A lawsuit by 14 former and current members of the armed forces alleges that Pentagon brass ignored claims of sexual harassment, assault and even rape by military colleagues while on active duty.
As reported by NBC News, the alleged incidents occurred both in U.S. military installations as well as at foreign bases, including some in Afghanistan and Iraq.
One incident involved a former sergeant in the Air National Guard, Mary Gallagher. She said that she was assaulted in the ladies room of a base outside of Baghdad in 2009, with a solider pulling her pants down and grinding his genitals against Gallagher, while keeping her pushed up against a wall.
“I thought he was going to kill me that night,” Gallagher told NBC. “I felt completely isolated and alone and really scared. Here I was, in the middle of a foreign country in the middle of a war.”
Gallagher and other plaintiffs say that when they reported such incidents, their commanders didn’t take the complaints as seriously as they should have. In her case, Gallagher says, the commander simply replied, “this stuff happens,” and then transferred her alleged assailant.
The lawsuit, which names Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, as defendants, accuses authorities of routinely failing to take aggressive measures to deal with the problem of sexual assault. Among other things, it charges that Rumsfeld in 2004 delayed naming members to a commission mandated by Congress to investigate the military’s handling of sexual assault cases and resisted congressional oversight of the issue.
The allegations come amid rising complaints regarding sexual abuse in the military. According to the military, the number of such complaints rose by 11 percent in 2009, to 3,230. Pentagon officials also concede that a majority of sexual assaults are not reported, and only a quarter of those that are reported result in a criminal case being prosecuted.
“This is a tough issue,” said Kaye Whitley, director of the Pentagon’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office. “We’re talking about changing the way people think and the way people feel…the research tells us it takes eight to 10 years to change the culture.”
A Pentagon spokesman responded that the problem “is now a command priority, but we clearly still have more work to do in order to ensure all of our service members are safe from abuse.”
I have been trying since 1982 to get some help!! . I was stationed in Babenhausen, Germany in 1980 ,and was sexually assualted by a senior nco ,ive been told to just forget it . i was then sent back to the states never ever given any treatment ,help!!. my life turned into a living hell alcohol began my only solice to stop the nightmares, untilthen I had never had a drink or had a problem for that matter. why has my country left me to rot like a peice of bad food??
LIKEWISE! 1979 – Basic Training. A SFC was “doing everyone” I was told when I reported it. I’ve tried following up since within the VA system and am harassed for it mercilessly. I have been told to avoid the place like the plague. The women professionals are as bad. I was told that they won’t categorize me because “it wasn’t violent enough.” It wasn’t violent enough because I cooperated because I didn’t want to be kicked out. But everyone was told and he was shipped out. The government harasses you if you attempt to follow up.
THe Army and Marine corps are infamous for these happenings. Its such a tragedy that women decide to defend their country, and the government doesn’t even have your back on these issues. It makes you loose faith in the military, and government as a whole. Never give up, don’t let them intimidate you into not speaking out. You need to be heard, and they need to be held accountable if they don’t do anything!