Which War Are We
Fighting?
Picture yourself
in boot camp doing continuous drills and maneuvers. You are getting screamed at
and demoralized by your superior officers whom feel like they are “hardening”
you for war, but really the only hardening going on is at night, which you
later hear that the private in the bunk next to you was raped. “He hit me
across the face… and my face hurt so bad. He screamed at me and grabbed my arm
and raped me.” This was Kori Cioca’s account of rape by a commanding officer while
serving in the U.S. Coast Guard.
In
2011, there were 3,192 sexual assault reports but only 191 members of the
military were convicted at courts martial. There is no incentive
to report rape and is not treated as a priority in the military. This crime is
so devastating that many victims get the blame, or blame themselves. You
would think defending your country and one day telling stories to your children
about military experiences should be a heartwarming and inspiring moment.
Instead you will most likely sugar coat it and drive those tragic events deep
down.
"He
said that if I told anybody, that he was going to have his friend Marv, from
Indiana, kill me and throw me in a ditch, 'cause that's how they took care of
things in Indiana” Explained Ariana Klay who graduated with honors from the US
Naval Academy and served in Iraq. “Do what a marine officer should do, and
that’s ignore it and move on,” is what she was told after reporting the rape.
Finally, the Marine Corps said she must have welcomed the assaults because she
wore makeup and skirts – part of her regulation uniform.
Rape in the military is an invisible
war and the sexual abuse against women and men needs to end. Over 20% of female
veterans have been sexually assaulted while serving in the U.S. army. When a
female soldier in a combat zone is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier
than killed by enemy fire, I’d say the war is already lost.
Make the links inline. Blogspot makes it painfully easy to make basic text into hyperlinks, and you should utilise that feature instead of putting all your sources at the end like a bibliography. It looks ugly and gives me no motivation to go to the links, and no reference for what I'm looking for.
ReplyDeleteI also still REALLY hate the sexual innuendo you have in the first paragraph. It's insulting and makes light of rape. There are alternate ways to say that without making rape a travesty.
This is a really popular topic circulating news stations and talk shows for the past few years. It is heart-breaking to hear some of the stats that you mention in your piece, but that is all it does. While this is a really well written blog, it does not let me know things that I can do to change anything. Wanting to change this horrible trend in the military is commendable, but what can we do to help these women. The content and the message is great, the activism part is a little lacking.
ReplyDeleteOh gosh....this is a touchy subject for many reasons. As a woman myself, I feel very strongly about this, but I need to remind myself that this doesn't just happen to women. Imagine how many MEN are raped in the military or abused, without reporting it? I have so much respect for those that serve in the military, and I know what a strain that can put on a person and their families. In addition to things such as post war stress and living with the images people saw, other traumatic events such as rape can happen. I am so outraged that it is not talked about more often, or that facts such as the ones you included are ignored and not brought up. I like that you included links (very powerful) as well as images. I think this was a great way to get the conversation going, now how do we stop it? We may not ever be able to, but getting everyone aware is the first step.
ReplyDeleteWhile I think it could have been more sensitively written, this is an extremely important conversation. Lack of transparency under the guise of security and failure to hold offenders accountable is a crime that the US Army is committing against its own soldiers.
ReplyDelete"The Invisible War" was recently nominated for an Oscar, but didn't win. Why do you think that is? I am glad someone addressed this in a blog, but I would have liked to see what you think would help us solve this problem. Do soldiers participate in rape-prevention or advocacy training? Are they offered such things? Why aren't they? What kind of mentality is the military? It is not very welcoming to women and some women are literally told to expect to be assaulted. This is appalling. I would like to hear what you propose would be a solution to this monstrosity of a problem. I would also like to hear more of the personal stories of what happened to these survivors, how they have coped and for what other reasons they do/do not report. Sexual assault and violence are very prevenlant in warfare- even in training. At wartime, its not only the opposition that is assaulted, its people on our own side being assaulted by our own soldiers. Its terrible. Please revisit this, but also include more sensitive research.
ReplyDeleteThank you for bringing this issue to light; however, I feel a bit directionless as to what I can do to help fight this/support those who have been a victim of sex-based crimes. Also I'd recommend hyperlinking your source (or if it was from the movie, making that more clear) where you got your 20% statistic from.
ReplyDeleteI dont want to say I enjoyed your post, because its a negative issue. However, its a totally necessary one to talk about. I thought the story was effective and you could read the fear in her story. This is defiantly an issue that is happening in our military. You are totally spot on, which war are we fighting?
ReplyDeleteI had never realized that this was such a big deal. I was sure that this kind of thing happening but Its crazy to think that more of them may be at better chance at harm by their own than by anything else. How does this kind of thing happen it is amazing how much people will cover up to stay out of trouble or in fear of their superiors.
ReplyDeleteVery timely subject matter which makes this effective change writing. I LOVE the links you provided and your very last line really made me think about what you were really saying.
ReplyDeleteWow! This was an issue that I honestly had NO IDEA about until I read your blog post. I find it sickening that such rapes are not priortized as an issue, and that these victims are being silenced. However, at the end when you say the war is already lost -- what do you propose that we do to ensure that the war is not lost and that we can turn this around?
ReplyDeleteI like that you dove into a topic outside your comfort zone, but I agree with Whit that I am feeling kind of powerless. Most of the blog is about how much rape in the military happens, but I wish there had been a bit at the end as to what is being done, if anything to stop it, and what we can do as readers to help in that fight so that we can start fighting the invisible war.
ReplyDeleteI watched the documentary "invisible war" and I was honestly just disgusted by the number of women who were raped. I find it so sad that it is so covered up and that these poor people have literally no one to turn to. Great blog
ReplyDelete