The U.S. Military’s Sexual Assault and Rape Epidemic

By on October 25, 2011 in News 24

MilitarySarah Lazare reports in Al Jazeera:

As the war in Afghanistan passes its ten-year mark, sexual assault runs rampant within the ranks, with an estimated one in three female service members raped during their service, according to at least one peer-reviewed study. This is in a military where women comprise more 11 per cent of active duty service members deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan and more than 15 per cent of the total military, with at least 200,000 active duty women currently serving. This epidemic also affects men: 60 per cent of women serving in the National Guard and Reserve, along with 27 per cent of men, are estimated to have experienced Military Sexual Trauma (MST). Perpetrators rely on a chain of command that appears to offer virtual impunity for sexual assaults committed against lower-ranking service members.

Military reports and Congress-appointed task forces acknowledge that sexual assault within the military is widespread. While the Department of Defense (DoD) has repeatedly said it is attempting to curb the problem, the most recent evidence shows that it has failed to adequately address the spread of this outbreak …

Read more here.

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  • http://www.ContraControl.com/ Zenc

    Once these women pick up the Vietnam Era knack for “Fragging”, this sort of nonsense will get the brakes put on it.

    Shame it has to be that way, though.

  • Raz

    Imagine when all those bastards coming back to US: no jobs, violent background, no psychological help, the impunity from their actions in the battlefield. The future of US of A sounds very bleak to me.

  • Anonymous

    Let me guess, recruiter said no?

  • Anonymous

    Reliable statistics?

    Nope! Al Jazeera!

  • Raz

    I guess in the current state the army is right now they accept anyone willing enough to do what they are told. Perverts, criminals, psychos and even you can have a shot (or get) at the army.

  • Raz

    I guess in the current state the army is right now they accept anyone willing enough to do what they are told. Perverts, criminals, psychos and even you can have a shot (or get) at the army.

  • ZombieSlapper

    They’ll be the personal army for the 1%

  • Malk

    Ya people that choose shooting other people, even if they lie to themselves and call it “defense,” aren’t necessarily the most stable minded individual in my opinion…. Some of the US troops are amazing brave people fighting for horribly corrupted ideals that they never full understood, but the majority of them are now in really bad mental footing and have a -long- history of -not- being helped.

    sad to see some of the worlds best fall so far.

  • Anti-Citizen1

    The glory of an all volunteer military.

  • Mark

    I served in the military, went to Iraq as a contractor with the military and I never heard or seen anything to this sort. Alot of the military women were acually sneaking around having sex with multiple men on the sly. If somone did anything that was even close to rape they would be in so much more trouble then a civilian. 

  • Irishpotatogun

    If there is anybody that needs a raping it’s the 1%

  • Irishpotatogun

    If there is anybody that needs a raping it’s the 1%

  • Anti-Citizen1

    I’d settle for defenestration.

    (That means throwing them out of high windows)

  • The Chariot

    If they cant defend themselves
    individually against and inside bully how are they going to defend
    the country? Shit if I were in their place and someone was trying to
    rape me and I had weapons lying around they would at least get a
    nice pocket knife to the stomach, people need to stand up to
    themselves sometimes. personal honor and death are better then living a
    life scared and full of shame. I am alive now because life is nice to
    me but if things were to get overwhelming, I would go down fighting with
    honor where I could be in peace instead of submitting to evil and
    abuse. Sometimes after you get traumatized your mind never lets you
    be happy ever again and thats not worth living. If you are not scared of dying in your own self defense you actually live an empowered life.   

  • http://www.facebook.com/gingerJE Jennifer Evans

    The military covers up many murder rapes of our service woman…I’ve seen photos of a few of our young women dead after being rapped, beatin’ from fighting their attacker and the family is told that they committed suicide. It’s sick….from the top ranking folks to the lower ranks committing these crimes against woman. Sadly, its rarely being talked about and yet it happens more than its reported.

  • 5by5

    You’re an idiot, Chariot. There is a fundamental difference between being on a battlefield and expecting a fight to occur, being aware and armed, and being asleep in your bunk on base, thinking you’re surrounded by comrades-in-arms who are on your side and there to protect you, only to be viciously attacked by them. You act as if the element of surprise plays no role here, which is absurd.

    Take the case of Army Pvt 1st Class Lavena Johnson. Consider all her wounds – burns on her hands, abrasions all over her body, a broken nose, loose teeth, acid burns on her genitals, a bullet hole in her head – and where she died. A KBR contractor tent.

    If you don’t think that woman fought back against those slimy mercs, you’re missing the goddamn point.

    And when talking about this, you must also consider the official response to such events.

    After being brutally raped and murdered, the Army ruled Lavena Johnson’s death a suicide! Like what, she threw acid on her own genitals, and knocked out her own teeth??? Seriously give me a break.

    To quote Raymond and Joe from the old “Out There” podcast, she didn’t commit suicide, she was “suicided”.

    And there are tons of examples like this — After being gang raped, and reporting it, Jamie Lee Jones was shoved into a hot metal cargo container in Iraq – where it’s a thousand degrees in the shade. The response of the military officials was to put the VICTIM into lockup, not the perpetrators.

    Even after being violated, the system essentially rapes the women a second time by their unsupportive reactions. Reactions like yours, you putz.

  • 5by5

    Yes, because clearly, these women were asking for it. Jesus, Mark. You’re even dumber than Chariot.

    Tell me, do they also deserve it if they dress a certain way? Because about now you’re starting to sound like the enemy you were sent over there to fight. The ones who think it’s ok to throw acid in women’s faces if they don’t cover themselves up enough to suit some man.

    Get a grip, boy.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7NSDHXZVKAFK4SVLFWIQQDXURI Dirk Johnson

    Don’t be a fool.  People have a life in the Army and they aren’t expecting attack from their own ranks.   You are obviously man-splaning around the fact that we live in a rape-culture, and the Army is a condensed version of that culture.  End patriarchy and stop blaming the victim for not being able to defend themselves.

  • De Carabas

    If you want to be taken seriously, do not use linguistic abominations such as “man-splaning.”(Also, you misspelled your own gibberish, it would be man-splaining)

  • Anonymous

    “Tacitus described a typical scene, ‘if a woman or good looking boy was found they were often torn to shreds in the struggle for possession,’ it’s the old army game from here to eternity, get there firstest with the brownest nose.” WSB

  • gwen jackson

    they accept people who would otherwise be on their way to jail. the military is used as a way to avoid their sentence. so it’s not strictly “all volunteer”, that’s propaganda too.

  • gwen jackson

    LOL, what no one understands is that the US military HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE PERSONAL ARMY OF THE 1%!!!

    General Butler: “War Is A Racket”.

  • gwen jackson

    That’s right, chariot; never forget that if someone attacks you and rapes or injures you, it’s YOUR fault for not fighting hard enough.
    Ditto for your wife, mom or daughter.
    Stupid fucking asshole.

  • gwen jackson

    you’ve obviously not seen a recruiter lately. they don’t say no to anybody, not even dipshits like you.