Local Vets Speak Out on Military Sex Assault

BY: Max Freund

Every day for six months in the early ’90s, Joan had daily bouts with her boss, fending off unwanted sexual advances in his tiny, broom closet of an office.

“He would call me into his office and would push me into the corner” and then sexually assault her, said the former Army specialist whose boss, a sergeant first class, also outranked her at the military hospital where they worked.

Joan, who now works in Iowa City and goes by an alias to share her story, is a survivor of military sexual trauma, or MST. The latter is the military classification for sexual assault and harassment.

It’s a widespread problem. According to annual reports, the Department of Defense lists 3,192 reports of sexual assault in fiscal 2011, up from 2,688 in fiscal 2007. The Pentagon’s sexual assault prevention and response office estimates, however, that only 13.5 percent of incidents in the ranks are reported.

The documentary “The Invisible War,” which is being screened Friday at The Englert Theatre in Iowa City, is attempting to open the Pandora’s box on the seldom-discussed issue.

Local survivors

Joan and Brigid, both in their early 40s, did not know each other during their military careers, but today the friends use pseudonyms to co-author a blog — Enemy in the Wire — that catalogs their battles with military sexual trauma.

Brigid, a Cedar Rapids resident, said she suffered multiple assaults during her 10 years in the Iowa National Guard. She recalls the details of one when she was a teenager that occurred away from Iowa during active duty for training. Brigid was raped by two fellow trainees.

“I was passed out, drunk, and I woke up to being raped by two men,” Brigid said, recalling that she and a handful of close friends had rented a hotel room for a weekend getaway.

Brigid had gone to bed and thought the door was locked behind her. However, the two men were able to enter the room, lock themselves in and begin assaulting her.

“(My friends) broke the door down,” she said. “They witnessed my rape.”

The two men were training classmates, but neither was part of the group with whom Brigid was on vacation.

Brigid’s friends were able to chase the rapists away and persuaded her to report the incident to the Army’s criminal investigation command. She said reporting led to a six-month battle with military investigators, who forcibly ostracized her from her friends and threatened her with charges of sodomy and other offenses.

“You don’t tell. I broke the rules; I told,” she said. “And that is why a lot of women don’t come forward — because it was your fault anyway. What did you expect when you put on those boots? What did you expect? You want to play in a man’s world, well, you’re going to have to play with the men.”

Brigid eventually dropped her charges and returned to her National Guard post in Iowa, where she said she experienced multiple cases of sexual harassment and another rape by a commanding officer.

Joan had fewer issues with commanding officers and investigators than Brigid, since Joan chose to not come forward with formal complaints.

“Part of it was because it was very embarrassing, and part of it was because I had no proof,” said Joan, adding it would have been her word against an officer’s.

Both women say the sexual abuse was a leading cause of their leaving the military. They have since successfully filed claims for benefits with the Department of Veterans Affairs regarding the sexual assaults and are receiving financial compensation.

Military response

"Joan" and "Brigid" have dog tags that read "NOT INVISIBLE," part of the promotion for the documentary The Invisible War. Photographed on Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012, in the Gazette studio in Cedar Rapids. (Liz Martin/The Gazette-KCRG)

Because of the high number of sexual assaults, U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta announced early this year two policies to ease the process for men and women who report abuse.

The first allows victims who file a report to request an expedited transfer to a different unit. The unit commander must respond within 72 hours.

The second policy standardizes the retention period of all sexual assault records — 50 years — to streamline the process for veterans who file claims with Veterans Affairs.......

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