WASHINGTON -- When Debra Filter enlisted in the Army in 1978 as a 22-year-old high school graduate, she saw it as a way to escape childhood abuse, get an education, and see the world.

She didn't get what she signed up for.

On the night of her graduation from basic training, Filter said several fellow soldiers raped her. The next day, her drill sergeant told her, in front of the rest of her platoon, that she ought to be ashamed of herself.

It was like pouring salt on an open wound--Filter had suffered years of sexual and physical abuse during her childhood. Distraught, she said she did not report the rape; she went AWOL for two days.

She was discharged from the Army shortly thereafter with an honorable discharge, according to her military records.

"I joined the military to escape abuse in civilian life," said Filter, 49.   "But I found it again in the military."

Filter bounced around over the next two decades, plagued with nightmares, panic attacks and bouts of depression. Unable to hold down a job, she ended up homeless, living between women's shelters and her cousin's couch before finding out about U.S. Vets, a temporary housing and employment assistance center in Las Vegas, NV.

She is one of roughly 7,000 homeless female veterans living in the United States today, according to Department of Veterans Affairs statistics--a number that VA officials expects to rise as more women return home from Iraq and Afghanistan, where women are on the front lines as never before in our nation's history.

Combat-related stress is a risk factor for homelessness, according to Peter Dougherty, who is the director of homeless veterans programs at the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

"We're finding among younger women, that they play a much more mission-critical role…in today's military, women are much more likely to be at or near the front of a military operation," he said. 

Sexual trauma, whether experienced in the military or in civilian life, is another risk factor for homelessness, according to Dougherty. 

This complicates matters for those who provide services to homeless veterans.  About 75 percent of female veterans report being victims of sexual abuse, suffered either in the military or in civilian life.

In an ideal situation, women veterans would be housed separately from men and receive separate counseling and other services. 

"The great struggle is you have this burgeoning trend of female homeless veterans in a traditionally male homeless provider network," said Scott Rose, director of Way Station Inc., a Frederick, MD-based homeless shelter that serves women veterans. He said that women veterans represent 11 percent of the newly homeless in the veteran population.

"Many of these women are suffering from trauma--the last thing they need is to be in a male environment."

And it's difficult for providers to develop specialized programs for women veterans, as most providers are strapped for resources already.

According to Dougherty, out of 500 Veterans' Affairs-run homeless shelters, 300 can accept women, and none can accept women who also have children. Only 15 have programs that address women veterans specifically, or have separate living arrangements from men. 

Debra Filter tried for years to get into post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) peer support group for women-only through the Veterans Affairs mental health center in Las Vegas, in addition to the counseling she receives about once a month.

Frustrated, she decided to fill the gap by starting her own group in October 2006 with other female veterans living at U.S. Vets. 

Called “United Women Warriors,” the group meets once a week. All are women veterans who are  homeless, and many say they suffered sexual abuse while serving in the military or in civilian life, eventually leading to a diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder.   Many attempted to relieve their anguish with drugs or alcohol.

"They're getting flashbacks, nightmares, panic attacks and they have no one to look at and say, 'Is this normal,'" said Filter. "They have a therapist [at the VA] they see once a month."

Cynthia Scott, a former Army photographer who retired from the military in 1986, was one of the group's founding members.  Scott was part of military history--she was a member of one of the first female platoons to be part of a male company when she did basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, in 1977. 

"For the most part it was great, she said.  "You had your bad moments.  It was still one percent of women and a large percentage of men.  You were told, 'you can't do this, you cant do that,' or 'Women can't go to combat because they'd be afraid.'"

Scott's voice takes on a determined, focused tone.

"Give me a weapon," she said. "I'd be glad to shoot--you not only have to worry about your enemy, you have to worry about your back."

The "back" Scott referred to was her fellow soldiers. Several years into her military career, she was a victim of military sexual trauma while stationed at Fort Ord, in California.

Scott reported the rape, but said the Army never found the perpetrator.  She then deployed to Germany, where a short-lived support group led by an Army doctor temporarily helped.  Then that doctor left and the group disbanded.  

"Nobody else wanted [the support group.] He did that on his own initiative," she said.   "It helped, and then it dropped. I knew exactly where to go-- the local bar."

Scott said she was drinking up to a gallon of vodka every three days, was out of work and was close to ending up on the street in when she heard about U.S. Vets. 

"Looking back, she said, "I had PTSD, but didn’t understand what was going on."

Now, through United Women Warriors, she hopes to get the word out to other homeless women veterans about the resources available to them through the VA and other non-profits.  

"There are women that need to go [to counseling], and some women want to go to PTSD treatment and are refused," she said.  "It's confusing - if you don’t know something, you're not going to find out about it. That's one of the things we hope we can do here.  Besides housing, there is medical and psychiatric treatment available."

"We are constantly trying to let women vets know we are here for them in every way," said Peter Dougherty at Veterans Affairs. 

He pointed out that while the numbers are too small for a targeted outreach campaign directed at women veterans to "make much sense," there are homeless coordinators at all veterans affairs centers that should help direct women veterans to available resources. 

And Dougherty said his department has set aside special grants for shelters outside the VA system to develop special housing and programs for homeless women veterans.

Rose recently applied for one of those new grants to build a transitional housing center in Maryland that would have space set aside specifically for women veterans and even their children.  The new housing would also offer comprehensive PTSD and military sexual trauma treatment, in addition to employment counseling.

Rose said he believes the VA is trying their best to meet female veterans' needs.

"I've found them to be committed.  There's no lack of expertise, no lack of faith, no waste [at the VA]," he said. "They just need more resources."

Meanwhile, Filter isn't waiting for new services for female veterans to arrive in Las Vegas.  She's doing it herself. 

In addition to the weekly support groups that Filter runs for homeless women veterans, she is trying to do community outreach. 

Filter said United Women Warriors recently attended a veteran's event. She introduced herself and her group to another veterans organization, and the person there asked if she could send referrals Filter's way. 

And soon, she started getting phone calls from other homeless women veterans, looking for help.

For Filter, it was a big moment - they were no longer a group of homeless female veterans, meeting once a week to help each other through their shared troubles.

They were an organization. 

"We want to make sure female vets are getting what they need, that they aren’t slipping through the system," said Filter.

Even so, Filter still wonders sometimes if she has a right to try and help. 

"I'm embarrassed about my experience in the military," she said.  "I wonder sometimes, if I have a right to be doing all this, or to call myself a veteran, but people tell me that [length of service] doesn't matter."

"What matters is what I'm doing now."

"If [homeless] men aren’t getting what they need," she asks,  "what do you think is happening to women?"