For Female Soldiers, Sexual Assault Remains a Danger

By Celina R. De Leon, AlterNet. Posted January 5, 2007.

"I fear that she will kill herself. I fear that she will never have a happy life because she's been so damaged by all of this," said Sara Rich of Eugene, Ore.

Sara Rich's daughter, Suzanne Swift, is the internationally known American military police officer facing a possible dishonorable discharge for going AWOL. Swift, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), did not want to rejoin the superiors who sexually harassed and assaulted her. As a result, she has been charged by the U.S. Army with being absent without leave and missing movement for not being present with her company when it left for Iraq in January of 2006.

Swift, 22, was sexually harassed by one sergeant and coerced into a sexual relationship by another sergeant while on duty in Iraq. After she was arrested at her mother's home last summer, Swift was stationed at Ft. Lewis in Washington, where she was sexually harassed by another commanding sergeant.

Swift was offered a "deal" but decided to complete her court-martial and served 30 days in prison and was stripped of all her rank. She was released Wednesday. According to Sara Rich, "The deal was that Suzanne stay in the military for her remaining 19 months, no reduction in rank, a summary court-martial, no assurance she would not be redeployed and here is the kicker, Suzanne would sign a statement saying she was not raped in Iraq."

According to reports released by the Department of Defense, within the last calendar year, there were 2,374 reported cases of sexual assault. This includes about 400-plus cases in which the victim was a civilian and the alleged offender was a military personnel.

"Over the two-year period of time in which Congress has been requiring this mandated reporting to the Armed Services Committees, it's about a 60-percent increase," said Anita Sanchez, of the Miles Foundation based in Newtown, Conn., a private nonprofit organization that provides services and research on interpersonal violence within the military. "And our offices have received over 500 reports of sexual assault in the central command area of responsibility [Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Bahrain]."

Women and men confront particular challenges when faced with sexual assault and harassment in the military. Unlike in the civilian world, it is illegal to have a consensual relationship while on duty in the military. It's called "fraternization." And unlike many parts of the United States, the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy reigns supreme. It is illegal to be gay and/or have same-sex relations while serving in the military. This, combined with the fact that the military does not adhere to rape shield laws, makes reporting one's sexual assault case particularly difficult.

"If you go into a court-martial -- whether you're heterosexual or homosexual -- it doesn't matter. Your sexual history, your relationship history even, can come into view," said Sanchez. "The military continues to be behind the rest of our society in revising our sexual assault statute."

The Miles Foundation worked to get Congress to pass revisions to the rape statute Article 120, but those don't go into effect until October of 2007. The time frame is to ensure the Manual for Courts Martial, essentially the rules of evidence in the military, will also be revised. The revisions include the recognition of a variety of types and severity levels of sexual assault. Previously, the only changes made to the statute were in 1992: the recognition of same-sex sexual assault and the recognition of marital rape. Before that, the Uniform Code of Military Justice hadn't been revised since 1950.

"Once you report, your career is at risk for taking a different path," said Kathleen A. Duignan, executive director of the National Institute of Military Justice in D.C. "It's almost as if you're guilty until proven innocent because everyone is saying, 'Well, before I take this as a real case, the victim and the accused generally know each other. Has this come to light because of their own misconduct?'"

In addition, if you're a woman, and your case is brought before a military jury, the probability is very high that it will predominantly be made up of male officers. The sheer number of men in the military outdo the number of women who become senior enough to serve on courts-martial.

Very often, many women are also encouraged not to file a formal report that will go into the file of the accused. She's told often, "You don't want to ruin a good officer's career, do you?" As a result, many women agree not to file formally; or are transferred by their command; or the accused perpetrator is transferred; or nothing is ever done.

Maricela Guzmán, 29, still hasn't told her family or her ex-husband, about the sexual molestation she experienced eight years ago while serving in the military. She just started coming out to fellow activists she's met through her counter-recruitment work in Los Angeles, Calif. She just began to see a psychiatrist who diagnosed her with PTSD.

See more stories tagged with: rape, military, sexual violence

Celina R. De Leon is a contributing writer for WireTap magazine, and interviews editor at Feministing.com. She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »