Veterans Say Rape Cases Mishandled

AOL News:

WASHINGTON -- It may become a landmark case to force the military to take rape and sexual assault seriously. Or it could be yet another failed attempt in a decades-long battle by women to be accepted in the armed forces.

Read the whole story: AOL News

Comments

[Mieko Mori]

08:09 PM on 02/16/2011

How can the military claim to liberate women in the middle east when they're oblivious to the rape of their own?

[Mieko Mori]

07:00 PM on 02/16/2011

I've worked on several high-rise construction sites where I was often the only woman among hundreds of men. A sizeable portion of them looked (and smelled) not only like they were hired off the street, but like they actually lived there. Yet I can count on one hand the incidents in which I felt I was looked down upon. NOT ONCE did I ever feel afraid for my safety (including during the hundreds of hours of overtime spent working alone on near-deserted sites).

What does this say about the state of the US military?

[Seymoreclearly]

04:59 PM on 02/16/2011

"I don't know that a culture of sexism and misogyny has ever been recognized as a basis" for suing for violations of equal protection, he added. "Not every sexual assault is a violation of equal protection." -Eugene Fidell, Pres, Natl Institute of Military Justice

Yes, we see your rather slim point, but when it's undeniable that just such a culture exists, your point gets flushed with all the other BS rhetoric. As a woman, a citizen, a taxpayer, I am appalled.

"The lawsuit cited the Pentagon's own statistics that reported 3,230 rapes and other sexual assaults in 2009. Because the military acknowledges that 80 percent of victims don't report the crime, the real number may be more than 16,000."

This is abhorent behavior by thugs masquerading as men in uniform. Disgusting.

[Seymoreclearly]

04:31 PM on 02/16/2011

What did male soldiers do before women became their combat companions? Rape each other?

(To the moderators who are sure to bristle at such a question, think about it before you delete.)

This is our national military disgrace, from the top down.

[SarcHuff50]

01:45 PM on 02/16/2011

What if such perpetrators to get executed to set an example? Less recruits in the future?

[libluv235]

12:18 PM on 02/16/2011

I am glad these women are coming forward and fighting for their right to serve their country without being assaulted by their fellow soldiers. Men need to evolve or get out of the way.

[whtgoesarndcomesarnd]

11:51 AM on 02/16/2011

This has been going on since when I served in the early 80s. One of the tactics the military uses is to threaten the women with charges and to lock them up in a psych ward and discharge them for mental problems. This happened in my unit a couple of times where the Drill Sargeant would get friendly with one or two victims, single them out and offer them a "joint" or liquor and then rape them. The victim is then threatened with "charges" b/c she was in possession of contraband. What people don't realize is that some of these rapes result in pregnancies and abortions. Also I'm not sure about now, but then any crimes committed on base were not reported to authorities including the police. As long as males & females are permitted to serve together, rapes will occur. This is predictable. What needs to change is the military's policy of not punishing the rapists and instead punishing the victims and humiliating them. I stabbed my attempted rapist in the eye with an icepick. GAME OVER!!

[Seymoreclearly]

04:34 PM on 02/16/2011

Good for you! It's a sorry state of affairs when the military brass -who are charged with leading cadres of men & women who fight on our behalf- tacitly approve of such behavior. Disgraceful !

[thegreenhornet]

09:05 AM on 02/16/2011

That the military could turn it's bacon this problem and allow it to flourish, all the while condemning these of rape by opposing troops in Bosnia, the Congo and elsewhere, is a blight in it's reputation forever. This should be included in history books so our children will learn if this as they grow up and can be taught about all forms of equality respect for everyone.

[UKNOWHOW ICM]

06:25 AM on 02/16/2011

Truly sad. I hope this isn't the reason for those 163 Republicans who signed off of the efforts to REDEFINE rape.

[swabby01]

08:44 AM on 02/16/2011

i'd sure like to know what republican females want rape redefined.

[JShankel]

11:11 PM on 02/15/2011

Where are the hearings and the studies?  When it was gays in the military, we needed hours of testimony about the horrors of being checked out in the shower and how that might impact morale and readiness.

I'm thinking rape might also impact morale a tad.  And not just among the victims.

Studies show that a majority of men are less than comfortable with rape.  Their readiness might just slightly be impacted by having to shower with rapists. 

It at least merits a few dozen days of hearings, no?

[jafsie]

10:07 PM on 02/15/2011

"She said [the chaplain] told her 'it must have been God's will for her to be raped" and recommended she attend church more often."

I'd love to see that chaplain go to prison alongside the rapist.

[thepoliticalcat]

11:21 PM on 02/15/2011

Sounds like an excellent idea. Maybe we can convince some nice prisoners to visit him.

[Dunkleberger Karl]

05:21 AM on 02/16/2011

In prison nobody touches the "god adjacent"
sept the former alrterboys turned pedophiles
they shank the religulos!

[TrueD]

10:05 PM on 02/15/2011

Conservatives want to see consequences for government misdeeds, except when it comes to the actions of the Dept. of Defense. A few weeks ago we learned that the "military paid a total of $285 billion to more than 100 contractors between 2007 and '09, even though those same companies were defrauding taxpayers in the same period". Now it is an outrageous rape epidemic swept under the carpet.

I agree with conservatives: badly behaving government agencies need to have their budgets cut. And we don't really need to shoulder one half of the entire world's military expenditures, just to be safe. Let us see some real consequences not only for the DOD budget but for the rapists that they have been sheltering.

[mnkors]

10:04 PM on 02/15/2011

The US journalists and commentators have been over themselves about Assange's so-called "sexual crimes."
If only the same journalists and commentators looked closer to home...

[Dalovely]

09:54 PM on 02/15/2011

Women should quitthe military and watch the institution implode on itself

[Marnie1]

09:54 PM on 02/15/2011

What does it say about the military's attitude toward their troops, toward discipline,toward unity when it obsesses about ferreting out homosexuals but makes so little effort to ferret out rapists and abusers?
One group is harmless the others are violent criminals.
Kind of puts a nasty twist to "Be all you can be."