On May 5 at 12:35 am, a drunken male subject approached a female victim in a parking lot and grabbed her breasts and buttocks. The victim fought the suspect off as he attempted to touch her again and alerted police. Jeffrey Krusinski, 41, of Arlington, VA, was arrested and charged with sexual battery. He was held on a $5,000 unsecured bond.

Krusinski is the head of the Air Force’s branch of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program.  A spokesperson for the Air Force confirmed to local blog ARLnow.com that Lt. Col. Krusinski was arrested this past weekend but won’t further comment on this incident.

more info: www.protectourdefenders.com

All female Veterans, Active Duty, Reserves and Guard members are  welcomed to sign up and join us. We have just a couple of spots left so sign up today!

In November 2012 military jury convicted Air Force Lt. Col James Wilkerson, a former inspector general at Aviano Air Base in Italy, of sexually assaulting a civilian contractor.  After being found guilty by a jury of five; four colonels and a lieutenant colonel, he was sentenced  to a year in jail, forfeiture of all pay and discharged from the service.

Three months later, in February 2013 Gen. Craig Franklin overturned the conviction. To further add insult, Gen. Franklin also placed Wilkerson on a promotion list. The general “was looking for a way to show the pilot community he had their backs” — wrote The New York Times.

According to Article 60 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the legal basis of the military’s justice system, allows a “convening authority” — a commander reviewing the case — “absolute power to disapprove the findings and sentence, or any part thereof, for any or no reason, legal or otherwise.”

Instead of serving his prison sentence, Lt. Col Wilkerson will be transferred to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson assigned as the 12th Air Force Chief of Flight Safety to help run the safety program for a unit of F-16 fighters. Even though Lt. Col. Wilkerson was found guilty of sexual assault, he will not be required to be registered as a sex offender.  The guilty verdict has been completely erased from his record, and  this convicted sex offender is able to continue serving as if nothing has  happened putting others at risk. Adding insult to injury, the U.S Air Force plans on transferring a man found guilty for rape to the hometown of the victim.

Rear Adm. Sandra L. Stosz the academy’s superintendent calls the increase of sexual abuse as “somewhat natural”. She was quoted in a New London-The Day article saying:

“If, one time, a guy or gal is clumsy or stupid and tries to touch someone and they’re repulsed, they learn. Someone who goes around and keeps trying many times, that’s a different kind of behavior than someone who is awkward and experimenting.”

Sexual assault is not being “clumsy” or “stupid” but a violent crime –a felony with lifelong consequences for the survivor. Sexual Assault is sexual assault regardless if it happened once or if it happened repetitively over a period of time. The Coast Guard Academy should not tolerate sexual assault and the superintendent should stop making excuses for sex predators.

Shannon Norenberg, the new sexual assault response coordinator for the Coast Guard Academy tells The Day that she plans to teach the cadets what they should do to protect themselves. By teaching cadets on how “not to get raped” we are putting the responsibility of preventing rape on the woman and not on the rapist.

Rape is not caused by an outfit or by how much someone drinks. Rape is caused only by the rapist-the Coast Guard needs to stop blaming the victim and end rape by telling men to not rape and start prosecuting men that do rape. The most effective way to reduce sexual assault and rape is to eradicate a culture in which sex crime is acceptable.

The Coast Guard Academy integrated women into the Academy in 1976. The United States Coast Guard’s official website quoted cadets from incoming class in 1976 and many felt that the “only women who found sexual discrimination were those who looked for it”.  Almost 40 years later the attitude towards women at the Academy remained the same.

The Military Rape Crisis Center saw a much needed need for sexual abuse survivors at the Coast Guard Academy and currently offers two support groups in New London specifically for Coast Guard Academy cadets.  A common concern among participants in the groups is that reporting a sex crime is close to impossible and even if they do report the assault “it’ll go nowhere”. Of the 30+ female cadets that responded that they have been victim of a sex crime in the survey only three came forward to report the crimes. In all three cases the United States Coast Guard Academy chose not to prosecute the perpetrators.

While the Department of Defense is trying to make strive in preventing sexual violence within its ranks, the United States Coast Guard which falls under the Department of Homeland Security is falling way behind.

The cadets at the Coast Guard Academy are the future leaders of the United States Coast Guard. When the cadets graduate and become officers they would take with them the knowledge and skills that they learned during their time at the Academy. Along with their specific job skills and leadership skills they have also been taught that sexual assault and rape is “somewhat natural”. They would deal with a rape under their command by thinking that the sexual predator is only being “clumsy” or “stupid”.

Resources:

Military Rape Crisis Center

My Duty To Speak

Sign the Petition to help end Coast Guard Rape

Washington, D.C. – Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Reps. Mike Turner (R-OH) and Niki Tsongas (D-MA) wrote to the Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard to express their concern that the Coast Guard has not yet adopted an expedited transfer policy for victims of sexual violence as have the military departments under the authority of the Department of Defense. The STRONG Act requires the development of sexual assault prevention and response training at every level of professional development. In addition, it affords victims the protection of expedited transfer away from the geographic location of their alleged attacker.

“While we understand the Coast Guard is not under the authority of the Department of Defense absent a formal declaration of war, the spirit and intent of this law are to eliminate impediments to preventing sexual assault and provide for the protection of sexual violence victims throughout our nation’s Armed Services, including the Coast Guard,” wrote the lawmakers.

In the event that there are policies that cannot be implemented to align Coast Guard policy in a manner consistent with the provisions of the STRONG Act absent legislation, the lawmakers have requested that the Commandant provide a list of such necessary changes to statute.

“We respectfully request, therefore, a briefing no later than March 8, 2013 on the sexual assault response regulations, programs, and services that exist in the Coast Guard and how these policies align with the requirements of the STRONG Act….We also specifically request that the Coast Guard implement new policies to provide for the provision of expedited consideration of a request for transfer,” added the lawmakers.

The Military Rape Crisis Center has worked with these lawmakers to ensure that Coast Guard rape survivors are not left out from life saving legislation made available to the Department of Defense.

If you are a survivor of Military Sexual Trauma—or know someone who is—and need help, contact the Military Rape Crisis Center at www.stopmilitaryrape.org.

Witnesses include: Gen. Mark A. Welsh III,  U.S. Air Force chief of staff; Gen. Edward A. Rice Jr., commander of U.S. Air Force Air Education and Training Command; David Lisak, forensic consultant; Retired Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Cindy McNally and TSgt Jennifer Norris.

Watch the testimonies here.

Read My Duty to Speak testimonies from Air Force rape survivors here.

1) by mail to 1331 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Suite 1150, Washington, D.C., 20425,
2) emailed to publiccomments@usccr.gov, or
3) faxed to (202) 376-1163

for further information or questions contact Panayiota Bertzikis, Executive Director, Military Rape Crisis Center at panayiota@stopmilitaryrape.org

“We owe it to our brave service members to do everything we can to protect them from sexual assault,”Senator Boxer said. “The Senate’s action today will strengthen the military’s zero tolerance policy for these heinous acts of violence by permanently banning those convicted of felony sexual assault from serving in our military.”

In 2011 alone, 3,192 incidents of sexual assault were reported in the military. According to the Department of Defense, this figure may significantly underestimate the actual number of sexual assaults and the actual number may be closer to 19,000 annually.

In addition, service members who receive a conduct waiver—including a sexual assault waiver—are more likely to commit a sexual assault. According to a report recently published by the Army, soldiers that entered the military with conduct waivers were more likely to commit a felony sex crime while on active duty than soldiers who entered the military without waivers.