Rape in Military

If there's already Rape in Military thread please merge...

Please sign position:
http://signon.org/sign/general-mark-welsh-usaf

Military sex assault reports up, changes ordered
May 8, 2013
Associated Press


WASHINGTON (AP) — Sexual assaults in the military are a growing epidemic across the services and thousands of victims are still unwilling to come forward despite a slew of new oversight and assistance programs, according to a new Pentagon report.

Troubling new numbers estimate that up to 26,000 military members may have been sexually assaulted last year, according to survey results released against a backdrops of scandals including an ongoing investigation into more than 30 Air Force instructors for assaults on trainees at a Texas base

The report was released Tuesday and comes just days after the Air Force's head of sexual assault prevention was arrested on charges of groping a woman in a Northern Virginia parking lot. And it follows a heated debate over whether commanders should be stripped of the authority to overturn military jury verdicts, such as one officer did in a recent sexual assault conviction.


Entire Article

http://www.hsconnect.com/page/conte...rts-up--changes-ordered-.html?isap=1&nav=5029

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/23/lackland-air-force-base_n_2535035.html
Lackland Air Force Base Scandal: Hearing Probes Sexual Misconduct At Training Headquarters

Rocky I can't find dox, just her blog.

This is an Awesome Movie:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invisible_War

If you get a chance, watch it.

http://invisiblewarmovie.com/

Rocky what I can't find is a direct quote from Gen Welsh saying that rape in the military is due to "hook up" culture. Military Rape has been ignored, debunked and minimized. In the articles about Welsh I found he sounds OK.

Nm, I found it. He is fucking dangerous to our troops. This is what the military leadership just doesn't understand. It OUR soldiers being assaulted.

http://www.policymic.com/articles/4...staff-blames-hookup-culture-for-military-rape

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-new...ks-in-townsville/story-e6frfkp9-1226643137294

Same theme, different location.

You're supposed to fuck the enemy, not your mates, you stupid bastards.

Agreed. It's available on NetFlix streaming, which is where I watched it.

Is it acceptable (or not) to joke about rape in the US military? Discuss.

We joke about everything and anything. It's on you to choose to laugh or not.

Sry, should have enclosed my pervious post in <IRONY> </IRONY>

STAND WITH MILITARY VICTIMS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT

http://www.barbaraboxer.com/petitions/MSA?sc=KG_msa

Thanks, Rockyj

Good thread. As a member of the military, I support the actions being taken by Congress to remove command authority to overturn the results of a court martial. When a judge, jury, and two lawyers are involved, the chain of command no longer should have a say in what's going on. That is the entire point of a court martial, to take it out of the chain of command's say. Please be careful about any Congresspeople who are trying to have an entire agency created specifically for handling rape, that is a BAD step forward as it will result in a significant bureaucracy arising that will generate tons of pointless paperwork which will only serve to slow down the entire process.

Similarly, the article for sexual assault (Article 120 in the UCMJ) was fantastically expanded by Congress to be far more in-depth and cover a MUCH broader range of crimes that do not constitute "rape" but are still a form of assault. So that was a major step forward.

Finally, the training programs the military is using are only now actually decent. As recently as 2008, I was given not that great a product of slides and information to teach Soldiers about why rape and sexual assault is bad. They are much better now and better address the root problems, though in general they are perceived as boring and a waste of time. Quite frankly, the best training program I've encountered is THESE GUYS: http://www.catharsisproductions.com/military.php They do an amazing job of actually connecting with Soldiers and breaking it down in language and situations they understand so the point gets across. Write your Congressperson and tell them to fund MORE shows for the military. They should practically have a group on tour all year round just going from one base to the next, having a show for every unit at that base before moving on.

Finally, I'm not surprised it's mainly senior officers who are the offenders. Those are the older crop of officers who are in their late 40s and early 50s who have their morals so set in stone that all the briefings in the world won't change their thoughts on what is or is not rape, or whether they are or are not entitled to sex when they want it, or whether it is right or wrong to use your position and authority to manipulate people into sex. So sadly, it is going to take time for their generation to be phased out and a more enlightened and educated generation of officers to slowly rotate into positions of authority and enforce the standards rather than merely paying them lipservice. It's a sad thing to say, but it is also unfortunately the truth. Culture change doesn't happen overnight, but this is the beginning of things getting better.

