COLUMBIA — When Army veteran Carol Thompson left the service, she realized she still had a huge battle to fight, one that's lifelong: her mental health.

Thompson volunteered with the Veterans Mental Health Council at the 11th annual Out of the Darkness Walk earlier this month , and she has been outspoken about her mental health journey.

After years of childhood abuse, she found her way to the military as a safe haven from what she had endured. When she turned 17, she enlisted and was placed as heavy equipment mechanic. She was the first woman to be deployed at her station and was the only woman there for months.

"It was nothing to be sexually abused, when you're a mechanic and you're leaning over the engine, you kind of have your bum exposed, so it was nothing for the guys to walk by

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