Rape in the Military

[JBeukema]

Greg Jeloudov was 35 and new to America when he decided to join the Army. Like most soldiers, he was driven by both patriotism for his adopted homeland and the pragmatic notion that the military could be a first step in a career that would enable him to provide for his new family. Instead, Jeloudov arrived at Fort Benning, Ga., for basic training in May 2009, in the middle of the economic crisis and rising xenophobia. The soldiers in his unit, responding to his Russian accent and New York City address, called him a “champagne socialist” and a “commie ******.” He was, he told NEWSWEEK, “in the middle of the viper’s pit.” Less than two weeks after arriving on base, he was gang-raped in the barracks by men who said they were showing him who was in charge of the United States. When he reported the attack to unit commanders, he says they told him, “It must have been your fault. You must have provoked them.”

The Military's Secret Shame - Newsweek

 

[waltky]

Gates an' Rummy gettin' sued for rape...

Military Rape: Rampant, Ignored
May 18, 2011 - A lawsuit against Robert Gates and Donald Rumsfeld and new legislation try to stop an epidemic.

When Panayiota Bertzikis tried to tell her commanding officers that she had been raped in May 2006 by a shipmate four months into her tour at the Burlington, Vt., Coast Guard Station, they discouraged her from talking to an Equal Opportunity officer, barred her from seeing a civilian therapist, ignored a written confession from her attacker and browbeat her into silence. But thanks to victims-turned-activists like Bertzikis who are pulling military sexual trauma (MST) out from the shadows, it’s become harder for the U.S. military to ignore the problem. In February, Bertzikis, along with 14 other women and two men, filed a lawsuit (Cioca et al. v. Rumsfeld and Gates) charging Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, with mishandling their sexual assault cases.

MST is an epidemic. Nearly a quarter of women serving in combat areas say they have been sexually assaulted by fellow soldiers. But everyone agrees that reliable statistics don’t exist. The Pentagon, which recorded 3,158 cases of sexual assault in 2010, estimates that only about 14 percent of all incidents are reported. Back in 2006, when Bertzikis went online after her rape to look for help, she found almost no information. But when she blogged about her experience, stories similar to hers poured in. In response, Bertzikis—who left the Coast Guard in 2007 and is now 29—set up the Military Rape Crisis Center in Cambridge, Mass. She estimates the organization has provided 6,200 people with counseling, legal advocacy and case management—along with the assurance that they are not alone.

Susan Burke, the attorney in Washington, D.C., who initiated the lawsuit, says, “The military is woefully mishandling these cases all the time.” Intending to file what she calls “a reform lawsuit,” she sought plaintiffs through advocacy groups, including the Crisis Center. Their allegations are not easy reading. The plaintiffs report being spat on, grabbed at, masturbated over, stripped, drugged, stalked, beaten and raped. One rapist took photos; another videotaped the event. (That tape was later used as evidence against the victim because, she was told, it showed that she “did not struggle enough.”) When victims’ reported the abuse, their commanders ignored them, insisted the sex was consensual or a result of drinking, and ordered them not to pursue action because it would ruin their attacker’s career. In a world where rank is everything, those raped were generally low-level, while their rapists were often their superiors. The plaintiffs report being forced to continue working under their attackers’ supervision or to live nearby.

By the Pentagon’s reckoning, fewer than 21 percent of reported cases make it to court martial and only a little over half of those result in convictions. In the ultimate insult, as a result of their trauma, many MST victims are deemed unfit to serve and were kicked out of the military. “Every case I get,” says Bertzikis, “they blame the victim, the perpetrator never gets punished and the survivor is the one who ends up losing her career.” Because the military investigates itself, there is little incentive to deal with a problem that makes everyone look bad. In civilian life, of course, most rapes also go unreported and most assailants don’t spend time in prison. But because enlistees cannot just walk away, the aftermath of an unpunished assault in the military can often be more traumatic for victims. Commanders have control over an enlistee’s career, living situation, safety, medical care and community standing. When a rape survivor is forced to confront her attacker daily, Bertzikis says, “The only options out are going AWOL or suicide.”

More Military Rape: Rampant, Ignored -- In These Times

 

[MikeK]

When I was stationed on Camp LeJeune in the mid-1950s there was a battalion of Women Marines ("BAMs") on base. While some of them were rather masculine and otherwise unattractive there were quite a few really good-looking ones. In addition to them there is a Naval Hospital on LeJeune and quite a few of the nurses and other female Navy personnel were beauties (I dated one). But I never heard of a single rape or anything like that.

I first heard about intra-military rape when women became integrated into combat units in the Army and serving on board ships in the Navy, neither of which I regard as a workable situation. Women do not belong in combat line companies or on naval vessels at sea. In the simplest terms it is asking for trouble.

But this homosexual rape incident is way out in left field. What the hell is happening to this country's military? I don't know about the Army but something like that could not have happened in the Marine Corps back in the 50s and 60s. Absolutely not.

 

[Wiseacre]

Rapes happen, inside the military and outside too. The military force is itself just a cross section of our society, and they get a lot of bad people along with the good ones. As in civilian cases, it's hard to prove what is consentual and what isn't, often ends up as he said/she said. That's hwy the conviction rate isn't good, but I'd venture to say no worse than in the civilian justice system.

I got some doubts about that story, JB. He was 35? We let people in at 35 now? Last time I checked, which was awhile ago, you couldn't be older than 27.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Rapes happen, inside the military and outside too. The military force is itself just a cross section of our society, and they get a lot of bad people along with the good ones. As in civilian cases, it's hard to prove what is consentual and what isn't, often ends up as he said/she said. That's hwy the conviction rate isn't good, but I'd venture to say no worse than in the civilian justice system.