Thank you all for your interest and support, please continue to pay attention to the issue, and try to remember that each and every one of these disgusting sons of bitches do not represent the majority of those of us who serve and we are as (if not more) upset as you are every time we hear about it because that is another stain on our honor which so many of us have worked and fought to establish.

FFS, if you have to teach people why sexual assault and rape are bad, they're no good for anything but killing.

Oh, wait...

It's not just why it's bad, that part is obviously self explanatory, but also what it consists of by the definitions and guidelines of the UCMJ. US Army policy is a mandatory 2hr class every quarter that encompasses everything from sexual harassment to sexual assault to rape. What they are, what your available options are for reporting it under both Restricted and Unrestricted type reports, what the differences between Restricted and Unrestricted are, what are the available resources for someone who has been a victim, etc etc.

That is the culture of the military, that you have to spell it out in utter detail because Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines at the lowest levels are basically 18 year old idiots. Every weekend we have to hold formations and tell them "do not drink and drive, do not do drugs, do not have unprotected sex, do not rape, do not beat up your spouse/significant other/children/pets/random strangers, do not ride on a motorcycle without protective gear" and all the other unsafe things they mustn't do.

We have to treat them like children because to be honest they have a strong tendency to act like it. The biggest problem however is senior NCOs and senior officers who have been in for a long time and are convinced of their own correctness in all that they do. I can teach and explain to an 18 year Soldier with a GED how just because you were making out with a girl doesn't mean you get to have sex with her and the instant she says "Stop" or "No" you need to do that or its now rape. It may take a few sessions but I will be able to beat that into their skull. Not so with senior NCOs and senior officers, they generally cannot be reached because so many of the upper echelons are just filled with people paying lip service to this because they were told to. Fortunately most of them won't go out and rape someone because they're usually married by that point (and yes I know rape can happen in a marriage), but every now and then you get the sleazebag who decides to leverage their position to get some and shit like we've seen in the past week happens. They're the ones who need to be made examples of and have the hammer dropped on them.

Let's see… killing isn't bad but rape is.
It's OK to send our idiot children to battle, but not our politicians.

Humans are fucking mad.
We should just nuke it all from orbit already.

This thread makes me wanna join the military and do what they like to do.

WOW it's cool there's a lot of petitions but I wish there was some way to unite them all!

Hey, what about creating a website that unites all petitions to ONE website? Or is there one?

http://leftaction.com/action/stand-sens-mccaskill-gillibrand-against-sexual-assault-military

Isn't it ALL bad? Useless? BULL FUCKEN BULLSHIT?

Who here has said it's not BAD?

no

i knew a girl when i was in the Army who was sexually harassed my Sgt actually it's wrong idk why people do it

Perhaps because the punishment does not fit the crime.
Then again, in the adolescent/pseudo-patriarchal military culture, it's just not seen as a crime, merely a way for the males to save on the cost of prostitutes.

You're part of the human race too, slick.

Come back when you realize how that idea won't work well for you.

I have two UCMJ articles that disagree with you, Article 120 and Article 134. It is very much a crime, but the big problem comes in teaching people that what they thought was "flirting" is assault, or what they thought was consensual was rape. I'm also sickened by your "prostitutes" remark because it does a further disservice of linking rape and assault to being crimes of lust or passion when they are in fact crimes of control. When someone grabs someone else on the butt, breasts, etc without asking it isn't for sexual gratification, it's because they think they can and that they have that power. When a rapist ignores the repeated "No"s from their victim it isn't because they just want to get laid, it's because they want something and aren't going to let someone stop them from getting it because they feel entitled to it. Rape and assault is entirely about demeaning and controlling the victim and establishing the perpetrator as a person of power in comparison.

Significant numbers of the assaults are acquaintance rapes, both in and out of the military. The creepy sleazed are actually rather few and far between but get the most news time because of the sheer notoriety involved in their case. Less publicized is that guy in the barracks who goes out with a lot of girls and gets pretty pushy about sex, maybe goes a bit too far when alcohol is involved. Turns out he's also guilty of sexual assault and possibly rape. Not everyone sees it like that both in AND out of the military.

