Discrimination
Raped and Silenced
Thursday, March 6th, 2008The Pentagon fails to protect U.S. troops from sexual abuse — sometimes with deadly results.
When military sexual assault survivors call Susan Avila-Smith, she advises them to keep their mouths shut while she works on getting them home.
“It breaks my heart to do that,” she says, “but I want to get them out alive and that’s my main goal.”
Since she left the Army in 1995, Avila-Smith estimates that she has helped about 1,200 rape survivors separate from the U.S. Armed Forces and claim their Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits. As founder of Women Organizing Women, an online support group for survivors of military sexual trauma (MST), Avila-Smith has heard it all. But lately, she’s been more sensitive than usual.
“Maria’s case has triggered something in me,” she says. “I imagine the VAs are filling up right now with women who never even stepped foot in there before.”
“Maria” is 20-year-old Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, who disappeared from Camp Lejeune, outside of Jacksonville, N.C., on Dec. 14, 2007, one month before she was expected to give birth. As the local police enlisted the press to help reach out to Lauterbach and solicit information from the local community, it was soon reported that she had recently accused a superior at Camp Lejeune of rape.
Read the full story on AlterNet…
Herold’s War, A homeless Iraq vet asks for respect
Friday, February 15th, 2008Originally published by Guerilla News Network
Jan. 10, 2005 By Anthony Lappé, GNN
Pfc. Herold Noel wasn’t expecting a parade. But when he and his fellow soldiers from the Army’s Expeditionary Unit 37 arrived home from Iraq in Hinesville, Ga. they got what one might call less than a hero’s welcome. Waiting for them as they deplaned were local police officers. In their hands were lists of names of soldiers with outstanding warrants, mostly for traffic and parking tickets left unpaid while off fighting the war.
“I had a couple [of unpaid tickets],” Noel recalls. “I told my family to meet me in the parking lot and I went out the side door.” According to Noel, several soldiers were hauled away in cuffs as their families looked on. The scene was an ominous sign of things to come.
Homophobia
Friday, February 15th, 2008Discrimination against gays, lesbians and bisexuals is not only intense within the military, it is official policy.Witch hunts to kick lesbian and gay personnel out of the military continue. Since the so-called “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was introduced, the pace of forced discharges has actually increased. Violence and threats against those suspected of being gay are routine.
Ronald Chapman thought the Army would provide him with a career. What he found instead was antigay harassment and physical abuse. Ronald had a rough life growing up. His parents divorced when he was 3. He was put into foster care at 4, and his foster mother booted him out at 19 for being gay. But Chapman had a plan to seek deliverance from life’s cruel disappointments. He would join the Army, serve his country, and see the world.
Raped, then Treated ‘Like A Criminal’ By The Army
Friday, February 15th, 2008Few problems have been more persistent or produced more bad news for the military than the issue of rape within its own ranks. Allegations that not enough is being done to help victims or prosecute offenders have been raised from the service academies to the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan — where hundreds of cases of sexual assault have been reported by women in uniform.It was that revelation, plus pressure from Congress, that’s forced the Pentagon to once again examine sexual misconduct in the military - which has been done 18 times in the last 16 years. The result has been more recommendations and sweeping policy changes. But there are plenty of skeptics, and one of them is Lt. Jennifer Dyer, who talks to Correspondent Steve Kroft in her first interview after accusing a fellow officer of rape.
“They’ve done nothing but lie to me and treat me like a criminal,” says Dyer.
What Women Experience in the Military
Friday, February 15th, 2008Women often join the military to gain skills and break out of traditional roles. However, while the range of military work open to women has increased over the years, women are still limited in the positions open to them. And within those positions, they are often given traditional tasks: according to one government report, “many women report that they are not allowed to work at the jobs for which they were trained . . . [and] that they are routinely assigned clerical or administrative duties instead of being given the opportunity to work in the full range of their occupations” (GAO/NSIAD-99-27, 11/98). Sexual harassment and rape are a real threat to women in the military. In 1995, the armed forces surveyed female members and found that 52% reported sexual harassment.
Before You Enlist, watch this
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008Before you go and sign up, watch this You Tube video. Several people talk about their experiences in the military, and what happened after they got out.
