About | Healing Women Veterans

A note before you read: my story includes experiences of assault, retaliation, and a mention of suicidal thoughts. Please take care of yourself and skip ahead to "Why I Built This" if today isn't the day.

About the Founder

"I spent nearly 30 years not knowing I had rights. This site exists so you don't have to."

My name is Abigail Thorne. I am an Air Force Veteran, a Military Sexual Trauma survivor, and the advocate I desperately needed a very long time ago.

I write under a pen name and I stay faceless — not because I am ashamed of my story, but because protecting myself is something I had to learn to do. I hope it reminds you: you can share your truth and guard yourself at the same time.

Abigail Thorne

Founder, Healing Women Veterans

Air Force Veteran | MST Survivor

Peer Support Advocate

What Happened To Me

I was 18 years old when I was assaulted by my recruiter — before I ever completed basic training, while I was still in the Delayed Entry Program. I didn't report it. I was 18, I was frightened and didn't want to disappoint anyone...especially my Veteran father. I didn't yet understand that what happened to me had a name or that it was a crime. I remained silent as my recruiter was the gatekeeper to my military career and an opportunity I was so excited for.

While at my first duty station, I was sexually harassed by my NCOIC. This time, I reported it. I did exactly what I was supposed to do.

What followed was not justice.

My abuser was protected and I was retaliated against. The retaliation was so systematic and thorough that I understand now it was designed to make me disappear. I was repeatedly disciplined for minor infractions. I was ordered to mental health. I was ordered to stay away from the people who supported me. I was threatened with correctional custody. I was labeled a troublemaker, a problem, and a pathological liar. I was pushed to suicidal ideation and hospitalized.

I was separated from the United States Air Force on a General Discharge. The reason they gave on my DD214 - Pattern of Minor Misconduct. And as I walked out the door, I was told plainly, and incorrectly, that I was not entitled to any VA benefits, and I was told to sign a piece of paper stating I understood I had none.

"I believed I had no rights for almost thirty years. Not because it was true — but because someone in a uniform told me so, and I was too young and too broken to know the difference."

If you are in crisis, you don't have to face it alone!

Veterans Crisis Line 📞 Dial 988, then press 1 💬 Chat online 📱 Text 838255

The Conversation That Changed Everything

It wasn't a therapist or a government program that finally told me the truth. It was my father — a Marine Veteran — in an ordinary conversation, who looked at me and said, "You are entitled to benefits. Please reach out to the VA and seek help."

I reported what happened to the VA. They pointed me in the right direction and put me in touch with a VA MST Coordinator. I ripped my buried wounds wide open and started therapy. I eventually found the courage to file my MST VA claim. I gathered my evidence, wrote my statement, and submitted my claim. And I was granted a rating for PTSD related to Military Sexual Trauma.

70%

VA Disability Rating — PTSD related to MST

Granted nearly 30 years after leaving service. It didn't erase the years. But it told me, officially and in writing, that what happened to me was real. This is what the process looked like for me; every claim and outcome is different

That rating didn't give me back thirty years. But it cracked something open in me that I haven't been able to close since. Because I knew — with absolute certainty — that I was not the only one.

Why I Built This

Someone should have built this for me. They didn't. So I built it for you.

There are women veterans right now carrying wounds from service that have never been named, never been validated, and never been compensated. Women who were told to be quiet. Women who were pushed out. Women who believe — the way I once believed — that they don't deserve help.

I built Healing Women Veterans because your path through this should be shorter, less lonely, and less brutal than mine was.

I am not a licensed therapist. I am not a VA attorney. What I am is a peer — a woman who survived what you survived, who navigated the VA system from the inside, and who wants to hand you the map I had to draw myself.

I stay faceless and write under a pen name for my own safety and privacy. That is a decision I made deliberately and without apology. You can share your story and guard yourself at the same time. You are allowed to take up space on your own terms.

You don't have to find your way the way I did — alone, and decades too late.

If any part of my story is also yours, start with the one thing I wish someone had handed me at the beginning: a plain-language guide to where to even begin.

And if you're not ready for any of that yet, that's okay too. You can just look around. You belong here either way.

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