Supply Crate – Kathryn

Katie requested a Supply Crate to help her cope with her mental health after having to sell her old console to make ends meet.

My name is Katie, I felt compelled my senior year to serve my country and join the army. During basic training I fell in love with the military and wanted to stay in for life. After AIT, I went to Korea for my first duty station. I was stationed at Camp Humphreys during the time North Korea was threatening to bomb South Korea. To make things worse on top of all the training my roommate was sexually assaulted. The man who sexually assaulted her got off with a slap on the wrist and don't sleep with a girl if she's been drinking while my roommate was sent to AA because she had been drinking when he raped her. Fast forward a couple months when I was sober and sexually assaulted by a marine who was in Korea for training. I of course did not report it for fear of repercussions like my roommate had. I had seen the chain of command fail multiple individuals who were sexually abused by men of power. For weeks following my assault the man who assaulted me stalked me. I tried to tell my chain of command I was being stalked but was dismissed and told it was a small base. I finally went to a female NCO who listened to me about being stalked. I explained this had happened off post as well as on. She was the only one to not dismiss this and talked to his chain of command. After that I was finally free of the stalking. Unfortunately, the memories I will never be free from. I ended up only staying in 4 years because of all the flaws I had seen and the abuse of power. To this day I am in therapy and only feel like I have survived by a thread. My therapy is never consistent with the VA and I'm never able to fully open up about my trauma. I wish I had a positive story to share. I have met some wonderful people in the military but my trauma has outweighed the positive memories. I have a son and for years my PTSD went untreated and he had to feel the effects of my trauma. Over the years the way we have bonded is through video games. We have repaired only a fraction of the damage from my trauma by paying video games together. Recently, I lost my job due to medical issues caused by my PTSD meds. I had to sell our gaming console in order to pay a bill. I would love to be able to immerse myself in a VR game. But I don't know when I will be able to afford one for my son and I. I appreciate your time and consideration. Thank you

It's truly terrible how much our Military fails our troops when it comes to sexual trauma. Both men and women in the Military experience sexual assault unfortunately. Having been there ourselves, many of us have heard stories of Active servicemembers going through horrendous experiences not only during the point of trauma, but after when they should be receiving the best of care and protection.

While a gaming system doesn't solve everything, we hope that it can at least ease the ache by giving people an escape and an outlet, particularly Veterans like Kathryn.

Thank you

You are very welcome, Katie, and we hope you have a happier future.

Mandles_ sponsored Katie's Supply Crate. Mandles_ is a Vtuber who plays various games from Infinity Nikki, Pokémon, Resident Evil 2 and Dark Souls. What a combo. Check out Mandles_ on Twitch.

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