Extensive research exists on how combat affects male veterans; however, little research has focused on how war affects African-American female veterans. In the last decade, a significant number of women have been exposed to combat. The problems experienced by African-American women combat veterans were the focus of this study. The purpose of this study was to explore the stress-related effects and how being African-American and female influenced post-combat experiences. Gender, social, and psychological stress and coping theories provided the basis for this examination. The research question addressed the recall, construction, and articulation of combat-related stressors and responses to the different effects of combat after deployment for the African-American women. A phenomenological research design was used with a purposeful sample of 15 African-Americans and 15 European-American female Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom veterans who served as a comparison group. Data were collected with a four-question email interview. Using NVivo-9 for data analysis, the interview transcripts were categorized, coded, and clustered into common themes. Four themes emerged from the African-American responses: combat-related stress, gender differences, dynamics of leadership, and reintegration. In comparison, four themes emerged from the European-American responses: sexual trauma, gender differences, combat stress, and reintegration. Stress was the most coded node for African-American and European-American females. Eleven (73%) African-American and 13 (87%) European-American women reported that they had experienced stress related to combat. The results of this study contribute to positive social change by increasing awareness and education of combat effects on African-American women and providing a basis for determining their treatment needs.