Sexual Assault Permeates U.S. Armed Forces

(CBS)  They've become an integral part of modern warfare - 200,000 active duty women serving alongside their band of brothers.

Jessica was one of those women. Born into a military family, at 24 she enlisted in the Army.

Following basic training she was posted half a world away at Camp Humphreys in South Korea. She was assigned to an Apache helicopter maintenance crew, one of three women in a unit of 60 men. Jessica worked hard to blend into a very macho world, CBS News anchor Katie Couric reports.

"You figure out how to turn the guy off, and become one of the guys," she said. "That's your safety mechanism."

But that safety mechanism failed. Just weeks into her new assignment, her squad leader began making unwanted sexual comments. Then it turned physical when he tried to force himself on her. She was afraid to report it, tried to forget it, but the assault haunted her. In a completely unrelated incident when she was out one night, someone she knew from another base raped her.

"The betrayal issues to this day are still pretty deep," she said. "You know, I was like, 'I'm willing to give my life for this guy next to me but how do I know that he's not going to hurt me?'"

Jessica's story is not unique. One in three female soldiers will experience sexual assault while serving in the military, compared to one in six women in the civilian world. The Pentagon released a disturbing report Tuesday on sexual abuse in the military, saying that more than 2,900 sexual assaults were reported last year, up nearly 9 percent from the year before. Nearly two-thirds of the cases involved rape or aggravated assault.

Couric asked Michael Dominguez, principal under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, how big a problem sexual assault is in the military.

"Sexual assault injures troops," he said. "Injures readiness. So regardless of the numbers we have, it is by definition too much.

But how often does it happen?

The Pentagon only started a comprehensive program to track incidents in 2006, and only after Congress mandated it do so.

That year there were 2,974 cases of rape and sexual assault across the services. And of those, only 292 cases resulted in a military trial.

And in 2007 there were even fewer prosecutions.

"Of more than 2,200 servicemen investigated for sexual assault, only 181 were prosecuted?" Couric asked Dominguez.

"Yes, we absolutely have to get better," he said. "[Defense] Secretary [Robert] Gates himself is driving this initiative this year to improve our ability to investigate, to prosecute and convict. This is not where we want to be."

And in a majority of cases, the punishment doesn't seem to match the crime. Often most offenders only get a reduction in rank or reduced pay.

"These are major crimes, not misdemeanors," said Vivian Gembara, a retired member of the Army's Judge Advocate General's Corps. "A lot of times what we see in the JAG court is very inexperienced, brand spanking new lawyers being given rape cases, murder cases."

This month, Defense Secretary Robert Gates called for a military-wide "review of the training and experience' of investigators and prosecutors for sexual assault cases.

For many victims their assault remains a shameful secret. The Pentagon acknowledges that some 80 percent of rapes are never reported - making it the most under-documented crime in the military.

Callie Wight, a counselor for the Veterans Administration said victims haven't come forward for a number of reasons.

"They didn't report because they didn't think they'd be believed," said Wight, a military sexual trauma counselor. "They didn't report because t hey were ashamed and humiliated and they didn't want anyone to know what happened to them."

The military is trying to reduce the stigma through increased awareness, education and guaranteeing confidentiality to victims reporting such crimes. The army has launched a national program called "I Am Strong." Installations like Fort Irwin in California credit the campaign with driving assault numbers down.

But for soldiers like Jessica any changes came too late.

"I think the worst letdown is people who didn't believe in me to help get through this and keep me in the army," she said. "I really wanted to be a good soldier."

Traumatized by assault and re-traumatized by inaction, she has left the military and is now trying to help other victims.

[dorianmode]

About time the country is talking about the huge problem of sexuality in the military. On top of the already existing huge problems with non respect for others there is going to be coming down the road all the issues with DADT being changed The DADT issue was the tip of the iceberg. Wait 'till there are gay people openly around and they are being harassed and raped like the rest of the people who are considered fair game. Those of us who are insiders know that if the real truth about the fact that the military is a total sexual free-for-all ever gets out, then no regular moms and dads would ever even consider letting their kids, (17-18 year olds) sign up for the military, and being exposed to that kind of nonsense. I feel sorry for all the good kids who signed up, thinking they were patriotic and doing a good thing and then find out.....oops, wrong, the bastards are out to use them, and basically the culture is back in the 19th century with regard to sex, and they could have found that out before it was too late if they had asked the right questions before they joined.

