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January 28, 2009 2:12 PM

Tonight: Investigating Domestic Violence In The Military

Posted by Christine Lagorio
(CBS)










Since 2001, thousands of wives and girlfriends have been assaulted at the hands of the soldiers they loved. Tonight on the a special primetime edition of the CBS Evening News, Katie Couric investigates a growing crisis in the U.S. military: the staggering numbers of military wives who have been beaten, raped or even killed since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began.

And behind those statistics are the faces of many survivors. Katie spoke with one military wife, Jessacia Patton, about how her husband changed in Iraq, the ensuing abuse … and how the military failed to help.

Last night, we posted a preview clip of one of Katie's interviews with a military wife who is a survivor of domestic violence. Below, a new clip, in which Katie asks Patton what she believes to be the military's greatest flaw in dealing with domestic violence.

Watch that clip here:

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military ,
abuse ,
katie couric ,
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Add a Comment See all 21 Comments
by ProActiveVoices April 5, 2009 7:27 PM EDT
http://proactivevoices.blogspot.com/
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by successatbest March 17, 2009 8:59 PM EDT
I'm commenting today because it took me awhile to come up with the words to say. My ex-husband who is a military police officer beat me on a daily basis. Hog tied me, punched me in the face, broke our daughter's leg and did some horrible things to the children and I. The military covered his tracks and the San Diego Court, that suppose to protect victims gave custody of our children to him. I haven't seen our 3 children in 9 years. He still controls everything and have brainwashed the children in believing I didn't want them.

To this date, the military is backing him and the courts refused to look at my evidence of his abuse, his violation of the court order. The judge in my case, would NOT even look at my documented medical records, statements or listen to witnesses who were there when he dragged me down the neighborhood on the sidewalk beating me. This happened in military housing.

Domestic Violence is very high in military families, especially those who have spouses that are military policemen.
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by wdcotto January 29, 2009 10:46 PM EST
I am sorry But Katie you missed the chance to make a difference. you didnt dig or expand, you basically excepted the political type answeres and stopped. If you wanted to help our military, you missed, big time!
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by ericmichael1 January 29, 2009 6:10 PM EST
Katie,

Violence against women is an American problem, not just a military problem. And it is not just a recent one, either.

I can still remember nearly 30 years ago as an enlisted man in the M.P.s. I was off duty one night when I heard loud shouting in the barracks hallway. I found a pregnant soldier and her boyfriend, a fellow M.P., arguing. He shoved her so hard she almost went to the floor.

I stepped in between them and in so doing violated the unwritten code of "no see, no hear". I came to the brink of fighting him to stop him from doing anything else to her. I then walked her to her car and tried to convince her to report him.

She refused to make any charge against him. She was back with him the next night. I think that she was as much in denial as he was about the problem.

I came out of it with my knightly naivete tarnished and with a youth''s perplexity: why do women put up with this abuse? And why did no one but me in the entire barracks floor open their door and rise to the occassion to stop something like this from happening?

Eric

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by debbyatfafny January 29, 2009 11:58 AM EST
Not to lessen any victims of violence,over and over again your comments repeat a message: When a male asks for help he is considered weak, mocked and punished. When he snaps he is condemned and jailed. (Does anyone notice the rise of murder/suicides?)There is a terrible rise of military men coming home only to find out that their wife has moved on, taking his house, children, hope and future with her. He asks for help and he is punished, told to suck it up and pay his child support. Equality is not equal when it comes to our sensitivity to all victims of DV.
Teen violence is up too and guess who are the majority of victims? cdc dot gov
When is someone going to do a story on this?
Reply to this comment
by debbyatfafny January 29, 2009 11:38 AM EST
Not to lessen any victims of violence,over and over again your comments repeat a message: When a male asks for help he is considered weak, mocked and punished. When he snaps he is condemned and jailed. (Does anyone notice the rise of murder/suicides?)There is a terrible rise of military men coming home only to find out that their wife has moved on, taking his house, children, hope and future with her. He asks for help and he is punished, told to suck it up and pay his child support. Equality is not equal when it comes to our sensitivity to all victims of DV.
Teen violence is up too and guess who are the majority of victims? www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/yrbs/pdf/yrbss07_mmwr.pdf
When is someone going to do a story on this?
Reply to this comment
by akirayamanak January 29, 2009 4:52 AM EST
As my personal and supposed opinion,
Surely our and younger generations may become vulnerable to battlefield stress. our former generations had faced death more often by incurable diseases, starvation and fiercer battles whose casualties were more hundreds per a day. We are more civilized in a sense.
Time has changed. People has changed. Soldier may have to change. Namely, Soldier may have to be more qualified in some meanings. While the quantity may be down, the quality must be up.
We cannot recently expect so-called big war that needs the draft partly because of nuclear weapons and more civilized society.
From now on, like Middle Age, the warrior peoples may be limited in the human society.
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by lauracurtiss January 29, 2009 2:04 AM EST
THANK YOU "berowler"! This is something that was posted on http://militarytimes.com/forums/showthread.php?p=181313 about my son.