I got some doubts about that story, JB. He was 35? We let people in at 35 now? Last time I checked, which was awhile ago, you couldn't be older than 27.

They raised the age limit due to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Rape happens, it is no more prevalent in the military then anywhere else. And I seriously doubt a command would tell a recruit it was his fault.

 

[Trajan]

Greg Jeloudov was 35 and new to America when he decided to join the Army. Like most soldiers, he was driven by both patriotism for his adopted homeland and the pragmatic notion that the military could be a first step in a career that would enable him to provide for his new family. Instead, Jeloudov arrived at Fort Benning, Ga., for basic training in May 2009, in the middle of the economic crisis and rising xenophobia. The soldiers in his unit, responding to his Russian accent and New York City address, called him a “champagne socialist” and a “commie ******.” He was, he told NEWSWEEK, “in the middle of the viper’s pit.” Less than two weeks after arriving on base, he was gang-raped in the barracks by men who said they were showing him who was in charge of the United States. When he reported the attack to unit commanders, he says they told him, “It must have been your fault. You must have provoked them.”

The Military's Secret Shame - Newsweek

is there anything other than this article to back up these calims and the crux of the article?

22 years ago?

the CID would conduct investigations into such reports, they are trained investigators, they must be an NCO to apply, they must have at least 2 years fo higher educ. equaling at least 60 credits, Top Secret background check...etc etc..I don't see them buryinh these events.


frankly this article has all the earmarks of a hit piece ala Haditha....

 

[nitroz]

I hope the soldiers who did this AND the higher ups who didn't do anything about it get a dishonorable discharge and court marshaled.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

I hope the soldiers who did this AND the higher ups who didn't do anything about it get a dishonorable discharge and court marshaled.

It didn't happen. No way a command would cover that up. They couldn't for one thing because of medical requirements. As mentioned this is a bogus claim by someone with an axe to grind.

 

[Tank]

Don't ask, Don't tell

 

[Trajan]

Gates an' Rummy gettin' sued for rape...

Military Rape: Rampant, Ignored
May 18, 2011 - A lawsuit against Robert Gates and Donald Rumsfeld and new legislation try to stop an epidemic.

When Panayiota Bertzikis tried to tell her commanding officers that she had been raped in May 2006 by a shipmate four months into her tour at the Burlington, Vt., Coast Guard Station, they discouraged her from talking to an Equal Opportunity officer, barred her from seeing a civilian therapist, ignored a written confession from her attacker and browbeat her into silence. But thanks to victims-turned-activists like Bertzikis who are pulling military sexual trauma (MST) out from the shadows, it’s become harder for the U.S. military to ignore the problem. In February, Bertzikis, along with 14 other women and two men, filed a lawsuit (Cioca et al. v. Rumsfeld and Gates) charging Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, with mishandling their sexual assault cases.

MST is an epidemic. Nearly a quarter of women serving in combat areas say they have been sexually assaulted by fellow soldiers. But everyone agrees that reliable statistics don’t exist. The Pentagon, which recorded 3,158 cases of sexual assault in 2010, estimates that only about 14 percent of all incidents are reported. Back in 2006, when Bertzikis went online after her rape to look for help, she found almost no information. But when she blogged about her experience, stories similar to hers poured in. In response, Bertzikis—who left the Coast Guard in 2007 and is now 29—set up the Military Rape Crisis Center in Cambridge, Mass. She estimates the organization has provided 6,200 people with counseling, legal advocacy and case management—along with the assurance that they are not alone.

Susan Burke, the attorney in Washington, D.C., who initiated the lawsuit, says, “The military is woefully mishandling these cases all the time.” Intending to file what she calls “a reform lawsuit,” she sought plaintiffs through advocacy groups, including the Crisis Center. Their allegations are not easy reading. The plaintiffs report being spat on, grabbed at, masturbated over, stripped, drugged, stalked, beaten and raped. One rapist took photos; another videotaped the event. (That tape was later used as evidence against the victim because, she was told, it showed that she “did not struggle enough.”) When victims’ reported the abuse, their commanders ignored them, insisted the sex was consensual or a result of drinking, and ordered them not to pursue action because it would ruin their attacker’s career. In a world where rank is everything, those raped were generally low-level, while their rapists were often their superiors. The plaintiffs report being forced to continue working under their attackers’ supervision or to live nearby.

By the Pentagon’s reckoning, fewer than 21 percent of reported cases make it to court martial and only a little over half of those result in convictions. In the ultimate insult, as a result of their trauma, many MST victims are deemed unfit to serve and were kicked out of the military. “Every case I get,” says Bertzikis, “they blame the victim, the perpetrator never gets punished and the survivor is the one who ends up losing her career.” Because the military investigates itself, there is little incentive to deal with a problem that makes everyone look bad. In civilian life, of course, most rapes also go unreported and most assailants don’t spend time in prison. But because enlistees cannot just walk away, the aftermath of an unpunished assault in the military can often be more traumatic for victims. Commanders have control over an enlistee’s career, living situation, safety, medical care and community standing. When a rape survivor is forced to confront her attacker daily, Bertzikis says, “The only options out are going AWOL or suicide.”

More Military Rape: Rampant, Ignored -- In These Times

Nan Levinson, a Boston-based journalist, is author of Outspoken: Free Speech Stories. Her next book, War Is Not a Game, is about the new GI resistance movement. She blogs at More Outspoken.

this article is unadulterated trash btw.......no, no agenda here