23. From Defender to Offender

For the women in Linda Cooper’s chapter, ‘From Defender to Offender: British Female Ex-Military Re-joining Civilian Society’ (Ch23), the educational element was a practical one; learning to fight alongside their male compatriots and to live a communal life, held together by camaraderie and tension. The two women interviewed as part of a larger support project come from different generations, but both found adjustment to civilian life very difficult on leaving the Armed Forces and sank into (minor) criminal activities linked to mental health problems, and one case a level of alcohol dependence. Their experiences demonstrate how a radical change of lifestyle can leave people bewildered and with inadequate coping strategies, issues the larger project will seek to address. As women in, and leaving, the British military they represent a group that is traditionally marginalized and still a minority.