The invisible war against women in the U.S. military

By Nisa Islam Muhammad -Staff Writer- | Last updated: Apr 16, 2013 - 5:38:47 PM

WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com) - When BriGette McCoy joined the military she wanted to serve her country. She first deployed during the Gulf War. She had many expectations of war but what she didn’t expect was to be raped.

At 18, Ms. McCoy joined thousands of female and male soldiers who have been sexually harassed and assaulted. Their plight was the subject of a Senate Armed Services Subcommittee hearing.

Like many who have been sexually assaulted in the military, she didn’t report the rape until much later.

“I was to the point of mental and emotional fatigue. When I reported to my command in a formal written complaint with help from one of the women NCO’s in my unit, I was told I misunderstood the offending NCO’s intentions and was asked ‘what do you want?’ I only wanted an apology and to be removed from working directly with him,” she testified.

“No one ever officially explained any further process like pressing charges or moving forward with my formal written complaint. It was never spoken about again. They did remove me from his team and his formal apology consisted of him driving by me on base and saying ‘sorry’ out of his open car door window.”

The latest report by the Department of Defense found that 19,000 service members were sexually assaulted in 2010. Of those only a mere 3,100, or 13.5 percent of the assaults were reported, and of those only 17 percent were prosecuted.

Rebekah Havrilla was raped while stationed in Afghanistan and only reported it after friends saw pictures of the attack online.

“At that point, I felt that my rape was always going to haunt me unless I did something about it so I went to Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) and a full investigation was completed. The initial CID interview was the most humiliating thing that I have ever experienced. I had to relive the entire event for over four hours with a male CID agent whom I had never met and explain to him repeatedly exactly what was happening in each one of the pictures that were found,” she testified March 13 on Capitol Hill.

Four months later she had to return and repeat how the incident occurred all over again.

“I decided to continue with the case even though I felt that nothing was ever going to be resolved and six months later, I was told that even though my rapist had admitted to having ‘consensual’ sex with me while married, his chain of command refused to pursue any charges of adultery and the case was closed,” said Ms. Havrilla.

“The military criminal justice system is broken. Unfortunately, my case is not much different from the many other cases that have been reported. I feared retaliation before and after I reported, the investigative process severely re-traumatized me, many of the institutional systems set up to help failed me miserably, my perpetrator went unpunished despite admitting to a crime against the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice), and commanders were never held accountable for making the choice to do nothing.”

This assault against military women was also the subject of an Academy Award nominated documentary, Invisible War.

“We were extremely surprised by the extent of the problem, how psychologically damaging it was, and the extent of the cover-up,” Oscar- and Emmy-nominated director Kirby Dick explained. “More than half a million service men and women have been sexually assaulted since World War II. That comes as a shock to everyone we’ve spoken to. This is my 10th film and its subject matter is the least known to the public of any of my films, even though it most widely affects our society.”

The filmmakers were equally surprised to learn that no one had made a feature documentary on the topic. They decided almost immediately to make a film about the problem. They began by contacting victims, which proved to be a challenging task.

“The military really keeps information on lockdown,” Mr. Dick explained. “If you’re in the military, you can’t speak to the press without approval or you could be court-martialed. And you can’t sue the military for anything that happens to you while in service, so civil courts are not an option to get the truth out.”

The daylong congressional hearing comprised two panels, one of victims and activists and the other of military personnel from each branch of the armed forces.

Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), chair of the Senate subcommittee, opened the hearing with these words: “Despite some very dedicated JAG officers, I do not believe that the current system adequately meets our standard. The statistics on prosecution rates for sexual assault in the military are devastating. Of 2,439 unrestricted reports filed in 2011 for sexual violence cases, only 240 proceeded to trial.”

“My view is that emphasizing institutional accountability and the prosecution of cases is needed to create a real deterrent to criminal behavior. The system needs to encourage victims who come forward and participating in their perpetrator’s prosecution is not detrimental to their safety or their future and that it will result in justice being done because currently, according to the Department of Defense, 47 percent of service members are too afraid to report their assaults because of fear, retaliation, harm, or unjust punishment. Too many victims do not feel that justice is even likely or even possible.”

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