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| The military's sexual assault response is a catastrophic blight on our service | The military's sexual assault response is a catastrophic blight on our service |
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| Military sexual trauma has become a blood sport of the military – and the chiefs sit by and watch as the men and women who serve get hunted down, sexually assaulted by leadership, then subjected to a system which is continually biased against the victim. Meanwhile, sexual predators are afforded the opportunity to pursue the continuation of their criminal behavior – both inside the military and in our civilian communities. | |
| These predators should be using their rank and status to lead their troops and complete their missions, but instead their honors are used as a weapon over subordinates and for "favors" up to and including sexual quid pro quo. Over the last year, we've seen senior military leaders face charge after charge of conduct unbecoming of a sexual nature. If not for the Feres doctrine, which prevents military sexual assault victims from suing the military in civilian courts, the Pentagon would practically go bankrupt from all the sexual assault and sexual harassment claims. | These predators should be using their rank and status to lead their troops and complete their missions, but instead their honors are used as a weapon over subordinates and for "favors" up to and including sexual quid pro quo. Over the last year, we've seen senior military leaders face charge after charge of conduct unbecoming of a sexual nature. If not for the Feres doctrine, which prevents military sexual assault victims from suing the military in civilian courts, the Pentagon would practically go bankrupt from all the sexual assault and sexual harassment claims. |
| Service members who are subjected to military sexual trauma (MST) have no recourse in civilian courts, and, since the failure of the Senate to pass Sen Kirsten Gillibrand's Military Justice Improvement Act in its last session, victims have the same access to justice that they have always had: little or none. | Service members who are subjected to military sexual trauma (MST) have no recourse in civilian courts, and, since the failure of the Senate to pass Sen Kirsten Gillibrand's Military Justice Improvement Act in its last session, victims have the same access to justice that they have always had: little or none. |
| Just ask the women who reported a serial predator to Major General Michael T Harrison, the former head of US Forces in Japan, who did nothing to help (and at least some to hurt) the victims of a serial sexual predator under his command. The general may have been drummed out of the military – honorably, of course – but the victims whose stories he ignored will have to live with the consequences for their assault and the compounded problem of being ignored. | Just ask the women who reported a serial predator to Major General Michael T Harrison, the former head of US Forces in Japan, who did nothing to help (and at least some to hurt) the victims of a serial sexual predator under his command. The general may have been drummed out of the military – honorably, of course – but the victims whose stories he ignored will have to live with the consequences for their assault and the compounded problem of being ignored. |
| I have a little experience with that. Last year, I came forward and presented myself as a survivor of military sexual trauma to the US Senate – and the world – because I know that taking the authority to investigate and prosecute sexual assault cases out of the chain of command is an important first step to correcting this blight in our military system. As an advocate and survivor, I wanted to show how my experiences more than 20 years ago before the military's supposed reforms were so similar to other MST survivors of recent years. | I have a little experience with that. Last year, I came forward and presented myself as a survivor of military sexual trauma to the US Senate – and the world – because I know that taking the authority to investigate and prosecute sexual assault cases out of the chain of command is an important first step to correcting this blight in our military system. As an advocate and survivor, I wanted to show how my experiences more than 20 years ago before the military's supposed reforms were so similar to other MST survivors of recent years. |
| In secret, I faced my physical injuries and psychological turmoil, which, as is common for many military sexual trauma survivors, were more than my psyche could take. I was driven to homelessness and to suicidal ideation, both problems which are widespread among former military members and sexual assault survivors. The 22 veterans each day who commit suicide are not just post-9/11 combat veterans: there are many of us in those numbers who were victims of sexual assault during our time in the military. | In secret, I faced my physical injuries and psychological turmoil, which, as is common for many military sexual trauma survivors, were more than my psyche could take. I was driven to homelessness and to suicidal ideation, both problems which are widespread among former military members and sexual assault survivors. The 22 veterans each day who commit suicide are not just post-9/11 combat veterans: there are many of us in those numbers who were victims of sexual assault during our time in the military. |
| When I was a homeless single mom, I didn't really understand that my veteran status and military sexual trauma experiences had a lot to do with the problems I faced, and I didn't bring up my military or survivor status on the rare occasions that I did seek help. I felt my experiences and feelings were less important than those of someone who went into combat and I worried that I would be ridiculed. For a number of years, I was right. | When I was a homeless single mom, I didn't really understand that my veteran status and military sexual trauma experiences had a lot to do with the problems I faced, and I didn't bring up my military or survivor status on the rare occasions that I did seek help. I felt my experiences and feelings were less important than those of someone who went into combat and I worried that I would be ridiculed. For a number of years, I was right. |
