On February 12, Fox News contributor Liz Trotta said, on air, that women in the military should “expect” to be raped.

Just a few weeks ago, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta commented on a new Pentagon report on sexual abuse in the military. I think they’ve actually discovered the difference between men and women! And the sexual abuse report says that there’s been, since 2006, a 64% increase in violent sexual assaults. Now, what did they expect? Uh, these people are in close contact. The whole, uh, airing of this issue has never been done by Congress. It’s strictly been a question of, uh, pressure from the feminists. And the feminists have also— directed them, really, to spend a lot of money. They had a sexual counselors all over the place, victims advocates, sexual response coordinators….

Trotta apparently believes that the way to prevent rape in the military is to simply take all the women away rather than try to do something to help these women who are being “raped too much.” But has she considered that maybe something is wrong with the male culture of the military that the men can’t seem to stop raping? Nope!

Please sign the petition demanding Fox News fire Liz Trotta for these outrageous comments and issue an apology to all female military personnel.

Petition

During the 2010-2011 school year, there were 65 reports of sexual assaults involving cadets and midshipmen at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the Air Force Academy and the U.S. Naval Academy. In the previous school year, only 41 reports were filed.

In fact, the 2010-2011 total number of reported sex crimes is nearly equal to the total of the previous two years combined. But authors of a Defense Department report on the service academies’ assaults called that figure “encouraging, as it is consistent with the Department’s goal to bring more victims forward to report the crime.”

Earlier this year, defense officials used similar rationale to explain the 11 percent increase in sexual assault reports in the services in fiscal 2010. Service-wide reports of sex crimes have been on the rise since 2008, when the Pentagon updated reporting and confidentiality rules for victims.

In a statement, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said that one sexual assault at the academies is too many.

“Whether it’s in our academies or our ranks, at sea or ashore, there’s no place for this unacceptable behavior,” he said. “I’m confident the steps we are taking are the right ones, but we must continue to improve.”

Most of the academy victims were female, but the total includes a few male victims. The report authors noted that the actual number of rapes and assaults is likely much higher than the reported total, because sexual assault remains one of the most underreported crimes in the United States.

The report also says that academy sexual assault reporting policies at the three institutions “fulfilled, and in some cases surpassed the requirements of existing DoD policies and directives,” news they labeled as encouraging steps to combat the problem.

Maj. Gen. Mary Kay Hertog, director of the Department’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, said in a statement that when these assaults occur, “we owe it to those who have been victimized, and to every cadet and midshipman, to do everything possible to provide needed support and to hold those who commit sexual assault appropriately accountable.”

With the release of the report, defense officials also highlighted two new rules in the recently passed annual defense authorization bill regarding military sexual assaults.

The first requires the department to hold onto sexual assault records for longer than in the past. Restricted reports, where the victim can receive medical treatment and counseling without triggering a criminal investigation, will be kept for five years. Unrestricted reports, where a criminal investigation is launched, will be kept for 50 years.

The second, in the case of an unrestricted report, requires commanders to respond to a sexual assault victim’s request for transfer within 72 hours, and provides for a new appeal process if that request is denied.

The statistics do not include the United States Coast Guard which falls under the Department of Defense. Two monthly support groups are held by the Military Rape Crisis Center near the Coast Guard Academy offering support to survivors of sexual violence at the Coast Guard Academy

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]]> http://militaryrapecrisiscenter.org/2011/12/01/malesurvivor-weekend-of-recovery-program/feed/ 0 stopmilitaryrape http://militaryrapecrisiscenter.org/2011/11/24/rapes-of-women-in-military-a-national-disgrace-2/ http://militaryrapecrisiscenter.org/2011/11/24/rapes-of-women-in-military-a-national-disgrace-2/#comments Fri, 25 Nov 2011 03:33:12 +0000 stopmilitaryrape http://stopmilitaryrape.org/?p=1495 ]]> See the original piece here.

Women in the U.S. military are more likely to be raped by fellow soldiers than killed by enemy fire. I know what you’re thinking – it sounds too unbelievable to be true. But it’s not.