It is the last blog message that bothered me; not the derogatory remarks as I expected some due to how this grew (though relieved it was the opposite reaction). This came from a fellow solder who knew my son and also knew what he was going through.

Though he makes it clear he supports my son in getting what he''s earned he has also made it obvious that my son was treated very badly after he asked for help after his 2nd combat tour. And, not surprisingly, supports those in command who did this. I have to admit my son probably would have felt the same in earlier years.

Instead of medically discharging my son, as they were recommended to by the military, they instead targeted, humiliated and mentally abused him. What is worse is that he was already doing this to himself due to his loyalty to the military. The Army is all he had ever thought of and loved doing since high school. What they did was cruel and it''s those who are the most loyal who are targeted once they no longer are of use to the military.
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by lauracurtiss January 29, 2009 1:36 AM EST
One last comment. Thank you so very much to Carissa Picard, Military Spouses for Change: http://www.militaryspousesforchange.com/
http://militaryspousesforchange.blogspot.com/. This non profit org has done wonders for so many.

Chuck Luther, one of the very proud Iraqi Freedom veterans in the PBS documentary, who has become a very important part of our family and my son''s "brother in arms". He''s gotten my son, and our family, along with Carissa, through some hellish times. And Thank You so very much to Attorney Jason Perry, http://www.peblawyer.com, who took my son''s case on pro bono due to his outrage at not only what my son is going through but so many others. Most of all thank you to all of you all over the US who have shown more support then we could have ever imagined.
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by lauracurtiss January 29, 2009 1:24 AM EST
Since this site does not allow for lengthy messages I''ll try to be short but get to an important point. My son is far from the only service member going through this, which means there are many potential victims out there, created by the intentional ignorance of our military. Please visit this story on PBS, which is what woke me up and I''ve been on a rampage since. I will not allow our service members who''ve planned they''re lives so loyally around the military, and their families, only to be treated and thrown away like garbage. We are creating another long many generation of broken, or homeless and worse vets.

http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/424/index.html

http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/424/transcript.html
Reply to this comment
by berowler January 29, 2009 1:16 AM EST
I was a soldier in the US Army. I married an army soldier that eventually was deployed to Somalia. When my husband came home he was a changed man. This was a man that was very goal oriented..college eduacated..very kind. He came home scared..absorbed..and removed from the joy of life. Due to these changes and his inability to get help we ended up divorced. As a soldier I do know that a soldier knows admitting a mental issue or weakness is like committing career suicide. You don''t go see a shrink. It is not looked upon as a good thing at all. Although there have been some changes since my experience 15 years ago, there obviously are still some major issues. I want you to hear the rest of my story...
We have a 15 year old daughter together. She visits her father in jail. Because over time...his post traumatic stress disorder turned into depression and then into hallucinations. He murdered his live in girlfriend in 2007. Do i have sympathy for these women..absolutley! It could have been me. But the root of this problem is the lack of help for returning soldiers. They need help. We put them in the middle of a life or death living situation..where they are in constant fear. And then plop them back into society expecting them to adjust. I am so happy to see this story with Katie Couric. She will bring it to light. Now my daughter knows..it''s not just her father in prison for capital murder.
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by lauracurtiss January 29, 2009 1:07 AM EST
I''m a proud mom of a recent vet of Iraqi Freedom, who has served 8+ years in the Army with 2 tours in Iraq, one during the first year of the war; and later in Ramadi and Fallujah during the most dangerous times in those areas. My son asked for help after his second tour. He was diagnosed with Chronic PTSD and other combat related injuuries, by the military doctors and recommended for a medical discharge. He has paid for it since. A year ago I would have been the first author of this blog, shocked that anyone would attack our military, sadly though I''m finding my son is more the norm then not if suffering from combat injuries and coming forward.

