Silence is the face of deliberate flaunting of orders is never acceptable and all forms of sexual aggression is certainly against standing orders in the military. Yet I must say this. It is the women who must find the strength to stare this problem down, because the support is out there and it demands a warrior's courage to face it head on and to force resolution.
Ass grabbing in a public location is as old as mankind. How long will it last if women, the moment it happens, start immediately informing the maximum available audience of what just happened at the top of their voice. This will take actual training for many women but they should get involved. The more the merrier.
Simple critical mass will stop this nonsense cold. The same hold true for men who attempt to use their position to force sexual favors. Again loud protestations will soon curb that. Remember the press and the legal system can only go so far to change bad behavior. The women need to be way more direct, just as men are generally in such situations...
The Military Is Next: America’s Tide Is Turning Against Sexual Assault And Harassment
By
NICHOLE BOWEN-CRAWFORD
on December 20, 2017
There is something vindicating about seeing the faces of “the silence breakers”
on the cover of Time Magazine’s latest Person of the Year issue. These
women (and men) had the courage to publicly call out sexual misconduct
by powerful men in Hollywood, and their recognition is special for every
person who has experienced sexual misconduct and felt the pressure to
stay silent about it.
As a combat veteran, I chose to remain silent when I was assaulted in Iraq by a higher-ranking sergeant in 2003.
I
was advised by senior male soldiers I admired to not report the
incident formally. “You’re asking for a lot of trouble if you report
this,” they advised. “Your career is more important than this.” I
listened.
I
have thought about that choice many times, and each time I feel guilty
that my silence left the door open for the offender to do it again.
When silence gets baked into the system
The silence-breakers are changing that story. Instead
of career devastation, the accusers who are coming forward are being
celebrated, and many men in positions of power are suffering public
career ruin that even an apology letter and time with a therapist won’t
make right.
In
the military, when a lower-ranking service member is assaulted by
someone in a position of power, they must report this to their
supervisor (through their chain of command) in order to file a
complaint. Sometimes this “supervisor” can include the perpetrator, or a
friend who is close to them.
This
isn’t all that different from a young woman in Hollywood being forced
to report her powerful producer’s sexual misconduct (i.e. Harvey
Weinstein) to a member of the production company’s board of directors…
or drop the subject. There isn’t a way to appeal to an authority who is
not directly connected to, and perhaps even dependent upon, the abuser.
When
the men and women serving our country can’t report sexual misconduct
outside of their chain of command, victims will choose to not come
forward. Sexual offenders will continue to fly under the radar, serve
out a successful career, and evade consequences for their actions.
Lots of work left to do
Last spring, the Department of Defense’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office published a report on
military sexual assault in fiscal 2016. SAPRO’s findings were jarring:
nearly 15,000 sexual assaults against service members that year alone.
But 7 out of 10 service members did not report their assaults in an
“unrestricted” (actionable) manner to their chain of command, showing a
severe lack of confidence in the current system.
Of
those who were brave enough to make an unrestricted report,
approximately 60% told the Department of Defense that they had
experienced some form of retaliation for reporting.
What
did all of that personal risk get victims? Not much. More than 70% of
cases considered for court-martial were never even referred to
court-martial proceedings. And just 9% of cases ended in conviction.
In 2014, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the New York Democrat, introduced a billthat would have allowed service members to report sexual assaults to authorities outside of their chain of command.
That
idea, however, didn’t sit well with senior military officials. who
thought it impugned the good name of their services’ leaders. “Removing
commanders from the military justice process sends the message to
everyone in the military that there is a lack of faith in the officer
corps, Gen. Martin Dempsey, then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, told Congress in a letter challenging Gillibrand’s bill. “Conveyance of a message that commanders cannot be trusted will only serve to undermine good order and discipline.”
The
idea of maintaining confidence in commanders, even at risk of chilling
some victims out of reporting their assaults, won the day. Gillibrand’s
bill failed in favor of a lighter proposal introduced by Senator Claire
McCaskill, the Missouri Democrat; notably, her bill kept the chain of
command looped into sexual assault cases.
Progress is possible now
Nevertheless, improvements have been made to support victims of military sexual trauma. The Pentagon reported the
estimated number of sexual assaults in the military has dropped from
20,300 in 2014 to 14,900 in 2016, and reporting rates are estimated to
have increased by 9%.
Even
though there is progress, Gillibrand has called the military sexual
assault statistics for 2016 “appalling,” and she is continuing to fight
for sexual assault victims’ rights, including those in our military.
Now
may be a better time than ever for action. When I see the
silence-breakers’ bravery and more offenders being brought to justice, I
know this is progress. Regulatory reforms have been hard to come by,
but cultural change is happening, and very rapidly. That means hope is
coming for all of us — including the women and men serving our country.
Nichole Bowen-Crawford is a U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq. She
has appeared on CNN, NBC News, New Day Northwest, and KOMO News. Her
veteran’s advocacy work with Senator Patty Murray was featured in the
Seattle Times, and the LA Times. She has spoken in D.C. on behalf of
Service Women’s Action Network to members of Congress to advocate for
victims of military sexual trauma. Nichole has her M.Ed. in Counseling
and Human Relations and is working on completing her book Lady Warrior Project: 22 True Stories of Combat, Triumph, and Healing by Fall 2018.
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