The Department of Defense estimates that more than 19,000 service members were raped or sexually assaulted in 2010. Due to a military culture heavy on retaliation and light on prosecution, only 13.5 percent of the victims report the rape.

The system of justice designed to adjudicate cases of rape in the military is in complete shambles. Victims are blamed. Assailants are promoted. Unit commanders – whose promotions are dependent on the conduct and performance of the soldiers they supervise – have an incentive to see that allegations are few and convictions are fewer. As a result, the overwhelming majority of cases get swept under the rug.

This abomination is not new. The Pentagon has largely ignored the recommendations of 18 reports on sexual assault and rape in the military over the past 16 years. As a result, the problem is now worse than ever. So I have pledged to speak about this issue every week on the floor of the House of Representatives until this Congress and this administration do something more than offer lip service.

While the incidence of rapes and sexual assaults is shockingly high, the personal accounts of victims add even more horror to the picture of a military at war with itself.

Technical Sgt. Mary Gallagher, an Air National Guardsman, was allegedly sexually assaulted by a fellow sergeant in 2009. He pushed her up against a wall, took his right hand and pulled her pants and underwear down, and then used his hand to rub her private parts. He simultaneously ground his genitals against her, and talked about how much he was enjoying the assault. Command’s only response was to reassign the assailant and order him to refrain from any contact with her. She was then lectured by the base chaplain, who claimed that 96 percent of sexual assaults on women occur when drinking is involved. Technical Sgt. Gallagher had not been drinking.

Seaman Panayiota Bertzikis, a member of the Coast Guard, was allegedly raped by a shipmate in 2006. She reported her rape to Coast Guard Command, who told her to keep quiet or be charged with the military equivalent of slander. She obtained photographs and admissions made by her rapist through the Freedom of Information Act, but the Coast Guard Command failed to prosecute him. Coast Guard personnel called her a “liar” and a “whore” and said she would “pay for snitching.” When she reported this harassment, the Coast Guard’s “victim advocate” told her not to pursue disciplinary action because she would be seen as “difficult.” Seaman Bertzikis later said: “If I told them that my house was broken into not one person would question me, blame me or say that I am lying, but when I say that my body was broken into people automatically feel that they have the right to judge me, doubt me, and blame me.”

Army Sgt. Rebekah Havrilla was allegedly raped by a fellow soldier in 2007. After seeking the assistance of the military chaplain, he told her “it must have been God’s will for her to be raped” and recommended she attend church more frequently.

These are just three of the tens of thousands of stories that must be told. Gallagher, Bertzikis and Havrilla are among the 17 victims who have joined a civil lawsuit against the Department of Defense. Imagine a military system so inept that justice can only be sought outside of it. That’s what it has come to.

It took four years and the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to finally establish a statutorily required commission to investigate reports of sexual misconduct in the military. His successor, Robert Gates, has yet to implement a statutorily required database that would centralize all reports of rapes and sexual assaults in the military.

It is time for the Pentagon to stop treating legal directives as mere suggestions. And it is time for Congress to abandon its role as a bystander.

Some say that we should focus on more important issues because America is at war. But it is precisely because we are fighting abroad that this problem must be tackled head on. Division and strife within the ranks hurts our ability to defeat the enemy. In addition, military service is one of our nation’s highest callings. We cannot, as a country, allow violent criminals to besmirch the honor of the armed forces, and we certainly cannot condone a system that is designed to protect the perpetrators and punish the survivors.

Lives are being ruined. Rape kits are being discarded after a year or less, often without the DNA testing necessary for conviction. This runs counter to standard practice in the civilian justice system. Victims can’t access treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder because records of their assaults are destroyed. This is a national disgrace, and the longer it goes unaddressed, Congress becomes an accomplice in these crimes.

For my part, I will continue to speak out. I will soon establish a Web portal for women and men – yes, men are victims as well – to share their suffering until our military brass realizes it can’t hide these crimes anymore.
Do you have a story?

