Neil Macdonald: The U.S. military surge in sexual assaults

Neil Macdonald: The U.S. military surge in sexual assaults

www.cbc.ca

Using anonymous internal questionnaires, the Pentagon itself calculates there were 26,000 sexual assaults, ranging from rape to abusive sexual contact, against soldiers, male and female, in 2012.

That's an average of over 70 a day, and an increase of about 35 per cent over the previous two years.

"What you have is an utter lack of accountability. A rapist has less than a one per cent chance of serving jail time if he's serving in the military."

(visit the link for the full news article)

A few questions, with this high rate why are women continuing to enlist?

Also, a commentator on the article gives a good though:
"If that's what they do to their own
imagine what they do to others."

Why is there no accountbiliy, and why does the absence of accountability seem to be systematic?

What exactly is going on in the minds of upper decision making ranks to systematically ignore this issue for years even though the problem is only growing at an alarming rate?

What could it be?
Why is this happening?

I'm not asking why does rape happen, i'm asking why is the system like this?

If it's growing now and nothing is being done, what's next?
Another decade of growth and still nothing gets done?

www.cbc.ca
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by ModernAcademia

Those numbers are staggering! More exposure of the corrupt chain of command will hopefully change the system, I don't know why it is how it is. But this seems comparable to the Catholic Church's cover-ups over the years. They protect their own.

You expect the higher ups to go to bat for you, but they just attempt to sweep it under the rug.

And that rug has Stars and Stripes . . . embarrassing.

Take a look at this video.
It's a laundry list of issues not just sexual misconduct.

reply to post by ModernAcademia


You ask a lot of good questions. That's why Obama has decided to focus on it.

Obama Delivers Blunt Message on Sexual Assault in the Military

Obama Advisers Hold WH Meeting on Military Sexual Assault Issue

Obama: No Tolerance for Military Sexual Assault

Originally posted by ModernAcademia
A few questions, with this high rate why are women continuing to enlist?

Why do men continue to enlist? They're getting raped, too, as your source points out. I'd wager women continue to enlist for many of the same reasons men do.

I've been complaining about this for years. I can only hope that finally, something will be done about it.

reply to post by grey580


This guy's a real nerd. Boohoo. Sounds really pathetic. Nearly everything he brings up is just one of those... "suck it up Sally" type moments...



Why do people like this go into in the army?

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
Why do men continue to enlist? They're getting raped, too, as your source points out. I'd wager women continue to enlist for many of the same reasons men do.

I've been complaining about this for years. I can only hope that finally, something will be done about it.

Thx for the links, didn't know Obama addressed this issue

Now as for your other comment.. well.... come on man.

The quesiton still remains, why do women continue to enlist.
Men even though they get abused too, i'm sure the odds are overwhelmingly low compared to women.

I would never want any member of my family or female friends to ever join the military, of any country.
This is not a chauvinistic perspective but an honorable "Women and children first" mentality.

Men are supposed to protect women and the elderly, it's our job to do so!

And too many things can be done to a woman that can't be done to a man.

Men don't get UTIs in the military, men don't get damage to their breasts like that woman who was put in a cage by KBR(haliburton) and was constantly abused and had bad damage to her breasts and then someone gave her a cell phone so she called her father who had a high ranking job in the military, and what did KBR do to fix the situation They banned cell phones in that area!

Originally posted by boncho
reply to post by grey580

 

This guy's a real nerd. Boohoo. Sounds really pathetic. Nearly everything he brings up is just one of those... "suck it up Sally" type moments...

Why do people like this go into in the army?

Wait a second. So you support theft, sexual misconduct by a superior officer when it's clearly in violation of military code and the other talking points in the video?

I'm puzzled by your response. By saying that he should suck it up. You are saying he should condone illegal and unethical behavior?

This is a difficult story for me.... I had someone very close to me who was held captive and repeatedly raped by a superior officer for DAYS. After she managed to escape, she went AWOL for a period of time. When she came back on the grid, she was told she would be given an "honorable discharge" if she allowed the incident to be swept under the carpet. She agreed.... Not what I would have done, for sure, but she didn't want to deal with it.

When I had the chance to talk to her about it later, she made a poignant comment. She was supposed to be shipped off to Afghanistan. She said "how could I put my life in their hands in enemy territory when they weren't even afraid to do this to me at a base in my home country??" (She was stationed at Fort Bragg)

reply to post by ModernAcademia

S&F
beware the military forum gang which will attempt to disrupt/close the thread!

from your source [emphasis mine]

Deep in the weeds of the Pentagon's response to a lawsuit detailing a nasty list of sex crimes perpetrated against several women in uniform is a phrase that neatly sums up the U.S. military's view of why civilian courts have no business considering such accusations.

"There can be no question," says the Pentagon's legal brief last year, that the rapes and assaults were "incident to the military service" of the women involved.

In other words, they go with the job.

The District Court for the District of Columbia agreed, and tossed out the suit.

