There's been considerable Shock and Awe about the torture and sexual humilation of the prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison and with all the investigations perhaps justice will be done and those involved punished.

But what about the rape of American female soldiers---by their own colleagues!

MAY 18 | The US serviceman waited outside the latrine and hit the woman on the back of the head as she exited, knocking her unconscious. He tied her hands with cord, blindfolded her, cut her clothes off with a knife, stuffed her underwear in her mouth and then raped her. When she regained consciousness and began to resist, he threatened to rape her with the knife instead. He hit her in the head again, this time forcefully between the eyes, again causing her to lose consciousness. When she came to she was transported to another facility where she was interrogated for three hours. She received no medical treatment for her head injuries. She was left in isolation for an extended period, and her requests for religious counsel were denied.

Sound like the latest exposé from Abu Ghraib? Guess again. It's just one of the more than 100 incidents of rape, sexual assault and other forms of sexual misconduct reported in the past 18 months by U.S. women soldiers currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan who have been sexually assaulted by fellow U.S. soldiers.

The military's response to these victims has been grossly inadequate. Many victims did not receive even the most basic medical care. Emergency contraception, rape evidence kits, testing for sexually transmitted infections, prophylactic treatment or testing for HIV, and rape crisis counseling are not consistently available. Military personnel lack even common-sense sensitivity as to how to respond to rape trauma; one mental health counselor cleared an Army sergeant who had just been raped to go out on missions again, feeling it would be good for her to "keep busy." Prosecution of these crimes is delayed indefinitely, and servicewomen must often continue to serve in the same unit - and sometimes sleep in the same barrack - with their assailant.

http://www.stopfamilyviolence.org/sfvo/mil_sa_iraq.html

An Army soldier who reported being raped last November in a camp in Kuwait that was a staging area for the Iraq war said she felt superiors ignored her assault and injuries, according to a spokesman for Rep. Joseph Pitts, R-Pa. Only after she attempted suicide last December and Pitts intervened with the secretary of the Army was she flown to her U.S. base, the spokesman said.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/edito...view-usat_x.htm

In times of war we hear about the bravery and heroism of our soldiers, but this scandal seems to be flying under the radar. Is it because there's no lurid photos or videos to go with the assaults?

It's dangerous enough to be a soldier in a war zone. It's downright ridiculous that a female soldier should have to fear being raped by a fellow soldier and the military just yawns in response.

What should the Pentagon, Congress and the Administration DO to protect female soldiers from sexual assault?

I don't really have a good answer. We have criminals in the military just like everywhere else, hopefully less porportionaly though.
I can say, as a grad of Army Equal Opportunity Leaders Course, that we brief our soldiers to death. We have in place 'Consideration of Others', mandatory EO training, Commanders 'Open Door' policies, Inspector General (IG), sensing sessions and other programs in place to teach and deter this type of activity.

Aside from segregating males and females, I really don't see what else we can do proactively to avoid some instances of this.

This is certainly a most disturbing issue. Perhaps it is a result of the military being behind the curve when the integration of male and female soldiers began to happen on a large scale. Perhaps some here will recall that not that long ago there was a huge scandal of sexual harrassment, including rape, at the US Air Force Academy. Female cadets were treated horribly in many instances and I think they're still trying to work all that out. I don't know what all has happened there, I know some careers were ended and some court martials resulted and Congress has been heavily involved in that entire mess. Perhaps that might be a model to follow to try and correct this problem?

My general opinion is that the military has never adequately managed the idea of females being in the military. Ever since the Tailhook scandal there have been institutional signs of downright negligence and apathy towards this subject.

Unfortunately this is a problem long on complaints and short on answers. For starters, I would make darn sure that these crimes are punished to the fullest letter of the UCMJ. And if that isn't sufficient, then perhaps the code itself needs revision to add Federal remedy to the problem. Either way, whether its in Abu Ghraib or a barracks in Afghanistan, the behavior referenced here is the lowest form of humanity and should be prosecuted to the highest letter of the law.