I have a friend who was raped by a man she had been out with several times, and one night when things were getting hot and heavy he went too far and didn't take no for an answer. Some of her other friends said she wasn't raped. Female friends even said that no she wasn't raped, because she should have screamed or clawed or done something. I had to actually sit there and convince her that from the moment she said "no" it was rape.

The fight is in educating people on where that line is, when it becomes assault and rape, and the line is surprisingly clear: Consent. Anything that isn't a yes is a no, and alcohol or drugs negates any consent because the person is now impaired. If you didn't ask and have approval, don't do it. People have this absurd notion that somehow asking or talking while getting intimate will ruin the mood, and that is a big problem.

Does the masculine-oriented strong tough guy atmosphere of the military contribute? I'm sure it's a factor, but it's such a problem in not just sexual assault issues but also treating people for injuries and PTSD, and dealing with suicide.

Also, thank you @Disambiguation for cross posting the video. That is a friend of mine who was sexually assaulted in the military and raped in college. She was very brave for making the video and gave me permission to post it here.

I think what the poster was trying to convey, in part, was the gap between rape legislation, and facts on the ground, or military rape culture, if you prefer.

What sickens me is the fact that people who should be watching each other's backs are… well, you get the picture. Then again, as Einstein said [paraphrased]: to be in the military requires no brain, only a spinal cord.

The military rape culture is not that far off from the college rape culture. Similar situations (dormitories/barracks, close social networks, lots of inter social dating, alcohol, awkward kids age 18-25 away from home on their own) make for a very similar experience and knowing that means the same tools which work in one work well in the other. To a limited degree even the power structure (heads of fraternities/social organizations, professors, TAs vs squad leaders, senior officers or NCOs) is similar so you get a lot of the same situations.

The difference is in how it's handled, and one of the big reasons I am a supporter of removing from the chain of command a lot of the process, particularly rape cases. The great difficulty is in the level of resources and the bureaucracy that must be gone through to get a court martial going because unlike civilian side trials, the military does not have pre-trial confinement except in extreme circumstances. It's basically like having bail automatically posted unless you somehow pose an immediate threat to someone's life (which has to itself be demonstrated to the first general officer in the chain of command, not the trial judge). Maybe you might have to be escorted everywhere, and have certain privileges like alcohol and off-base access revoked, but that's it.

Changing how the system works to prevent commanders from interfering (such as with the Air Force officer who had a conviction overturned) will help bolster confidence by victims in the system. When you show that the system works and people aren't afraid to come forward, you create a significant deterrent towards people who think they can do stuff and get away with it. You can't ever eliminate rape from the military or even society, but we can definitely create an atmosphere that is far less oppressive to victims. We have started taking big steps, but it's going to sadly take time.

Also, yes. It sickens the crap out of me. The first time I had a sexual assault in my unit I was kept away from the perpetrator because I was going to kill him or at the very least hurt him worse than the MPs did when they arrested him and he resisted. It's just abominable because of the extra level of trust that comes in the profession and its truly the ultimate betrayal of trust.

http://nymag.com/thecut/2013/06/sen-mccaskill-explains-rape-to-military-brass.html
She breaks it down to two problems. First -sexual predators in the military. Second- the problem with military culture. The sexual predators must be caught and convicted and that doesn't need the chain of command.

I started this thread to see how much information is on hand regarding instances of rape occurring in the US armed forces, From what i understand, we believe that the instances of male on male rape are higher then reported, the victims do not want to report it out of fear of retaliation, and loss of respect, as well as career damage.

This is just the male on male rape, then we have the male on female rape, as well as instances of rape occurring against civilians.

The best way to understand the situation is to have a depository of sorts for links on articles addressing the topic. Feel free to deposit those links here.

One thing to remember, Many topics at WWP are interconnected. As we gather information, we discover connections to other projects and events going on as well. Nothing is too small.

thats what the SHARP classes are for in the Military

This is a great article from Rolling Stone magazine last February
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-rape-of-petty-officer-blumer-20130214

The movie is, imho, excellent. Also, startling and saddening, but well worth the watching-time.

Thanks. As the mom of a sailor I worry about such things. I will pass this on to him and hopefully he'll check it out.


Thanks for posting this OP.