Rape in the U.S. military

[waltky]

A growing problem in the military...

Sexual assaults reported on rise at U.S. military academies
Wed December 28, 2011 - Defense Dept.: Reports rose by nearly 60 percent during the 2010-2011 academic year; DoD notes efforts by academies to encourage reporting may figure in increase; Report found most academy programs met requirements of existing policies; Among new DoD policies is lengthened holding period for records of sexual assaults

Washington (CNN) -- Sexual assaults at the nation's military academies increased sharply in the last academic year, according to a new report from the Department of Defense. Accounts of sexual assault rose by nearly 60 percent during the 2010-2011 academic program year. A total of 65 reports involved cadets and midshipmen compared to a total of 41 reports in the prior year. While the Defense Department was unable to cite definitive causes for the increase, the report did say efforts by the academies to encourage victims to report incidents of sexual assault could have played a role in the swell of cases. As part of the review, site visits were conducted at the U.S. Military Academy, the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Air Force Academy. Policies, training and procedures at the academies also were reviewed, and focus groups were held with cadets and midshipmen.

Despite the increase in reports, Defense Department officials found that most of the academy programs satisfied, and in some cases exceeded, the requirements of existing policies. The report cited as examples a "model therapist-led support group" set up at the Naval Academy and a new program to increase sexual assault reports at the Air Force Academy. "We know that the military academies are similar to college campuses around the country in that sexual harassment and assault are challenges that all faculty, staff and students need to work to prevent," Maj. Gen. Mary Kay Hertog, the director of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, said in a release. "However, when it does 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."

Areas for improvement were noted, including collaboration among the academies to share "best practices." Hertog said her office will follow up with the academies every six months to make sure the improvements are made "in a timely manner." The Defense Department also announced two new policies in an effort it said to support sexual assault victims: Victims who have filed an unrestricted report can now request an expedited transfer from their unit, and sexual assault records will now be kept for 50 years in unrestricted cases and five years in restricted cases. Standardizing the holding period for records will "ensure victims have extended access to documents related to the sexual assault," the Defense Department said in a release.

Source

 

[old navy]

MajGen Hertog stated that the academies are like other college campuses. No they are not. The competition to get in is incredible. The five service academies cost the U.S. taxpayer tons of money.

One of the areas for improvement was to share best practices with the other academies. Really???
Sexual assault reports are up 60 percent and you are going to swap success secrets.

Part of the problem is that the leadership has allowed the academies to be like other college campuses. They need to start running them like the military schools in which they were intended. The taxpayer deserves no less.

 

[High_Gravity]

I know the Air Force Academy has had this problem for years, on Active duty there is a zero tolerance policy towards this, I wonder why its so prevalent now in the Military Academies?

 

[old navy]

I know the Air Force Academy has had this problem for years, on Active duty there is a zero tolerance policy towards this, I wonder why its so prevalent now in the Military Academies?

I would guess that when the general stated that the academies are like other college campuses, she meant that they have young people and they have hormones.

One cannot legislate the heart or morality, and apparently not the genitals. As I said, the huge difference in the five service academies is the cost to the taxpayer. Once the selection process is complete, the Academy leadership is tasked with molding and controlling these future leaders.

Is there too lax of a command climate? I don't know. The Naval Academy officers I served with ran the gamut from great to crappy. The other source officers did the same. My son was recruited for football from four of the five service academies. He chose to go the civilian route and entered the Marine Corps through another officer accession method.

How he and his peers end up serving the United States in the next 4 or 20 plus years remains to be seen. One thing for sure though is that he and none of his non-academy peers have a rape or other felony on their record. If they did, they would not be military officers nor be a burden to the taxpayer.

 

[whitehall]

Don't persue a career in law chimp face. You might be surprised to know that "sexual assault" is not necessarily rape.

 

[High_Gravity]

Don't persue a career in law chimp face. You might be surprised to know that "sexual assault" is not necessarily rape.