Maybe Jagweeze can provide some insight here. /nudge

Doc

If the army has a problem with sexual violence in the ranks, is there nothing to be learned from the Police?
Have not the police force had female officers for longer and in greater numbers than the military services?

Perhaps there is a lesson there that could be built upon?

But the police don't generally have times when they have to cohabit. There are stakeouts, to be sure, but someone knows pretty much where they are and what they are doing.



What can they do? I am not aware of a screening process that separates the brutes from the decent human beings, especially when it has to do with people who swear an oath to follow orders, even to the point of killing someone else if necessary.

This is going to sound like a really ridiculous idea, I know, but how about we embed ACLU lawyers with the troops? The thing is, though, the fact that military life isn't the same as civilian life works against these victims of criminal sexual assault. The people who might be able to help the victims are too busy, too stressed themselves with other responsibilities, have too few resources, etc. This might be one big reason for suicides in the military.

Realistically, this could result in having women take a far less active role in a war zone. Depending on where you stand, this is good or bad. Yes, women have a lot to offer in active combat; they also have a lot to lose.

And yes, nighttimer, there should be more outrage about this.

Reason numero uno why women shouldn't participate in combat roles, IMHO. Forget the civilizing effect.



Videos/photograph really drive the point home. I don't think the military does enough for two reasons here. I don't think the UCMJ needs an overhaul but we can make significant improvements. It's telling that as late as a little over a decade ago Bush Sr. repealed the marital rape exemption in Article 120.

In the meantime, the military can help.

● Offer self defense classes dealing specifically with rape situations at every installation in collaboration with local authorities when possible. I would go as far as saying the military should make one self defense course mandatory upon arrival at a woman's first duty station. Line training doesn't cut it in these situations.

● Logistics, logistics, logistics. A little foresight goes a long way. In CAX California (high desert) A-frames for women were located in the corner of the camp and crowded around a walled shower/toilet stall reserved for us. The previous year A-frames for women were less concentrated. I can't imagine the anxiety of approaching the nearest shower/toilet stall having someone keep watch outside and inconveniencing male soldiers. Keeping female Marines concentrated heightened our awareness of a male presence when friends wandered about after work.

● Make counseling available at peace and war time.

● Crack down on enlisted personnel or officers that don't investigate harassment/rape accusations. If this requires a UCMJ addendum so much the better.

● Enforce mandatory separation after a complaint is made. Keeping an alleged victim and offender in the same unit is unacceptable.

That's my best guess. =/

Those stories have been buried because the media is paying attention to the abuse of prisoners. Bill O Reilly has been following it though


All they can do is either deny women the right to participate in the military (which i think is not a way) or increase the punishment of sexual harrassment/assault, which would be the best deterant

Is this disturbing? Absolutely. But should we be shocked? the answer is definately no. When men are in this type of environment it is no surprise that such things occur. It really isnt when one thinks of the human psyche.



IMHO the reason for this is simply a lack of discipline which is the most vital characteristic necessary in our armed forces. Without it, they couldnt be able to function. I think, and this may not go over so well, that the units in the military should be gender segregated again. Expecially during like basic training when discipline is being first instituted. Having male and female soldiers together presents too much of a distraction for both groups. The general effectiveness of the military is above all the most important thing. More important than the individual and that persons feelings. Most probably do not agree and i can understand why because in our gov't it doesnt work that way...but a military environment is different and hence is more likely to have a stricter more enforced way of doing things.

A tip o' the hat to Dontreadonme and Lesly (thanks for the links) for their thoughtful suggestions in particular. I'm on a slow burn about this, but as a former airman myself, I find it repellent that not only would incidents of rape be ignored, but the woman making the complaint become a target for harassment and ridicule.

It is obvious to me that from the Tailhook scandal of several years ago and other incidents in the military, in academies and on bases that there are some Cro-Magnons who still think there is no place for women in the armed forces.

It has to be made clear that women are here to stay in the military and anyone who can't hack that idea should get the hell out. President Bush, General Myers of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Donald Rumsfeld should make it clear that there's a zero tolerance policy against sexual assault in armed forces.

And then appoint a tough-as-nails female general or admiral to head up a special office to investigate rape cases in any and all branches of the services.