| Why are veterans who have been injured by sexual assault in the military made to feel ashamed to apply for medical benefits? And why are they treated like that when high ranking officials can commit these crimes – and when those at the top of the chain of command are allowed to leave the military without punishment, but with their rank and pension in tow? Asking for criminal penalties when the criminals happen to wear a military uniform is a not a heavy-handed civilian intrusion into the military's business – it is the right approach. | Why are veterans who have been injured by sexual assault in the military made to feel ashamed to apply for medical benefits? And why are they treated like that when high ranking officials can commit these crimes – and when those at the top of the chain of command are allowed to leave the military without punishment, but with their rank and pension in tow? Asking for criminal penalties when the criminals happen to wear a military uniform is a not a heavy-handed civilian intrusion into the military's business – it is the right approach. |
| Sexual assault in the military is helping to create a catastrophic blight to American public health, communities and even the economy, both in terms of veteran reintegration and military family population. Worse, most citizens are unaware of the danger they or their families face from even the rare sexual predators who face justice, because the military has allowed sexual predators to leave the military with honorable discharges and without being listed on the national sex offenders registry. | Sexual assault in the military is helping to create a catastrophic blight to American public health, communities and even the economy, both in terms of veteran reintegration and military family population. Worse, most citizens are unaware of the danger they or their families face from even the rare sexual predators who face justice, because the military has allowed sexual predators to leave the military with honorable discharges and without being listed on the national sex offenders registry. |
| I am frustrated with all the conversations about how the military has supposedly changed its response to sexual assaults while such limited progress has been made – reported sexual assaults were up 50% in 2013 (and the number of assaults that go unreported are much higher), but less than one of every 100 suspects goes to trial and is convicted. Did anyone honestly think the numbers of those assaulted would go down if the numbers of those removed from service and incarcerated for doing the assaulting hasn’t gone up? Tremendous systemic barriers to reporting remain, and even after reporting there are barriers to receiving appropriate supportive services while serving. | I am frustrated with all the conversations about how the military has supposedly changed its response to sexual assaults while such limited progress has been made – reported sexual assaults were up 50% in 2013 (and the number of assaults that go unreported are much higher), but less than one of every 100 suspects goes to trial and is convicted. Did anyone honestly think the numbers of those assaulted would go down if the numbers of those removed from service and incarcerated for doing the assaulting hasn’t gone up? Tremendous systemic barriers to reporting remain, and even after reporting there are barriers to receiving appropriate supportive services while serving. |
| Sen Gillibrand's legislation, or some new version of it, is still a simple solution to a systemic problem that was blocked with the support powerful people in uniform. The military has, thus far, tried and failed to put the brakes on military sexual assault, and it doesn't deserve to continue to try and fail. Perpetrators need to receive appropriate penalties under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, to do time behind bars and to be dishonorably discharged – and their crimes need to be visible to the rest of society to help limit the harm that they can do to others. | |
| Unfortunately, too many senior military officials do not want that type of reform. You have to ask yourself after so many obvious failures to improve the current system, why anyone wouldn’t want to make the law more clear and more enforceable to protect servicemen and servicewomen from serial rapists in the military. Or maybe that question has already been answered. | Unfortunately, too many senior military officials do not want that type of reform. You have to ask yourself after so many obvious failures to improve the current system, why anyone wouldn’t want to make the law more clear and more enforceable to protect servicemen and servicewomen from serial rapists in the military. Or maybe that question has already been answered. |
| Very soon the scales will have to tip, when there will be so many who have experienced sexual assault in the military, when our community's voices and their constituents' outrage will grow so loud that the system will be forced to accede to our demands for nothing less than sweeping overhaul of how the military deals with sexual assault in its ranks – which is the exact thing Sen Gillibrand's legislation would finally accomplish. I am very hopeful that, soon, the felonious criminal sexual behaviour in the military will be removed from the chain of command's authority to an outside authority. I have to be. | Very soon the scales will have to tip, when there will be so many who have experienced sexual assault in the military, when our community's voices and their constituents' outrage will grow so loud that the system will be forced to accede to our demands for nothing less than sweeping overhaul of how the military deals with sexual assault in its ranks – which is the exact thing Sen Gillibrand's legislation would finally accomplish. I am very hopeful that, soon, the felonious criminal sexual behaviour in the military will be removed from the chain of command's authority to an outside authority. I have to be. |