Comments on: Sexual Assault In The U.S. Military: Uncle Sam Wants You!

By: Bob In Klamath Falls

Bob In Klamath Falls — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 04:48:26 +0000

There is a code of silence surrounding sexual harassment and even sexual assault that makes it very difficult for a complaining female soldier to prove her case. That is why most victims do not report incidents and why most perpetrators get away with what they’ve done. Victims are afraid to report the crimes and male soldiers are trained and pressured to close ranks and stonewall any investigation whenever any one of them is accused.

By: Prentice

Prentice — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 22:54:44 +0000

Men who enlist in the military today do so for a variety of reasons. Some do it from a genuine patriotism and a desire to serve the country. Others do it because they want the training opportunities, the educational benefits and the other things that go along with being a veteran. Still, others enlist to get out of poverty. What is disturbing, though, is the number of recruits who require conduct waivers to qualify for enlistment. A recruit with a felony record or non-traffic related criminal offense cannot enlist without a conduct waiver, and all branches of the military have been very freely granting them for the past several years. While the military claims that these waivers do not constitute a "lowering of military standards," the evidence shows otherwise. Soldiers who received conduct waivers separate from the military due to "alcohol rehabilitation failure" at a rate more than twice that of other soldiers, almost twice as frequently for misconduct, and the desertion rate is higher as well. These numbers come from a 2008 Army press release. It would, I think, be expected that this group would also commit sexual assault at a higher rate than non-waiver recruits. I have no science to support that, but it certainly seems intuitive. The Army denies that it grants conduct waivers for those convicted of sexually violent crimes, but there are many reports of recruiters turning a blind eye to evidence of such misconduct in the difficult recruiting environment which has existed for the past several years. Perhaps this is an unavoidable feature of an all-volunteer army, and one more reason to revisit the idea of re-instituting the draft. I don't mean to suggest that conduct waivers are altogether responsible for the ill-treatment of women in the military, But I do think they combine to be a significant contributing factor, together with the general disrespect that military culture has for women and the nature of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

By: Tracey Hudson

Tracey Hudson — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:52:39 +0000

I’d like to say I’m surprised or even shocked by this information however, sadly I’m not. I’ve had a long-standing observation of two particular groups: the miliary and law enforcement and the kinds of people that decide to make those two areas their career. They cross all economic and social lines. Anyone that knows me really well knows that I have a healthy disdain for both groups and here’s why.

What I’ve experienced and observed is that for every man who truly wants to serve his country in wartimes or through public service as law enforcement for the RIGHT reasons, there are at least three or four who chose those particular paths because it allows them to exert power and control over others. Give them enough power and eventually they will show their true colors. Both avenues train their recruits to be powerful and exertive due to the situations they will be exposed to. Train the right guy and you’ve got a person who truly wants to serve their country and protect it’s people but train the wrong guy and you’ve got a loose cannon on your hands. Train enough of the wrong guys and you’ve got a boys club that will stand by one another or look the other way.

What’s the saying? Numbers don’t lie? These numbers don’t lie.