It would not stop the problem, but it would be a decisive step in beginning the eradication of rape in the military. First though, you have to change the climate where a rape culture can flourish.

Funny- the same folks that say we should not give in to terroristic attacks against us because then they "win" have no problem retreated to gender segregation again!

This is more of a problem for the chain of command - there should be some accountability of the higher ups- I think there should be jobs lost in very high places ever time this happens, so it becomes a very serious deal, very fast. When generals fear losing thier jobs, things improve, very fast. This is one way racial issues were decreased, basically it became known that racial violence would not be tolerated, and heads would roll, then things changed. Every time there is a verified rape, and the accused are not charged, or at least thouroughly investigated, then a general should lose his job. It is just that easy to fix.

The gender concentration idea looks like it makes sense. Having been no closer to being in the military than attending summer camp as a teen, I just don't have anywhere near a realistic concept of what it would be like as a female soldier shoulde-to-shoulder with male soldiers.

The self-defense thing was something I thought that all troops received anyway. I took some karate and learned a couple of things that might help in a pinch, so I figured that female soldiers would get at least that much training.

Regardless of what kind of training the female soldiers receive, though, if you can't see the board or stick that someone swings at your head from behind you, you're going to go down.

I am so thankful to not be in a situation like that, because I don't know that in military law there is such a thing as "justifiable homicide" were I decide to strike back at my assailant at a later time.

I have investigated, tried as a prosecutor, or defended probably over 100 (maybe 200, I frankly don't keep track) rape allegations in the Army over the last 15 years. I have reviewed as many reports of investigation assisting other counsel as a favour, appellate counsel or military justice supervisor.

The issue is not a problem with the UCMJ. Yes there was a marital exception to rape, but we got around that by charging other offenses. The UCMJ jettisoned it around the time every other jurisdiction did.

This is not really a “military culture” issue either. Anecdotal evidence aside, rape allegations are taken seriously by the Commanders and Criminal Investigation Command (the “D” in “CID” means nothing – there only for historical purposes).

The problem revolves around lots of young men around young women and generally lots of alcohol. It is really no different that most college campuses.

Let me give you some typical scenarios. Guy and Gal go out, they get drunk. They go back to a barracks room and begin to mess around. They get to a point and the gal says no sex. The guy backs off. A few minutes later they mess around again and this time they start having sex. The gal says no and the guy stops and then leaves. 3 days later the gal cries rape. Prosecutable? Not on this planet. Does she think she has been raped? Sure.

Case 2: guy and gal get drunk. They have sex. Gal’s boyfriend finds out and now she cries rape. This is the typical Coitus Regretus scenario. Prosectuable? Nope. Does she think she has been raped? Maybe she can convince herself, most don’t.

Case 3: Guy and gal go out. They get drunk. Both are really bombed. Guy begins to mess around with gal and she seems to be moving and does not protest. Gal does not remember consenting (probably gave no oral consent) because she was too drunk. Was she too drunk to consent? Probably. Was the guy guilty of rape? Probably not. No mens rea or criminal intent. Granted Rape is a General intent crime, but if he honestly and reasonably believed she was consenting he cannot be convicted. Do we try it? We may take it to a preliminary hearing (Article 32 Investigation) where it usually dies. If it goes to trial, rarely a conviction.

Case 4: Gal just makes the whole thing up to get at boss/co-worker/ex-boyfriend.

Case 5: Gal gets drunk, Guy takes her back to the room and see that she is too drunk and takes advantage of her. Rape. Provable? Depends on freshness of complaint, witnesses, and most important, the accused’s statement. Do we try these? All the time. Do we win? Depends on the facts.

There are so few “traditional” (crawl in the window and attack victim) rapes in the armed forces that when we get one it is really startling. I have seen huge sentences on them. In fact the last person executed under the UCMJ was executed for Rape (in 1963). Most of the cases that people complain about nothing being done would have had the exact same result in the civilian world.