Rep. Jackie Speier invites survivors to share their stories. E-mail stopmilitaryrape@mail.house.gov.

Jackie Speier represents San Mateo County and part of San Francisco in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Rep. Speier has found that the rapes too often go unreported because the victims fear harassment, retribution and blacklisting that affects, if not ends, their military career.

She cites as a poster boy for the problem a 60-year-old Army officer, described by friendly witnesses at his courts-martial as “old Army.” The officer harassed his female reports in the interests of, as he said, boosting morale. The military convicted him on 14 counts. He will serve 90 days in jail and will retire with full benefits. He was not required to register as a sex offender.

Speier finds the military culture protects sexual predators. “The vast majority of men and women who have been sexually abused in the military have come to realize there is no justice in the military’s chain of command,” she said.

A Department of Defense survey revealed 19,000 rapes a year among the 1.4 million service members. “Of those, only 13 percent report because they know what happens — They get shoved out of the military, involuntarily honorably discharged for ‘personality disorder.’”

Starlyn Lara, Women Veteran Coordinator at Swords to Plowshares in San Francisco, said, “There is a critical need for improvement in all aspects of the way sexual assaults, rape and subsequent Military Sexual Trauma is handled within the military. The rates of military sexual trauma are inexcusable and the consequences for survivors have lifelong implications, including post-traumatic stress, depression, substance abuse, unemployment, homelessness and suicide.”

A list of Department of Defense survey respondents who said they had been raped broke down as: 55 percent women, 38 percent men, 7 percent remaining anonymous.

If the victim comes forward, he or she likely is further victimized by the chain of command system of military justice where the commanding officer gets to pick the prosecutor, the defense and the investigator. Only 8 percent of the rapes and assaults reported result in prosecution, as compared to 40 percent in the civilian justice system, Speier said.

The military has made changes in the past decade, including establishing a confidential hotline to support victims, investing in training and increasing prevention efforts, according to the Department of Defense.

“Sexual assault has no place in the Department of Defense — and it will not be tolerated. …,” Defense Secretary Leon Panetta recently affirmed.

Tia Christopher, who was involuntarily honorably discharged for a personality disorder after she reported she was raped by a classmate at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey a decade ago, said the military has addressed the problem and made some positive strides. “I still don’t think rape is taken as a serious issue,” she added.

Congresswoman Speier has set up a website to tell the stories of the victims of sexual assault that she has spotlighted on the floor of Congress www.protectourdefenders.com.

Contact Speier at stopmilitaryrape@mail.house.gov.

The Chronicle supports Rep. Speier in her efforts to address the problem and change the military system. Read our editorial here.

Click here to read the original article.

Protect Our Defenders helps ensure that survivors of rape and sexual assault in the military receive justice and appropriate medical support. And that perpetrators are held accountable for their crimes.

http://ProtectOurDefenders.com

A California congresswoman has launched a campaign to combat military rapes.

Democrat Jackie Speier has been making weekly speeches on the House floor, telling the stories of rape victims in the military. Now she’s introduced a bill that would take rape cases out of the usual military chain of command and transfer investigations, prosecutions, and victim care to an autonomous sexual assault office.

Speier says that when a Marine reported her superior officer had raped her, she was told to take an aspirin and go to bed. “That kind of advice might be good for a headache. But when that’s a prescription by the military to one of its soldiers that has been a victim of an assault or a rape,” she says, “we’ve got a problem.”

The Department of Defense says there were 19,000 sexual assaults last year in the military. Fewer than 3 percent of the perpetrators were punished. Speier says allowing assaults to go unpunished compromises the effectiveness of the military. “Members of military units survive on the code of watching out for each other. When sexual assaults and rapes are hushed, ignored, or treated lightly, trust in a unit is compromised along with its collective readiness to engage the enemy,” Speier said.

Speier’s lined up more than three dozen co-sponsors for the bill. They don’t include the Republican head of the House Armed Services Committee, Buck McKeon of Santa Clarita. His office says “it would be premature to comment” on the bill because it hasn’t been referred to the committee.

Click here to read the original story.