Saturday, October 6, 2012

U.S. Military Sexual Assault Epidemic Continues

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Military Sexual Assault Epidemic Continues To Claim Victims As Defense Department Fails Females -- Huffington Post

NEW YORK -- On an isolated hilltop outpost overlooking a town in Eastern Afghanistan in spring 2007, a cell phone rang.

If the phone -- a detonation device -- had been properly wired, Rebekah Havrilla and her team leader would have been blown up along with a hill packed full of five landmines and an improvised explosive device.

"It just turned into one big, long 'holy crap, we almost died,'" said Havrilla, one of the few women in the U.S. Army's Explosive Ordnance Disposal units.

(Editor's Note: This article contains graphic language that some readers may find offensive.)


But the routine perils of her job were not the reason Sgt. Havrilla "got the fuck out" of the military. She blames the unexpected risks, brought on by the same team leader who was with her on the hilltop, a sergeant 1st class who Havrilla says once, when they were on base, attacked her from behind, violently biting her neck. She said he would tell her, "I want to fuck you so badly right now." That she was later raped, by another colleague, was just the culmination of abuse, she said.

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My Comment: I have always been of the opinion that any sexual violence in a war zone should be treated as a war crime .... even when it involves soldiers of the same army. As to the DoD stats that are reported in this article .... my gut is telling me that this is just a fraction of what is actually happening right now.

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