Watch 'The Invisible War,' a Oscar-nominated documentary about the epidemic of rape within the U.S. military. Runs 1:25:40

loot and rape have since antiquity been part of the pay package, apparently, in this day and age traditionalists feel entitled and consider it their right.

hopefully, this thread will go somewhere previous efforts have failed to, and won't become your swan song

as it has for others.

take it from One Who Knows, as in a past life, I became "collateral damage"

Originally posted by CIAGypsy
When I had the chance to talk to her about it later, she made a poignant comment. She was supposed to be shipped off to Afghanistan. She said "how could I put my life in their hands in enemy territory when they weren't even afraid to do this to me at a base in my home country??" (She was stationed at Fort Bragg)

Very poignant indeed

truly sad

Rape is ok if you are in the army though isnt it?, end of the day if your job is to murder people for a living then whats a spot of cheeky rape on the side?

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


not to ruffle your fur,

but so what if "the emperor said..."

isn't he targeting whistle-blowers nowadays?

smacks of damage control, especially since he has no problem droning women and children.

reply to post by ModernAcademia

Originally posted by ModernAcademia
The quesiton still remains, why do women continue to enlist.
...
Men are supposed to protect women and the elderly, it's our job to do so!

Many women would disagree with you. Even though I believe your sentiments come from a good place, in a truly equal society, women and men are equal and men don't owe protection to the women any more than it's women's duty to protect the men. .

reply to post by TheMagus


I gave information I thought relevant to the topic. This is not a political topic, IMO, it's one of humanity. You ARE engaging in political trolling and I'm not biting. BTW, Chances are, you couldn't ruffle my fur if you tried.

reply to post by grey580

Wait a second. So you support theft, sexual misconduct by a superior officer when it's clearly in violation of military code and the other talking points in the video?

I'm puzzled by your response. By saying that he should suck it up. You are saying he should condone illegal and unethical behavior?

You support the accusations of all those things and possibly libel.

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
reply to post by ModernAcademia

 

Originally posted by ModernAcademia
The quesiton still remains, why do women continue to enlist.
...
Men are supposed to protect women and the elderly, it's our job to do so!

Many women would disagree with you.

Even though I believe your sentiments come from a good place, in a truly equal society, women and men are equal and men don't owe protection to the women any more than it's women's duty to protect the men. .

reply to post by TheMagus

 

I gave information I thought relevant to the topic. This is not a political topic, IMO, it's one of humanity. You ARE engaging in political trolling and I'm not biting. BTW, Chances are, you couldn't ruffle my fur if you tried.

oh my!
no need to bite my head off, it would seem i have, Bewunderer der Hunde ... ... ... Calm Assertive,
as you have just lumped me into the political troll category
for just pointing out facts regarding the dichotomy between word and deed, prevalent within the system, and exceedingly and blatantly so, with the current POS. this too is relevant to the topic, under: possibility of action being actually being taken [currently at 0%]


but don't mind Me, I'm just some "crazy" guy

This isn't surprising to me in the least.

While I was in the military, everything to an officer was about that damned quarterly OCR and making sure it was spotless. One blemish can ruin an officer's career, so naturally they cover for each other. Enlisted is no better. Most punishments are dealt out company level through 45 days of extra duty, reduction of rank, and a hefty fine. Though pretty tough for that month and a half, it is far from the punishment that many of these individuals deserve for their punishments (like drunk driving whose penalties are FAR worse civilian side). It is said that many high ranking NCO's have at least one of these infractions on their record. In the end it becomes a speed bump on the military ladder.

In the end, the more rank you attain, the more protection you are afforded from prosecution. Group infractions are primarily dealt out to the lowest ranked soldiers while the people in charge receive slaps on the wrist or nothing at all.

Originally posted by boncho
You support the accusations of all those things and possibly libel.

This is why whistle blower laws don't work.
No one wants to believe the guy standing up for what they believe in.

This is why we investigate.
Certainly his claim of theft can be verified by doing an inventory. If that claim is valid then what about the other ones.

Originally posted by Tuttle
Rape is ok if you are in the army though isnt it?, end of the day if your job is to murder people for a living then whats a spot of cheeky rape on the side?

While I realize you are saying this a bit tongue-in-cheek....it is really insensitive and not appreciated.

Originally posted by grey580

Originally posted by boncho
You support the accusations of all those things and possibly libel.

This is why whistle blower laws don't work.
No one wants to believe the guy standing up for what they believe in.

This is why we investigate.
Certainly his claim of theft can be verified by doing an inventory. If that claim is valid then what about the other ones.

edit on 13-5-2013 by grey580 because: (no reason given)

He's an Army reservist Captain, (or he was) from what I can tell. And he doesn't sound convincing. He also sounds if he's mixing a bunch of personal problems he has with certain people into this mix.

He was told to take it down. The videos out there now are copies... So I assume it's getting investigated, or there was nothing to it. One or the other.

Let the great 1000 Linen Towel Caper continue! Whatever we hear on it next is the final verdict Iguess?

This is why whistle blower laws don't work.
No one wants to believe the guy standing up for what they believe in.

By the way, some people believe in ghosts.

Does not make them true.