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April 2024 is the 23rd anniversary of Sexual Assault Awareness Month
Opinion
As a retired female Gunnery Sergeant, I can tell you some stories. The good, the bad, and ugly of retiring from the military branch where only 4% are female.
I want to share two stories and both are ugly. These are stories from when I was a command Uniformed Victim Advocate (UVA). Being a UVA was in addition to my regular duties, and I provided information, guidance, and support to Marines who have been sexually assaulted. Along with UVA’s, the command had Sexual Assault Response Coordinators (SARCs) who are civilians. If you’ve been sexually assaulted, you can speak with either a UVA or SARC.
In the military, there are two options if you want to report a sexual assault: restricted and unrestricted. A restricted report doesn’t start an investigation, but the victim can receive medical treatment, advocacy, and counseling. A victim can receive services without letting their command know of the assault. With an unrestricted report, the victim can receive medical treatment, advocacy, and counseling, along with notifying their chain of command and law enforcement.
What are the benefits of an unrestricted report? Honestly, none. By filing an unrestricted report, you start a dehumanizing process. If wanting to hold the offender accountable is your reason, it’s not worth it. Your chain of command doesn’t care if you were raped by another service member, because it doesn’t want to acknowledge it happened on their watch. Charges brought against the offender are likely to be dismissed.
Here are two reasons I feel this way:
In the first case, I was Cpl. Smith’s immediate supervisor but not a UVA.
1) Cpl. Smith (not her real name) was raped before I arrived at the unit. Smith was on restricted work hours ordered from her doctor due to her mental health conditions resulting from her assault. Our female master sergeant made disparaging comments about Smith’s inability to carry her ‘load’ because she wasn’t in the office with everyone else. She gave Smith low Pro/Cons on the premise she wasn’t performing at the same level as her peers. Another ‘reason’ she gave her low marks was because Smith’s peers had to take on her work load on top of their regular duties. It had nothing to do with her competency or her work performance. It was because the master sergeant didn’t think it was fair for others to do her work just because she was raped.
I can’t make this up.
Put yourself in her shoes. You were raped by another Marine, reported it, only to get ‘punished’ for it. Smith was pushed out because it wasn’t ‘fair’ for her to leave at 1700 every day and not stand 24-hour watch. Within a year of her assault, Smith was medically discharged for non- combat PTSD resulting from being raped by a male Marine. He was never reprimanded and continued to serve.
In the second case, I was LCpl Jones’s immediate supervisor and the command UVA.
2) LCpl Jones (not her real name) was raped during the time I was her supervisor. Jones made an unrestricted report so our chain of command and military law enforcement were notified. Within hours, I think the whole world knew. I was with her when NCIS interrogated her at the barracks. When I intervened on her behalf, I was told that’s how sexual assault investigations are conducted. Basically, trying to prove she lied about getting raped.
After this, I went with her to the hospital for the rape kit exam. During the next four hours, she was poked, prodded, swabbed, and photographed. When it was done, I thought she was going to drop the
case. I wouldn’t blame her if she did. She went through mental hell reliving the rape to authorities who didn’t believe her. Then physical hell where she had to expose herself to a number of medical personnel. The command granted her two weeks of convalescent leave. When she returned, the SARC was her advocate, and I went back to just being her immediate supervisor. Jones continued to go to counseling and had interviews since the ‘investigation’ was still ongoing.
About a month after Jones was assaulted, Jones was ordered by the command, not a medical doctor, to return to full-duty status. The command said a month was long enough time for her to ‘get over it.’ To make it worse, I was the one who had to tell her.
Within six months of her rape, she was discharged for non-combat PTSD. Her case was
dismissed.
There are incidences where female Marines were punished for bringing an allegation against a male Marine. “The females are lying to get the male in trouble.” The majority of cases that did reach the command level were dismissed. Both male and female Marines were sent back to their unit where the victim had to look at her perpetrator every day.
There’s been a push to remove the decision to prosecute a sexual assault case from the commander over to either military or civilian attorneys. As you can imagine, commanders don’t want to lose their authority over how their troops are, or are not, punished.
I hope one day cases will transfer from the commander to an outside judicial system.
If you or someone you know are the victim of a sexual assault and need help, below are a few resources:
+18006564673 (HOPE) or chat online | |
+18558296636 or chat online | |
Sexual Violence Resources of GA | |
GA Network to End Sexual Assault |
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