Who the fuck are you talking to?

 

[High_Gravity]

I know the Air Force Academy has had this problem for years, on Active duty there is a zero tolerance policy towards this, I wonder why its so prevalent now in the Military Academies?

I would guess that when the general stated that the academies are like other college campuses, she meant that they have young people and they have hormones.

One cannot legislate the heart or morality, and apparently not the genitals. As I said, the huge difference in the five service academies is the cost to the taxpayer. Once the selection process is complete, the Academy leadership is tasked with molding and controlling these future leaders.

Is there too lax of a command climate? I don't know. The Naval Academy officers I served with ran the gamut from great to crappy. The other source officers did the same. My son was recruited for football from four of the five service academies. He chose to go the civilian route and entered the Marine Corps through another officer accession method.

How he and his peers end up serving the United States in the next 4 or 20 plus years remains to be seen. One thing for sure though is that he and none of his non-academy peers have a rape or other felony on their record. If they did, they would not be military officers nor be a burden to the taxpayer.

I talked a few Officers who had graduated from the Air Force academy and from what they had told me it is a very controlled environment for the first few years, they have strict curfews and rules they have to adhere to, however on the other hand the officer I had talked to did get a DUI while at the Academy, so there is probably more there than what he told me.

 

[SayMyName]

They need to start running them like the military schools in which they were intended. The taxpayer deserves no less.

I agree.

 

[waltky]

Lawmaker prods military rape legislation...

U.S. military must change how it deals with rape, lawmaker says
March 7, 2012, U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier on Wednesday castigated the U.S. military for its policies in dealing with rape and sexual assault and repeated her call for legislation to fix a system she said was broken.

In a floor speech, Speier (D-Hillsborough) called for passage of her legislation that would move rape and assault investigations out of the normal chain of command and put them in the hands of an impartial office. Her speech came in the same week that eight current and former members of the U.S. military filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging they had been raped, assaulted or harassed while serving, and that were targeted by superiors after reporting the attacks.

The Pentagon has repeatedly deplored sexual assaults and has insisted that it has no tolerance for such attacks. In December, it announced a new policy that gives those charging a sexual assault the option of a quick transfer to another unit or installation. The Defense Department has also stepped up training in handling such cases and in preventing assaults.

But the military system dealing with the issue remains a broken system, Speier said. The Department of Defense estimates that more than 19,000 service members were raped or sexually assaulted in 2010. But only 13% of them actually reported the incident, and of those 13%, only 8% of the perpetrators were prosecuted and an even smaller percentage were convicted, she said.

“I rise again this morning to highlight the epidemic of rape and sexual assault in the military,” Speier said. “I'm here to decry a code of dishonor that protects rapists and punishes victims. I'm here to call out an entrenched chain of command that squashes reports of sexual assault because they bring unwanted attention to the unit. I stand here today as I have 15 previous times to tell the story of a U.S. service member who was raped by a fellow service member and then robbed of justice by an unfair system that puts too much power in the hands of a single commander.”

MORE

 

[theHawk]

This is yet another military hit piece. Why don't you compare the numbers to regular college rape/sexual assault levels?


■One in 5 college women are raped during their college years.
■Most survivors of sexual assaults are full-time students. Approximately one-third of them are first year students between 17-19 years old.
■In survey of 412 college students, it was found that 11.7% of gay or bisexual men and 30.6% of the lesbian or bisexual women indicated that they had been forced to have sex against their will at some point in their lives.
■81% of women who were stalked by a current or former partner were also physically assaulted by that same partner (US Department of Justice, 1998)
■ 80-90% of sexual assaults are perpetrated by individuals known to the survivor.
■85% of rapes are committed by a person the victim knows.
■In a recent study by the National Institute of Justice, survivors of rape knew their attackers as: Fellow classmates (35.5%) Friends (34.2%) Boyfriends or ex-boyfriends (23.7%)
Acquaintances (2.6%)
■One in 12 college men admitted to committing acts that met the legal definition of rape.
■More than one in 5 men report “becoming so sexually aroused that they could not stop themselves from having sex,” even though the woman did not consent.
■35% of men report some likelihood that they would rape if they could be assured they wouldn’t be caught or punished.
■81% of on-campus and 84% of off-campus sexual assaults are not reported to the police.
■Fewer than 5% of attempted/completed rapes are reported to law enforcement.
■Nearly 60% of rapes occur in the survivor’s residence hall.
■52% of reported rapes/sexual assaults occur after midnight; 37% occur between 6pm and midnight.
■In a survey of students at 171 institutions of higher education, alcohol was involved in 74% of all sexual assaults.

