Al Jazeera
Military sexual assault and rape 'epidemic'
Studies suggest as many as one in three female soldiers are raped during
their US military service.
Military sexual assault and rape 'epidemic'
Studies suggest as many as one in three female soldiers are raped during
their US military service.
_Sarah Lazare_
(http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/profile/sarah-lazare.html) Last
Modified: 20 Oct 2011
Sarah Lazare
October 20, 2011
My experience reporting military sexual assault was worse than the actual
assault," says Jessica (a pseudonym for her protection), a former marine
officer and Iraq veteran who left the military because of her command's poor
handling of her assault charges. "The command has so much power over a
victim of sexual assault. They are your judge, jury, executioner and mayor:
they
own the law. As I saw in my case, they are able to crush you for reporting
an assault."
Jessica is joining a _civil lawsuit_
(http://servicewomen.org/our-work/litigation/military-rape-litigation/)
bringing claims against former Secretary
of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and former Defense Secretary Robert Gates,
charging that under their watch the military failed to adequately and
effectively investigate rapes and sexual assaults within the ranks.
The litigation, which was filed in Virginia district court in February of
this year by the law office of Susan Burke, is set to go to trial in the
coming months. The initial suit named 16 plaintiffs, all former or current
military service members - but in recent months that number has swelled to
more than 30, as more and more veterans come forward as survivors of sexual
assault.
These plaintiffs join the growing crescendo of veterans, military service
members, spouses and their advocates speaking out against the problem of
widespread sexual assault and rape in the US military.
As the war in Afghanistan passes its ten-year mark, sexual assault runs
rampant within the ranks, with an estimated _one in three_
(http://www.veteransforpeace.org/files/pdf/Sadler%20Military%20Environment.pdf)
female
service members raped during their service, according to at least one
peer-reviewed study. This is in a military where women comprise more _11 per
cent of
active duty service members deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan and more than 15
per cent of the total military_ (http://iava.org/content/women-military) ,
with at least _200,000_
(http://www.mysuncoast.com/news/local/story/Number-of-women-in-the-military-is-soaring/tjre5k2WCUK-4an9siFiZA.cspx)
active
duty women currently serving. This epidemic also affects men: 60 per cent of
women serving in the National Guard and Reserve, along with 27 per cent of
men, _are estimated_
(http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/336/fact-check-military-sexual-trauma.html) to
have experienced Military Sexual Trauma (MST).
Perpetrators rely on a chain of command that appears to offer virtual impunity
for sexual assaults committed against lower-ranking service members.
'Re-traumatising' redress
Military reports and Congress-appointed task forces acknowledge that sexual
assault within the military is widespread. While the Department of Defense
(DoD) has repeatedly said it is attempting to curb the problem, the most
recent evidence shows that it has failed to adequately address the spread of
this outbreak.
The most significant change made by the military in the past decade was
the creation of the _Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office_
(http://www.sapr.mil/) (SAPRO) in 2005. This office, which encompasses the
entire
DoD, is responsible for oversight of sexual assault policies and the
implementation of prevention and response programs. However, SAPRO is rife
with
problems. The primary role of the office is to track rapes and sexual assaults
and release annual reports. According to the US Government Accountability
Office's (GAO) own _evaluation_
(http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-579?source=ra) , SAPRO has failed to work
with the disciplinary arm of the DoD,
giving its reports and findings little muscle. Furthermore, the Report of the
Defense Task Force on Sexual Assault in the Military December 2009, which
was ordered by congress, found that funding of SAPRO had been "sporadic and
inconsistent".
SAPRO introduced a system of restricted reporting, allowing survivors of
sexual assault to make confidential reports, to avoid outing themselves in a
hostile environment.
"We are finding that it is the victim who is punished when they report."
- Greg Jacob
While this step has increased the number of reports and created avenues for
survivors to seek personal care, it does not launch an investigation into
the assault. "Restricted reporting allows the military to ignore criminal
aspects of sexual assault and to just take care of it," says Greg Jacob, a
former Marine and the current policy director for the _Service Women's
Action Network_ (http://servicewomen.org/) (SWAN), an organisation dedicated
to
advocacy and providing a healing community for military service women.
Military officials claim that improvements have been made since the
Defense Task Force's 2009 report. "DoD has a zero tolerance policy on sexual
assault," says Cynthia Smith, SAPRO press spokesperson. "Over the past two
years, DoD has affirmed its commitment to preventing and effectively
responding
to sexual assault. The department's focus has been on reducing the stigma
associated with reporting, providing sufficient training for commanders,
and ensuring adequate training and resources for prosecutors and
investigators."
