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Virginia Novak
Mrs. DeBock
English IV Honors
13 March 2015

Research Question: Are Veteran Affair centers changing their programs to support its victims
and how are victims expressing themselves?
Working Thesis Statement: Veteran Affairs centers are improving and victims are speaking out
over social media to share their stories.
Refined Thesis Statement: Veteran Affair centers are changing their programs to support their
victims more and are branching out over social media to get survivors to share their stories with
the world.
Annotated Bibliography
Altman, Howard. "Florida VA Program Tackles Military Sex Cases." Stars and Stripes. US
Military, 12 Jan. 2013. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.
Sexual assaults in the military is an important issue that Florida Veteran Affairs
inspectors are finally taking control over. Thanks to the inspectors finally realizing that
the programs that the VA centers have been running have not been helping the victims the
inspectors changed the guidelines. Ever since the guidelines have changed the Bay Pines
program it has treated about one thousand victims and has a strong reputation of helping
its victims. The program gives male victims to share their stories with woman victims to

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make them more comfortable. This article would be beneficial because of the new
guidelines and programs that have been changed to help the victims more.

"Military Sexual Assault." US Department of Veterans Affairs. United States Military, n.d. Web.
6 Mar. 2015.
Being a solider is a tough job especially coming back from war to live a normal
lifestyle. Every veteran has the opportunity to express their feelings and memories
through a VA center. Most soldiers suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Many soldiers that have experienced sexual assault also suffer from military stress trauma
(MST). Both of these disorders combined are difficult to deal with but every solider has
the chance to go to meetings and express themselves to others but not every solider takes
the opportunity, instead they suffer in silence and eventually end up committing suicide.
This article is helpful because it shows an example of how VA centers are changing for
the better.
Wax-Thibodeaux, Emily. "VA Reaches out to Sexual Trauma Survivors via Facebook." Most
Read. United States Military, 16 Feb. 2015. Web. 09 Mar. 2015.
Victims are finding new ways of sharing their story besides attending VA center
meetings. Facebook is uniting victims of sexual assault. The stories that are shared are
intense but the support is always there. The Facebook page was actually the VAs idea.
Their plan was to show victims that they are not alone. The more victims that share the
stories the more help there will be for them. The sexual trauma Facebook also includes
VA center meetings which keeps the victims updated on current meetings. This article is

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beneficial because it shows that VA centers are changing to help support the victims of
sexual assault. Veterans are actually getting the compensation they deserve. This article
would be beneficial because it shows how the VA centers are changing and using social
media to reach out victims.