National Statistics about Sexual Violence on College Campuses | Dr. Kathleen Young: Treating Trauma



Don't hear much liberal outcry over the sexual assault/rape epidemic happening at universities all over the country. Instead they have to focus on the institutions that they hate .....namely the military.

 

[CaughtInTheMid]

just make people responsible for their own actions.

 

[Sallow]

This is nothing new. Men get raped as well and don't report it for obvious reasons.

 

[whitehall]

First you said it was rape and then you said it was sexual assault. What is "sexual assault"? Unwanted sexual contact? What is sexual contact? A pat on the ass?

 

[waltky]

Military plays 'blame the victim'...

Rape Victims Say Military Labels Them 'Crazy'
April 14, 2012 -- Women accuse military of using psychiatric diagnoses to oust sexual assault victims; "I couldn't trust my chain of command to ever back me up," says an alleged victim; 3,191 military sexual assaults reported in '11: "Unacceptable," says defense secretary; Pentagon is assessing its training for sexual assault prevention and response

Stephanie Schroeder joined the U.S. Marine Corps not long after 9/11. She was a 21-year-old with an associate's degree when she reported for boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina. "I felt like it was the right thing to do," Schroeder recalls. A year and a half later, the Marines diagnosed her with a personality disorder and deemed her psychologically unfit for the Corps.

Anna Moore enlisted in the Army after 9/11 and planned to make a career of it. Moore was a Patriot missile battery operator in Germany when she was diagnosed with a personality disorder and dismissed from the Army. Jenny McClendon was serving as a sonar operator on a Navy destroyer when she received her personality disorder diagnosis. These women joined different branches of the military but they share a common experience:

Each received the psychiatric diagnosis and military discharge after reporting a sexual assault. "I'm not crazy," says Schroeder, who is married now, with two daughters. "I am actually relatively normal." McClendon says she had a similar reaction. "I remember thinking this is absurd; this is ridiculous. How could I be emotionally unstable? I'm very clear of mind, especially considering what had happened." McClendon says. "It was a ludicrous diagnosis."

A similar pattern

CNN has interviewed women in all branches of the armed forces, including the Coast Guard, who tell stories that follow a similar pattern -- a sexual assault, a command dismissive of the allegations and a psychiatric discharge. Schroeder says a fellow Marine followed her to the bathroom in April 2002. She says he then punched her, ripped off her pants and raped her. When she reported what happened, a non-commissioned officer dismissed the allegation, saying, "'Don't come bitching to me because you had sex and changed your mind,'" Schroeder recalls.

MORE

 

[SayMyName]

MajGen Hertog stated that the academies are like other college campuses. No they are not.
Sexual assault reports are up 60 percent and you are going to swap success secrets.

Part of the problem is that the leadership has allowed the academies to be like other college campuses. They need to start running them like the military schools in which they were intended. The taxpayer deserves no less.

I agree.

 

[whitehall]

First of all the issue is sexual assault not rape. According to federal guidelines sexual assault could include practical jokes or crude talk or unwanted touching. Apparently the statistics include allegations of sexual assault rather than convictions.

 

[Artevelde]

They need to start running them like the military schools in which they were intended. The taxpayer deserves no less.

I agree.

I'll second that.