**POTENTIAL TRIGGER WARNING: Contains mature content. Vague descriptions of SA, r-pe, and coercion.**

What do grenades have to do with a trauma journey?

In 1989, I received my congressional nomination for the prestigious US Military Academy at West Point, and though I believe the culture has changed in the decades since I attended, my story focuses on what it used to be back then and how the system solidified parts of the Plastic Princess I became.

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“The women in the Class of 1980—the first to include female cadets—were able to say unequivocally they were treated differently because of their sex. They spoke of the @ssaults and h@rassment they faced both at the academy and once they entered the Army.

“Brig. Gen. Cindy Jebb, who now serves as the Dean of the Academic Board at West Point, arrived two years later as a member of the Class of 1982. Looking back at her cadet career she said, ‘I think it’s safe to say we were probably all se#ually harassed.’” (https://www.army.mil/article/236362/the_army_is_changing_current_female_cadets_will_enter_the_army_with_more_career_options_than_ever)

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