Yet, the prosecution rates of sexual assault in the military remains at
_eight per cent_
(http://www.defensepolicy.org/2011/cap/u-s-military-needs-a-stronger-sexual-assault-policy)
, a dismal percentage in light of the
staggering number of assaults that are believed to go unreported. This
compares
to a 40 per cent prosecution rate for sexual assault charges in civilian
courts, which itself is considered low. For cases that do make it to trial,
sexual assault conviction rates are astoundingly low. According to SAPRO's
most recent _annual report_
(http://www.sapr.mil/media/pdf/reports/DoD_Fiscal_Year_2010_Annual_Report_on_Sexual_Assault_in_the_Military.pdf)
, in 2010, of
3,158 reports of military sexual assaults, only 529 alleged perpetrators
were convicted, while 41 per cent were acquitted or had charges dismissed.
Some six per cent were discharged or resigned in lieu of courts-martial,
which means that they were allowed to leave their jobs in order to avoid
sexual assault charges.
Some survivors of sexual assault claim that SAPRO's "zero tolerance"
policy has only succeeded in creating an environment where the command has
incentive to deny and cover up sexual assault. "They have all of these generic
catch phrases that sound great," says Jessica. "But in reality, 'zero
tolerance policy' means that when you make a complaint, it is hidden. Assault
reflects badly on the command. What results is cover ups."
Furthermore, critics charge that SAPRO's educational materials are
ineffective and often serve to reinforce the mentality that victims are to
blame
for their own assault. According to the Defense Task Force's 2009 report,
"the Task Force's interactions with Service Members suggest training is only
marginally effective".
A sexual assault prevention poster released by SAPRO _reportedly_
(http://www.mccoy.army.mil/readingroom/newspaper/realmccoy/05222009/SAPR_Training.htm
) urges soldiers to "wait until she's sober" before propositioning a
woman for sex. "The military believes falsely that if you eliminate alcohol
you
can eliminate sexual assault," says Jacob. "There is perception that it is
the result of bad decision making on the part of the victim."
Critics charge that SAPRO fails to address the rape culture that permeates
all aspects of military life. "Rape culture separates service members from
a group of people that they can consider others, victims, weaker beings,"
insists Maggie Martin, Army veteran and member of _Iraq Veterans Against the
War_ (http://ivaw.org/) (IVAW), an anti-war group comprising active duty
service members and veterans who have served since September 11, 2001. "The
rape culture in the military is another way that some service members
reduce real life trauma to a joke that they can pretend is not real. It is a
way for some to try to prove they are 'hardcore' to the point of inhumanity."
Many insist that the military, which is largely allowed to investigate
itself, is still not telling the full story. A _2010 lawsuit_
(http://servicewomen.org/our-work/litigation/foia-lawsuit/) filed by SWAN and
the ACLU
against the DoD and Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) was filed after the
military refused requests for government records concerning rape, sexual
assault, and sexual harassment in the military.
"When I heard about women who had accused someone of rape or sexual
assault it was always framed as some personal vendetta the women were taking
out
on those they accused," says Martin.
Selena Coppa, a former Army Sergeant of eight years and a current member
of IVAW tells of an Army Specialist who was molested by another Army
Specialist while drunk and passed out. "The woman who was assaulted found out
the
next morning what had happened. She wanted to do something or say
something. Everyone was like, what are you talking about? That is not sexual
assault, only sex counts as sexual assault."
According to Army policy, sexual assault includes sexual contact when the
victim "does not or cannot consent." Yet, rules in the books are seemingly
meaningless in an environment where sexual assault appears to go unreported
and unacknowledged.
Impunity of high-ranking males
"She tried making official charges, and they were never prosecuted. They
refused to prosecute them."
- Sergeant Coppa
For those who do seek redress for sexual assault and rape through the
Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), the legal code governing military
service members, many face an uphill battle in which they are pressured to
drop
their charges at every step along the way.
When Jessica was raped by a senior officer and his friend, she reported
the assault to her command. However, she says that the ensuing investigation
was nothing more than a retaliatory measure inflicted by a command that was
more interested in covering up assaults and protecting their own
reputations. "My command, and the [military lawyer] ordered to do it, produced
not a
thorough, but a voluminous - as cover ups often are - investigation that
proved that I was routinely called disgusting denunciatory names by junior
and senior Marines alike, but that because I wore make up and running shorts
in the summer, that I therefore welcomed the harassment and subsequent
assault and did not deserve protection," she says.
Jessica says she requested a deployment to Afghanistan to get away from
the harassment and isolation she faced after filing her report, but when this
was denied, she decided to leave the Marines, which she was able to do
because of her status as an officer. Jessica joined the lawsuit against
Rumsfeld and Gates because, she says: "No one right now is holding commanders
accountable." Meanwhile, Jessica says that she is still pursuing charges
against her alleged perpetrator through the UCMJ.
