Sexual Abuse in the Military Bases

I read with horror that “A woman in the military is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire in Iraq,” Representative Jane Harman, a Democrat from California, said at a Congressional hearing.

The rise of sexual abuse cases is on the up in the US military.

Capt. Margaret H. White began a relationship with a warrant officer while both were training to be deployed to Iraq. After the brief affair, he constantly stalked her, bombarded her with unwanted gifts, and forced her to have sex.

Ultimately Captain White felt safer in outside the wire than inside the confines of her heavily guarded base.

She eventually managed to get the military equivalent of a restraining order and charges of stalking against the officer.

This is one incident that sheds light on the reality of the armed services as

men and women fight side by side in combat zones more than ever before.

The pressures of combat, close billets in remote locations, tension and subsequent boredom can create the settings for abuse. Soldiers far from home, with doomsday ‘live in the moment’ mood swings are prone to exacerbated loneliness and erratic judgement.

Sexual morals can be absent in a war zone, as the normal boundaries of life are stretched to the limit under fire.

Captain White said she had feared coming forward, despite having become increasingly despondent and suffered panic attacks, because she was wary of the recriminations that would echo through the tight knit military world and would possibly disrupt the mission. Despite the military’s stated “zero tolerance” for abuse or harassment, she had no confidence her case would be taken seriously and so tried to cope on her own.

Complainants are often hesitant about raising their issues as it is feared they would undermine the unity and their duty, they don’t want the military to receive negative press when they need all the support from the nation. They would be seen as whiners when there is a bigger picture to face, yet sexual harassment can be such a team breaker when young men and women need to put their faith in each others hands.

The majority of sexual abuse allegations end with no prosecution at all. Of 2,171 suspects of investigations that were completed during the fiscal year that ended in September 2008, only 317 faced a court-martial reported the New York Times in Dec.27, 2009.

“We believe the increase in the number of reported cases means the department is capturing a greater proportion of the cases that occurred during the year, which is good news,” said the Pentagon’s senior official overseeing abuse policies, Kaye Whitley.

Don’t forget there is also sexual harassment towards males in the military that are not as highly reported due to the stigma that follows such a complaint.

Pentagon officials maintain that sexual abuse in the military is no more rampant than it is in civilian society.

A Pentagon-appointed task force reported that "predators may believe they will not be held accountable for their misconduct during deployment because commanders' focus on the mission overshadows other concerns."

Sexual crimes are believed to have an especially devastating effect on mission readiness because they harm cohesiveness among troops.

It is that very attitude that scares army personnel from coming forward, how much guilt would you feel, if the fellow soldier you were complaining about was killed in the line of duty?

Did you do everything to watch his back even though he had raped you? There are many situations and complications that this particular sexual predicament can throw up.

These are questions no woman or man wants to face at an enquiry.

Within the UK Military I found evidence of sexual harassment in a report from the British newspaper The Guardian in 2006 stating

‘Sexual harassment is rife in the armed forces, with 99% of servicewomen reporting they had been subjected to some form of sexual remark or material by male colleagues in the past year. One in seven - 15% - say they have had a "particularly upsetting" experience over the same period, ranging from sexually explicit comments through to sexual assault.

The figures are part of a huge survey into sexual harassment in the armed forces which began last June (2005) following several high profile sexual harassment cases and a high number of complaints to the Equal Opportunities Commission’.

Sexual abuse needs to be tackled head on, there needs to be a safe environment for abuse victims to come forward and without fear of persecution or retribution. If insurgents are granted the rights to seek justice, coming forward with abuse accusations and getting financial help to see the case through, then surely the military personnel deserve the same courtesy.

There shouldn’t be a war with sexual predators running alongside the war in Iraq and Afghanistan – people in the Military should be safe with their comrades, after all if you can’t rely on your own side to look after you, who can you trust?

This column is in conjunction with the campaign A Safer World For Women, please see the link below.