The real kicker about a rape case is the woman (or man) saying no only gets you so far and in the end, is really not that important to the case. The question ultimately involves whether the accused had an honest and reasonable belief that she was consenting then he lacks the criminal intent to rape – and that is a good thing. If you get the honest belief down, unless there is something way out of kilter, it will be reasonable.

While commanders do stupid things like making the complaining witness work next to the accused, you can’t punish or ostracize a soldier merely because they are accused of a crime. The casebooks are full of commanders that stick people in pup tents surrounded by barbed wire before they are ever convicted of anything. The unfortunate thing that we often have to move a complaining witness rather than an accused and sometimes there is just no place to move them.

It is not a discipline problem, it is not a training problem, and it is not a culture problem. Rape is a character flaw of the rapist.

There is a huge network of support available to any soldier that feels they have been raped. The military hospitals and clinics have counselors, social workers, psychiatrists, and psychologists. Is that their primary mission? For some yes, for most no. The military medical system is not designed to deal with that. Its primary purpose is the care of casualties. The other missions come second.

Yes, we can do things to make it more difficult for there to be male/female interaction in the military. Some things are easy and should be done to enhance the force. Lesly has some good points. If you make them too onerous, then you break down unit cohesion. Like it or not, the military cannot do its mission without women in the armed forces and in the field.

The hardest thing I have had to do in my legal career is tell a female soldier that I just could not take her case to trial. I had zero chance of winning and it would have been derelict for me to put her through a process that would have made her feel even worse. It took me two hours explaining that I believed that she feels she was raped, but the facts as she laid them out did not meet the elements. She never said no, she gave him no indication of no. She wanted to say no, but she just let him do it.

I would bet a paycheck there is no greater (adult) sexual assault problem in the military than there is on most large American campuses.

Doclotus- The UCMJ is a federal criminal scheme, thus under the Constitution double jeopardy applies to further federal prosecution (not state as some military accused have discovered).

Sorry for my long response.

J

What should the Pentagon, Congress and the Administration DO to protect female soldiers from sexual assault?

100 reports of rape, sexual assault, and 'other forms of sexual misconduct' reported in the past 18 months is low compared to the civilian population at large. Putting this in perspective, they are in a warzone, yet the incidence of 'sexual misconduct, rape, and sexual assault' is less than the average actual rape rate in Australia (a bit over .07 percent), a country not known for an abundance of sex crime. It is impossible (in a free society) to keep these things from happening entirely, but I think the military must have an overall better grasp on the solution than the general civilian population.

My First Sergeant, a Master Sergeant and a ranking First Class Sergeant are all gone and up on charges for sexual harassment. It took months and I am still not sure what they actually did but if you think for one minute the Army is blowing this off your wrong. This is taken very seriously and the Pentagon is doing everything they can to prosecute rapistists, but there are allways degrees. Now the truth is that it took months for them to be relieved of their duties and their positions are still retained. The law says that you are innocent untill proven guilty and so everyone should get the benefit of the doubt.

We all know that the guilty should be convicted but I wonder sometimes if we forget that sometimes the innocent are accused. Its what you don't know for sure that makes everything so complicated.

An update from the Post after filing a Freedom of Information Act request:



I want to say expediency in wartime explains the percentage increase in unfounded cases but the article doesn't offer year to year figures. Maybe there's a silver lining:

I don't think wartime is necessarily the influence behind the coverups here. I used to work in a student issues department at a major university which had a Corps of Cadets (you fill in the blanks). One of the departments I supported handled rape cases--while every year 1 or maybe two cases would be reported, in actuality there were more like 20-40 cases per year. Most were swept under the rug. Granted, some of these could have been unfounded, but still the numbers happening vs. the number reported were vastly different, mainly due to pressure put on the victim to keep things quiet (often understood or implied, even if not actually directly intimated); it was usually this pressure that they were coming to us for, not the rape itself.

My take--this is an issue the military needs to come clean about, and deal with. As with the 'gays in the military' issue, I think excessive 'pussy-footing' is done by high level leaders, out of misplaced fear of the effect upper level leaders think it will have on their troops. I think the vast majority of troops would like to have these issues dealt with, and that the military is therefore allowing a small minority to dictate their actions. Of course, I have not been in the military, and so would welcome comments from those with more direct experience. As long as issues such as these are swept under the rug, they will continue.