I will always be so very proud of our military. Our military and our troops are one in the same. However I will not sit back quietly and watch our service members and veterans be awarded the disgraceful treatment they have by the very military they have loved, honored and have served so loyaly. Please check out the Google link below; copy and paste if needed into the subject line. This will show a small portion of similar stories out there.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-us%3AIE-searchBox&q=ptsd iraq violence military honorable discharge personality disorder tbi
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by terrak2 January 29, 2009 1:04 AM EST
Watching tonight''s story took me back to some painful memories. The first time he hit me, I tried to protect myself and fought back. My reporting the incident resulted in a slap on the wrist from the military for him, and charges pressed in federal court for me (they were dropped in civilian court without question). I quickly learned that the military protects its own, no matter the cost. For the following 6 months I simply let him hit me. On my birthday he threw me down the stairs and across a room, partially dislocating my elbow/shoulder and tearing muscles in my back. I walked out that night with nowhere to go. I lived with friends while the military did nothing about the few reports I did make. No one wants to speak out against the "hero" who defends his country, but who speaks for those he hurts? There is an enormous problem with a system that punishes a woman for speaking out about abuse. For those in this situation, don''t sit and wait for help from the military, get out now.
Reply to this comment
by terrak2 January 29, 2009 1:02 AM EST
Watching tonight''s story took me back to some painful memories. The first time he hit me, I tried to protect myself and fought back. My reporting the incident resulted in a slap on the wrist from the military for him, and charges pressed in federal court for me (they were dropped in civilian court without question). I quickly learned that the military protects its own, no matter the cost. For the following 6 months I simply let him hit me. On my birthday he threw me down the stairs and across a room, partially dislocating my elbow/shoulder and tearing muscles in my back. I walked out that night with nowhere to go. I lived with friends while the military did nothing about the few reports I did make. No one wants to speak out against the "hero" who defends his country, but who speaks for those he hurts? There is an enormous problem with a system that punishes a woman for speaking out about abuse. For those in this situation, don''t sit and wait for help from the military, get out now.
Reply to this comment
by terrak2 January 29, 2009 12:57 AM EST
Watching tonight''s story took me back to some painful memories. The first time he hit me, I tried to protect myself and fought back. My reporting the incident resulted in a slap on the wrist from the military for him, and charges pressed in federal court for me (they were dropped in civilian court without question). I quickly learned that the military protects its own, no matter the cost. For the following 6 months I simply let him hit me. On my birthday he threw me down the stairs and across a room, partially dislocating my elbow/shoulder and tearing muscles in my back. I walked out that night with nowhere to go. I lived with friends while the military did nothing about the few reports I did make. No one wants to speak out against the "hero" who defends his country, but who speaks for those he hurts? There is an enormous problem with a system that punishes a woman for speaking out about abuse. For those in this situation, don''t sit and wait for help from the military, get out now.
Reply to this comment
by terrak2 January 29, 2009 12:55 AM EST
Watching tonight''s story took me back to some painful memories. The first time he hit me, I tried to protect myself and fought back. My reporting the incident resulted in a slap on the wrist from the military for him, and charges pressed in federal court for me (they were later dropped). I quickly learned that the military protects its own, no matter the cost. For the following 6 months I simply let him hit me. On my birthday he threw me down the stairs and across a room, partially dislocating my elbow/shoulder and tearing muscles in my back. I walked out that night with nowhere to go. I lived with friends while the military did nothing about the few reports I did make. No one wants to speak out against the "hero" who defends his country, but who speaks for those he hurts? There is an enormous problem with a system that punishes a woman for speaking out about abuse. For those in this situation, don''t sit and wait for help from the military, get out now.
Reply to this comment
by terrak2 January 29, 2009 12:54 AM EST
Watching tonight''s story took me back to some painful memories. The first time he hit me, I tried to protect myself and fought back. My reporting the incident resulted in a slap on the wrist from the military for him, and charges pressed in federal court for me. I quickly learned that the military protects its own, no matter the cost. For the following 6 months I simply let him hit me. On my birthday he threw me down the stairs and across a room, partially dislocating my elbow/shoulder and tearing muscles in my back. I walked out that night with nowhere to go. I lived with friends while the military did nothing about the few reports I did make. No one wants to speak out against the "hero" who defends his country, but who speaks for those he hurts? There is an enormous problem with a system that punishes a woman for speaking out about abuse. For those in this situation, don''t sit and wait for help from the military, get out now.
Reply to this comment
by terrak2 January 29, 2009 12:51 AM EST
Watching tonight''s story took me back to some painful memories. The first time he hit me, I tried to protect myself and fought back. My reporting the incident resulted in a slap on the wrist from the military for him, and charges pressed in federal court for me. I quickly learned that the military protects its own, no matter the cost. For the following 6 months I simply let him hit me. On my birthday he threw me down the stairs and across a room, partially dislocating my elbow/shoulder and tearing muscles in my back. I walked out that night with nowhere to go. I lived with friends while the military did nothing about the few reports I did make. No one wants to speak out against the "hero" who defends his country, but who speaks for those he hurts? There is an enormous problem with a system that punishes a woman for speaking out about abuse.
Reply to this comment
by portcall129 January 29, 2009 12:39 AM EST
Your article brought back memories of what happened to me. Retired AF/E8,Viet Nam, Desert Storm I, etc. What you experienced was the typical smoke and mirror dance. The director is wrong in making the comment that maybe there was a mistake. The initial intake person should have immediately flagged this individual for personal and family counseling. They either did not want to follow through or didn''t want to get involved and hoped someone else would catch it. Also the attending doctor failed in not reading this individual intake form. This is a different war as was Viet Nam. Nobody cares about it just the government due to the oil resources. The families that have suffered and will continue to suffer the ultimate must take care of their own. Immediately seek help on their own and stop at nothing until you get it. I had to because what was told to me was "suck it up and cowboy up". My help came from other vets. Ask the hard questions Katie and make them sweat until they "cowboy up".
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by shawnsmommy January 28, 2009 11:53 PM EST
See this is making me mad. My husband is in the Army Special Forces. He just left for god knows how long. And is going to miss most of his son''s first. Ok some men may hit. But regular mn do also. Did we know that 80% of wives cheat while the husbands are gone. I think if we are going to show half of the story show the other half
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