The United States military, like almost every military throughout the history of the world, is something of a boys’ club—a violent boys club, by its nature. This is not surprising; and in light of it it’s also not terribly surprising that military units and military boys have been involved in terrible acts of violence against women—both against civilians in countries to which they are sent, against their wives and spouses, and—increasingly, as the number of women in the military increases—against their fellow troops. This is all not very surprising; but neither are lots of terrible atrocities, and the organized culture of violence against women in the military is no different. With the exception of some pioneering feminist work—such as Susan Brownmiller’s landmark Against Our Will—it has rarely been taken seriously as a political fact, but it needs to be. Fortunately, some people are starting to take notice, thanks in part to the vital, life-saving work of The Miles Foundation:

The Miles Foundation is a private, non-profit organization providing comprehensive services to victims of violence associated with the military; furnishing professional education and training to civilian community-based service providers and military personnel; conducting research; serving as a resource center for policymakers, advocates, journalists, scholars, researchers and students; and serving to ensure that public policy is well-informed and constructive.

The problem is real and it is huge. We first began to see it from Tailhook and the Air Force Academy, but those were only high-profile cases that indicated a much more pervasive problem. Betrayal in the Ranks, a heart-rending exposé by the Denver Post, first showed me the real scope of the problem and how the command of the military all too often acts like a big frat house with uniforms and guns: it fosters a cultural attitude of male sexual entitlement, pervasive sexual harassment and outright assault, a lack of accountability for sexual predators and batterers, and silencing and intimidation for the women who suffer violence at the hands of the military boys. The statistics are terrible (30% of female veterans report a rape or attempted rape during active duty; 14% of those survived gang rape; about 75%-80% of men who are accused of attacking their wives while in the military are honorably discharged…). But frightening though the numbers may be, the human stories of suffering and injustice are far more terrible. After all, rapes and beatings don’t happen to numbers. They happen to women, women like Sally Fictum. And the crimes are commited—and dismissed—by men—men like Joseph Holguin and his commanding officer:

Marine Joseph Holguin sank to the floor, hugged his knees and told the polygraph examiner that fellow lance corporal Sally Fictum had said no.

Accused of raping Fictum, Holguin had maintained in previous interviews that the act was consensual. But he changed his story twice after the polygraph results showed deception.

Holguin stated he continued through with the act … although she had told him to stop, because he felt things had gone too far to stop, an investigator wrote in an Aug. 11, 1993, report. Holguin stated he had made a mistake.

Holguin was charged with rape. By October, however, his commander dropped the criminal case, using discretionary power granted under military law.

A retired Marine attorney who reviewed the examination results for The Denver Post said: Based on the documents I’ve reviewed, they let a rapist walk.

The 19-year-old Fictum faced her own punishment. She said her commanders humiliated her and deprived her of sexual-trauma counseling. She also was investigated for lying, even after Holguin’s admissions.

How many young ladies’ lives have to be ruined before the military listens? asked Fictum, who left the Marines after attempting suicide later that year.

Let me be as clear as I can. This bullshit is terrible. It is irresponsible. It is criminal. Now, none of it means that there are not many brave and honorable men in the Armed Forces. There certainly are. It doesn’t mean either that all men, or even most men, in the Armed Forces are sexual predators or batterers. They aren’t. But the military is an environment where these crimes are all too common and where men committing violence against women all too often have _every reason to believe that they can and will get away with it. That can change, and it needs to change. Thus, I was glad to see an e-mail alerting me to the following petition campaign.

Take Action!

This is an e-mail circular from The Miles Foundation. I’m sending an e-mail and a print letter, and preparing a version to send as a letter to the editor of my local paper. You might want to do the same:

Friends and colleagues,

Please send an appeal to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld expressing your concern about sexual and domestic violence associated with the U. S. Armed Forces. Please urge the Pentagon to address the issue fully, to adopt emergency protocols and practices, and to establish long term solutions to the issue.

Contact information:

The Honorable Donald H. Rumsfeld The Pentagon Washington, DC 20301 Fax: 202-647-1811 Email: Please go to the Department of Defense comment page at: http://ermsapps-web.afis.mil/cgi-bin/rightnow_DefenseLink.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php

and submit your appeal

Salutation: Dear Mr. Secretary

The following is a sample text:

Dear Mr. Secretary,

I am writing to express my concern about sexual and domestic violence associated with the U. S. Armed Forces. I urge the Department of Defense to address this issue fully.

I welcome your decision to order an investigation into the force protection issues associated with the sexual assaults occurring in the current theater of operations. As you consider ways to stop sexual and domestic violence among the ranks, I ask you to consider adopting emergency protocols including making rape evidence kits available at the unit level; supplying personnel with training and education to collect and process evidence; and ensuring that victims are informed of their rights and the status of any investigations, criminal or administrative.

I ask that you reform policies of the military departments and establish standardized responses for the protection of victims and accountability of assailants. Priority must be given to ensuring confidentiality and safety for victims and survivors.

Senior leadership should set a standard for behavior and ensure instruction to officers, senior noncommissioned officers and noncommissioned officers to fully establish a zero tolerance policy. The U. S. Armed Forces must ensure a safe environment for solider, sailors, marines and airmen, as well as their families and partners.

In order to ensure the issues are addressed consistently, I urge you to develop a military wide protocol to standardize responses within the services including Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs), Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs) and Domestic Violence Response Teams (DVRTs).

I urge you to build upon the victim advocate program established by Congress in 1994 by creating an Office of the Victim Advocate. I also urge you to approve a $10 million appropriation for Fiscal Year 2005 to support the Office, contract victim advocates and establish a victim advocate protocol.

The Office of the Victim Advocate would be located within the Office of the Secretary of Defense. The Office would provide coordination and navigation of services, oversight, training and offender and system accountability. The Office would enable the establishment of a privacy privilege for victims and survivors.

I urge you to ensure that emergency and long term protocols are adopted for victims and survivors of violence associated with the military. Thank you for time and attention to this matter. I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Please distribute widely.

===== The Miles Foundation, Inc.
P. O. Box 423
Newtown, CT 06470-0423
Telephone: 203-270-7861
Email: milesfd@yahoo.com or Milesfdn@aol.com

So what are you still reading my lame weblog for? Go and write a letter!