Glad to hear, Phaedrus, that you think these issues are being dealt with seriously. For point of reference, the issues I allude to above happened a good 10-12 years ago, so there may have been major policy shifts since then. I do definitely feel that such issues need to be thoroughly investigated before actions are taken, so I don't have any problems with the time frames you describe if that's what it takes to determine appropriate measures.

I had to post a response to this since the issue came up again in today's(June 3rd) Washington Post. R. Jeffrey Smith's article: Sexual Assault in the Army on the Rise lends credence to the necessity of this topic being brought up, I commend you for that. I believe every unit should have an ombudsman type of individual. Someone who is a fellow soldier, but also a complaint specialist or JAG who can settle disputes then and there in the combat zone. This person would have to be immune from a given company's chain of command and would have to be someone who gets promoted through making enemies, not friends. It is interesting to watch some member of the brass getting grilled during hearings. It's only when they are facing hostility-does any meaningful change come about. On top of that, Loretta Sanchez has a better idea according to the Post:

I would think they are unfounded because they did not happen.

I have worked with a lot of CID agents and there are 2 types of cases (and sadly other than these two, they get kind of weak) they do very well. One is drug cases and the other is adult sexual assault.


This issue is a tempest in a teapot because it is the issue du jour. There are anecdotal nightmare cases, but then again, if you look at any other organization with that demographic -- ie colleges and universities, you will have the same "date rape" ( I hate that term, because it makes it seem less of a crime, but it does convey the type of offense) types of stats.

There are other reporting agencies -- Inspector General, Judge Advocate legal Assistance, etc.

The law isn't broken. The people are. I can see some sentence increases in some of the sexual assault areas, but that will not mean that accuseds will receive them.

This is somewhat like when there was an outrage that commanders were sending crazy people for psych exams and there was a backlash because a few idiots sent normal, but pains in the *** NOTICE: THIS WORD IS AGAINST THE RULES. FAILURE TO REMOVE IT WILL RESULT IN A STRIKE. ***, people to get psych exams. There were a few bad cases, but guess what, loonies tend to make complaints about EVERYTHING. The people who most need help often resist it the hardest. Now, it is very difficult to get people treatment that they need because of the congressional "help" the army received.

I fear any "cure" will cause more damage to the complaining witnesses than the current system.

J

Interesting Mrs P., but do your statistics take into account that the serving military comprises rather less than the 50-52% of females represented in the Australian population? How many rapes are there per female serving, rather than per person?

True, but military statistics also only encompass those of reproductive age, and in the general category of largest offenders...not the elderly or children. That might make up the disparity between percentage of females serving versus males. It's hard to say...The statistics offer only the number of incidences per percentage of the population. And, again, we're speaking of many forms of sexual misconduct, not only rape included in those military statistics. That makes a tremendous difference. Just to illustrate, the Anti-US sentiments thread a while back cited statistics of 169 courts martial cases involving sexual misconduct in Okinawa during a 7 year time period, but 112 total rape cases in 27 years.

1979 while going through basic training at lackland afb a foolish airman walk through an area where the Iranians were barracked ,he was beaten and raped. Everyone was told before hand to stay away from that area. After basics off to chanute afb we were told never travel alone at night ,the base is no different than a small city , with alot of the same crimes. The problem with superiors taking advantage of there subordinates I could see why many would go unreported. I think educating woman more on safety also assure them reporting such incidence is the only way to this from happening in the future . ( off subject , why were we training Iranians missile system technoygy even worse on the same floor as people where training for the minuteman 3 . although out dated now ) Back to subject , I see little more that can be done only to better educate both woman on safety and men on the consequences . Yeah you could train all woman self defence and I would guess it might help a few after 2 or 3 years of training. Who most likely would win this fight a street wise thug ,(who is also stronger ) or a 5th degree blackbelt. My money is on the thug everytime. Military bases are not police station ,your only safty is your not putting your self into a protentially dangerous situation just like in the cities.