Lower enlisted service members who are raped or sexually assaulted,
however, often do not have the option of leaving, with many forced to continue
serving alongside their perpetrators, including in war zones. "They are
putting people in a situation where they are totally dependent on their peers,
and when their battle buddies rape them, their superiors are not doing
anything about it, explains Johanna (Hans) Buwalda, a mental health provider
who
has worked with survivors of war for more than twenty years. "There is no
safe place for them to go. They can't even leave the military. They have to
fulfill their contract." Some researchers say that military sexual trauma
compounds deployment-related traumas by excluding women from military
camaraderie and fraternity.
These military sexual assaults are in addition to the countless rapes and
sexual assaults that have been carried out against civilians at the 800 US
military bases around the world, including within occupied populations in
Iraq and Afghanistan. While there have been several high-profile scandals
exposing US military rapes and slayings of Iraqi and Afghan civilians, as
well as sexual assault and humiliation as a tool of torture, there is little
information about overall rates of military sexual assault of civilian
populations overseas. If sexual assault rates within the military are any
indicator, sexual violence would seem to be endemic to the US' global military
presence.
Last April, Jennifer (a pseudonym for protection), who is a civilian,
reported sexual assault by her then-boyfriend after he returned from a tour in
Afghanistan with the Marine Corps. Her alleged assaulter's sergeant major
told her that she sounded like a "crazy ex-girlfriend" and that her sexual
assault charges were not viable. Jennifer spent the next year and a half
contacting everyone she could think of in hope that the military would take her
charges seriously. She watched as her assault charges were ignored and
dismissed by SAPRO, the NCIS, and even the Pentagon. After navigating
countless meetings and phone calls with caseworkers, sexual assault survivor
advocates, and even several congressional representatives, Jennifer feels that
she has made little progress in her effort to get a fair process through
military channels, and, to date, there is no indication that her charges will
bear any consequences for her alleged assaulter. Within two months of her
report, her alleged assaulter was promoted, and she says that he may be
deployed any day, if he is not already.
Jennifer says that the process of attempting to press charges has been
deeply traumatising. "When you have been assaulted, talking about it is hard
enough," she says. "And having to wait to hear back from someone for help
makes you want to give up." In Depth
Related articles: _Rape rampant in US military by Dahr Jamail _
(http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2010/12/2010122182546344551.html)
_Military sexual abuse 'staggering' by Dahr Jamail_
(http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/2010/12/20101223113859171112.html)
"I do not trust the US military at all. Their rules and regulations are
nothing more than words on paper," she says. "I am a woman and a civilian, and
I have been treated like nothing more than a dog."
The 1996 Federal Lautenberg Amendment, which makes it illegal for people
convicted of domestic violence to carry a weapon, _extends to the armed
forces_
(http://www.armystudyguide.com/content/army_board_study_guide_topics/military_justice/lautenberg-amendment.shtml)
. With many forms of sexual
assault falling under the rubric of domestic violence, assault convictions
could
preclude a service member from carrying a weapon.
Yet, if these assaults go unreported and untried, little stands in the way
of perpetrators serving in combat, sometimes alongside those they have
assaulted.
Furthermore, the military often blatantly ignores this federal law and
sends convicted sex offenders and domestic abusers into war in a climate where
the military is overextended, from fighting two ongoing wars. Since
September 11, 2001, the DoD has been granting an increasing amount of "moral
waivers" which permit soldiers convicted of domestic violence and sexual
assault to serve in combat.
High rates of sexual assault take a profound toll on the mental health of
service members. Sexual assault is the number one predictor for
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder for women serving in the military, according to
a
_study in the Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development_
(http://www.rehab.research.va.gov/jour/08/45/3/pdf/street.pdf) . Yet the
difficulty and
stigma against reporting sexual assaults creates significant obstacles for
survivors seeking care and disability benefits through the VA. A _study by
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America_
(http://iava.org/content/invisible-wounds-psychological-and-neurological-injuries-confront-new-generation-veteran
s-0) shows that approximately 40 per cent of homeless female veterans
report having been sexually assaulted in the military.
Members of IVAW are drawing attention to the problem of sexual assault and
rape that plagues the military. "IVAW's campaign Operation Recovery is
focused on raising awareness about sexual assault and gender-based violence,"
explains Martin. "We are building a healing community where veterans and
service members can challenge military leadership and stand up for the right
to heal and the right to access the care survivors of trauma need."
"As an organiser I believe that the best way for us to combat military
sexual trauma is to tell the truth about it," insists Martin. "We need to tell
the truth that all types of people are sexually assaulted and that no one
deserves it. We need to start looking to the perpetrators of sexual assault
and the military environment for answers, not look to victims to see how
they can be blamed for their own assault."
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Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community
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