She hid an eating disorder and lost her Navy career. It saved her life.

Noelle Wiehe, The War Horse

Published

Republish this story

Republish this story

This article first appeared on The War Horse, an award-winning nonprofit news organization educating the public on military service. Subscribe to their newsletter .

Content warning: This story contains depictions of sexual assault.

Leah Stiles kept a dark secret tucked in a pocket of her Navy uniform, something she knew could get her booted from the service.

In the end, it did.

In 2017, her ship, the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush, was at war as part of a strike group that attacked Islamic State forces in Syria and Iraq.

For 15 years in uniform, she’d been at war with an eating disorder — a constant urge to purge her meals. She kept a toothbrush in her pocket to gag.

Stiles knew her con