The military has a sexual assault problem.
According to 2013 Department of Defense estimates, approximately 19,000 sexual assaults occur in the Armed Forces per year — a rate comparable to the civilian population.
However, of these approximate 19,000, only 1,108 filed a report about their attack last year. 575 of these reports were processed with none of the reports receiving outside review or auditing. Just 96 went to court martial. At the same time, 90 percent of those assaulted were forced out of the military.
These numbers reflect a military that is at odds with the realities of rape and sexual misconduct amongst its ranks. Even though legislation has been passed in March to alleviate many of the blocks to sexual assault prosecution — such as the “good soldier” defense, which allowed commanders to dismiss sexual assault charges of the basis of past military performance — existing attitudes about military sexual assault and the notion that coming forward against a fellow soldier or commander may ostracize the victim make sexual assault a problem that is unlikely to go away quickly or quietly.
Many sexual assault victims have discovered that the military’s attitude toward rape in service continue after they leave the Armed Forces. According to lawsuits brought against the United States Department of Veterans Affairs by the Service Women’s Action Network and the Vietnam Veterans of America, the VA is imposing a higher burden of proof on military-rape survivors than they do with victims of other forms of post-traumatic stress disorder. SWAN and VVA argue that this disparity constitutes a form of discrimination that violates the victim’s Fifth Amendment rights.
“Veterans are experiencing betrayal trauma,” said Anu Bhagwati, a veteran of the Marine Corps and the executive director of SWAN. “There’s the devastation that happens with the military from that horrible (sexual) violation. There’s another betrayal that often happens when their commander or your fellow service members don’t believe you. And there’s the third betrayal from the VA … The Veterans Benefits Administration is really where hope goes to die.”
Discrepancies in care
According to the statistics, cited by the advocacy groups, put before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Wednesday, the VA approved benefit claims to PTSD claims filed by military sexual trauma victims at as much as 30 percent less often than the agency do for non-sexual assault PTSD cases.
In an email to NBC News, VA Spokeswoman Ndidi Mojay — while not answering specific claims from the advocacy groups’ complaint — argued that the VA is working to deal with military sexual assault cases compassionately. “Meeting the needs of Veterans who have experienced Military Sexual Trauma is of the highest importance to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA),” said Mojay. “The department is working very hard to ensure that these claims are adjudicated compassionately and fairly, with sensitivity to the unique circumstances presented by each individual claim.”
Mojay has suggested that the VA has made major strides in closing the gap between sexual assault-related PTSD cases and non-sexaul assault PTSD claims, with 2013 data showing only a six percent gap between the two classes of PTSD claims.
However, the continued existence of coverage differences suggests that there may be a larger problem in play.
A lack of precision
Last Friday, Defense Department officials announced that the suicide tally during the Afghan and Second Iraq Wars from 2006 forward were higher than previously reported, because of a calculation error. Previously, the military used an estimated figure to determine a suicide rate, instead of actually tallying the suicide cases. The result of this is a suicide count one percent or more under the actual death tally.
“It’s jaw-dropping that the Pentagon would use this kind of crass calculation to measure the impact of the suicide epidemic within their ranks,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. “If that recalculation in any way indicates a need for additional funding or new services, the Pentagon and Congress must respond to address a problem which is clearly worse than we had been led to believe.”
This lack of precision reflects a military culture in which a soldier’s well-being and existence as an individual is not as important as his/her statistical strength and worth to the unit. This creates a situation in which an individual can be overlooked in considering of the “greater good.”
This lack of focus on safeguarding the health, safety and sanctity of the individual soldier and lack of due diligence in recording and rectifying found problems have not only led to the epidemic of underreporting of sexual assault among active troops, but also a suicide frequency among all veterans of 22 per day, with as many as 30 percent of all veterans having considered suicide.
Understanding military sexual assault
In February, former Marine Lance Corporal Jeremiah Arbogast — as part of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s (D – N.Y.) failed push toward passing a comprehensive military sexual assault legislative package — shared his story with the public in testimony to the Senate. While on active duty, the marine was drugged to incapacitation and sexually assaulted by a staff sergeant.
After two months of depression and embarrassment, and a visit to the social worker on the base — which led to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service becoming involved, forcing Arbogast to call and face his rapist in order to gain evidence — Arbogast’s attacker walked away without any jail time in consideration of his service. Arbogast’s attacker managed to not be fingerprinted — per Arbogast’s testimony — and refused to register on the sex offender database.
With 53 percent of all military sexual assault victims being male, coming forward with this trauma exposes these victims to ridicule, ostracization and future attacks. The allusion that these attacks may be consensual also play into the military’s attitude toward homosexuality, further making reporting these crimes difficult. For Arbogast, the weight of his trauma led him to attempt suicide, which left him a paraplegic.
“Choosing death was my way of taking responsibility for my circumstances,” said Arbogast to the Senate Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on personnel. “I felt my death would spare my wife, daughter and myself the dishonor the rape brought upon us.”
“Reporting to the chain of command — it’s horrific,” continued Arbogast. “You know, it could be a perpetrator in your chain of command. It could be your direct supervisor. In my case, it was my previous supervisor.”
With both the rate of sexual assaults and suicides rising, it is increasingly becoming apparent that a “soldier-first” approach to dealing with these problems is necessary. In the Armed Forces today, there is a perceived penalty for being sexually assaulted — which is preventing victims from getting the care and justice they deserve.
“This black cloud of fear must be dispelled from hovering over victims of sexual assault,” wrote former prosecutor Margaret McLean for the Huffington Post. “Instead, make it surround and suffocate the perpetrators. When young people volunteer to serve our country, their service should be revered by us all — especially those in command.”