[17YEARS]

Supporter

[17YEARS]

I was raped with agravated assualt while serving in the US Army by another soldier. I did report the crime and there were many witnesses. The CID report had buddy statments, eyewitnesses, those who heard me screaming, medical reports, pictures showing bruises and doctors statement saying they were in the shape of bite marks, ect.. He was found guilty of rape and utilizing phyical force to overcome my resistance and the military conceeded to this. However, the commander dropped the charge and he never served any time for the crime. The military withheald the CID report from me until 2010 and for seventeen years has refused me treatment for military sexual trauma or other benifits due. My case is in Washington D.C. as I seek justice.I asked for help from a support group and was told I was in the wrong war for them to help. I am so tired of having the door slammed in my face, what knid of world do we live in? I am 100% disabeled and it is so hard to go on when there is those who get away with anything while others can't get what they qualify for. where is the programs that will help those in the wrong war?

[olguita360]

Hello, my name is Olga.As a past victim of sexual assault during my service in the United States Air Force, I have started a campaign called A Black Rose: Campaign for Awareness. Our focus is to bring awareness to the issue of sexual assault, harassment, abuse, stalking, etc. faced by serving members of our armed forces. Our philosophy is that the men and women who serve our nation should not have to worry about being assaulted by their fellow servicemen and women.

Most information can be found on our website (listed below), but in brief, our organization allows victims of abuse in the military to request a black rose. On Memorial Day 2011, we will personally take the roses to Washington, D.C. to be laid outside the US Capitol Building.

It would be greatly appreciated if you could look at our site, www.ablackrose.org where you will find information about our goals, campaign and philosophy. You can also request a rose on our site to be place on your name.

Always remember you are the strong one.

[olguita360]

Hello, my name is Olga.
As a past victim of sexual assault during my service in the United States Air Force, I have started a campaign called A Black Rose: Campaign for Awareness. Our focus is to bring awareness to the issue of sexual assault, harassment, abuse, stalking, etc. faced by serving members of our armed forces. Our philosophy is that the men and women who serve our nation should not have to worry about being assaulted by their fellow servicemen and women.

Most information can be found on our website (listed below), but in brief, our organization allows victims of abuse in the military to request a black rose. On Memorial Day 2011, we will personally take the roses to Washington, D.C. to be laid outside the US Capitol Building.

It would be greatly appreciated if you could look at our site, www.ablackrose.org where you will find information about our goals, campaign and philosophy.

[miltaryvet]

mind you the word "with this crime" doesn't mean I was the abuser just the victim.Sorry I misinterped it.

[miltaryvet]

The Goverment is the one with no image or honor I've seen japanese woman abused while station in sasebo,Japan and one person a medical petty officer was dishonorbaly discharge for sex abuse towards a Japanese female minor. I male be the only guy who served in the military who face with this crime,but it's not right. I my self got sexualy assaulted by seven people,six people surrounded me an then one person the seventh person walked up to me,has I stood up to see what was going on he took his right hand a just lighty but quickly grabed my private part and as quickly as it came he and the six other accomplistes left I never reported because it took me six mounths of being in a mental hosiptial because of the trama an seven years to work up a confession. I was with beach master unit one det westpac.

[Justfummin]

For ten years I have lived under the publics eye as being ignorant or stupid since leaving the military. I filed a sexual harassment charge and was later sent up for military evaluation. They felt I no longer fit the mold of a soldier and I was discharged. My evaluations were low marks, and I was diagnosed as Paranoid Schizophrenia by Tuskegee, Alabama VA. I was suffering from PTSD, but the doctor assured me that the medications were the same so it did not matter. I tried for years to sue the military with no luck. There are no avenues for victims of sexual harrassment when dealing with the military. I now receive compensation for schizophrenia. Unbelieveable what the government will spend money on.

[zapfox]

This is an issue that is often ignored by the media and brushed aside by the military leadership for the sake of the military's image. That's why I've become part of a campaign to bring awareness to this atrocity. Find out more at www.ablackrose.org

[TheTalentScout]

Check out this link to a video about rape in the US armed forces

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZVCRaomdyg

[littlesmit]

The issue of sexual assault in the military is not addressed well at all. Yes, the military talks about its sexual assault program and resources available to survivors of sexual assault. It talks the talk, yet fails to walk the walk or walk and talk in taking care of sexual assault survivors. Instead of seeking prosecution for the perpetrators of such a violent act and crime, the military reprimands the victims that do come forward and attempt to seek help. There is something seriously wrong. Sexual assault survivors tend to get discharged from the military for trying to use a program designed to help them while their perpetrator keeps on preying. What a shame. Sexual assault is a crime, yet how does the military find it to be acceptable and allow perpetrators to keep on preying?