WASHINGTON – A group of U.S. veterans who say they were raped and abused by their comrades want to force the Pentagon to change how it handles such cases.
More than a dozen female and two male current or former service members say servicemen get away with rape and other sexual abuse and victims are too often ordered to continue to serve alongside those they say attacked them.
In one instance, a woman who was bruised from her attack itself and from being restrained was told she didn't fight hard enough and wasn't acting like a rape victim. Another woman was threatened with physical harm for speaking to her commander. This example says it all, I think:
Kori Cioca, 25, of Wilmington, Ohio, described being hit in the face by a superior in one incident in 2005 and being raped by the same man in a second incident soon after while serving in the Coast Guard in Bay City, Mich.
Even though the man confessed to having sex with her, Cioca said in the lawsuit she was told if she pressed forward with reporting the sex as a rape, she would be court-martialed for lying. She said the man pleaded guilty only to hitting her and his punishment was a minor loss of pay and being forced to stay on the base for 30 days. She said she was discharged from the military for a "history of inappropriate relationships."
Women have valuable roles in the military. They are also risking their lives (and apparently a whole lot more) to serve their country. They deserve better from their fellow soldiers, their chain of seniority, and their country. The rationale that directors don't want something like that on their record doesn't lessen the fact that an innocent person was purposely harmed.
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