionist, and I think that in her eyes, her life was just failing now.

PRICE: On March 4, 2016, just months after leaving the Marines, Deana went to the VA for help. Her mother says VA officials told her later that Deana agreed to counseling. Then Deana asked a friend to drop her at the house where she'd lived with her boyfriend who wasn't home. She went in the bedroom and retrieved¹¹ a .45-caliber handgun he kept near the bed. Deana sat on the floor and leaned against a wall. That's how she was found.

MARTORELLA: She wrote a note.

JEWELL: But not a real note.

MARTORELLA: You know, I'm sorry. Just call 911. Take care of the dogs. Don't come in the bedroom.

PRICE: The medical examiner's report says Deana was wearing a fitness band and a plastic bracelet¹². In her pocket was a sheaf of handwritten inspirational quotes - words, as they say, to live by. A VA official later told her family that Deana had PTSD related to combat, which she had never even told them she'd experienced. Deana's family doesn't blame the VA or the military. The Department of Defense¹³ has a transition program for outgoing service members, but Haring says it needs to be better tailored for women.

HARING: DOD has gotten much better. I went through the TAP program - Transition Assistance Program. It's pretty robust¹⁴, relatively¹⁵ speaking, to what has been in the past. But then once you're out, it's like, OK, you're out.

PRICE: In Deana's hometown in western Pennsylvania, her family has started a small foundation in her name. It gives scholarships to high-achieving girls and raises awareness¹⁶ about military suicide, preserving her memory in the classrooms where she did so well and on all of those soccer fields were Deana was so alive. For NPR News, I'm Jay Price in Arnold, Md.

CORNISH: Tomorrow, Jay will report on how female vets¹⁷ are setting up their own support systems.

1 statistic   

n.统计量；adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• Official statistics show real wages declining by 24%.官方统计数字表明实际工资下降了24%。
• There are no reliable statistics for the number of deaths in the battle.关于阵亡人数没有可靠的统计数字。

2 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

3 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

6 savor   

vt.品尝，欣赏；n.味道，风味；情趣，趣味

参考例句：

• The soup has a savor of onion.这汤有洋葱味。
• His humorous remarks added a savor to our conversation.他幽默的话语给谈话增添了风趣。

7 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

8 infantry   

n.[总称]步兵(部队)

参考例句：

• The infantry were equipped with flame throwers.步兵都装备有喷火器。
• We have less infantry than the enemy.我们的步兵比敌人少。

9 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

10 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

11 retrieved   

v.取回( retrieve的过去式和过去分词 )；恢复；寻回；检索（储存的信息）

参考例句：

• Yesterday I retrieved the bag I left in the train. 昨天我取回了遗留在火车上的包。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He reached over and retrieved his jacket from the back seat. 他伸手从后座上取回了自己的夹克。 来自辞典例句

12 bracelet   

n.手镯，臂镯

参考例句：

• The jeweler charges lots of money to set diamonds in a bracelet.珠宝匠要很多钱才肯把钻石镶在手镯上。
• She left her gold bracelet as a pledge.她留下她的金手镯作抵押品。

13 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

14 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

15 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

16 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

17 vets   

abbr.veterans （复数）老手，退伍军人；veterinaries （复数）兽医n.兽医( vet的名词复数 )；老兵；退伍军人；兽医诊所v.审查（某人过去的记录、资格等）( vet的第三人称单数 )；调查；检查；诊疗

参考例句：

• I helped train many young vets and veterinary nurses too. 我还帮助培训了许多年青的兽医和护士。 来自互联网
• In fact, we've expanded mental health counseling and services for our vets. 实际上，我们已经扩大了退伍军人的心理健康咨询和服务。 来自互联网