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My name is Jeremiah Arbogast and I am a proud retired Lance Corporal who served in the United States Marine Corps.
I’m also a male survivor of military sexual trauma – or MST. I was drugged, rendered incapacitated and sexually assaulted while serving on active duty. I enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1998 and formally retired in April, 2006 due to my MST.
Today, I am working to help veterans suffering from MST and also to combat the rising number of suicides among our veterans, and fix the broken military justice system. I am active with several veterans’ organizations, disabled sports teams and Protect Our Defenders.
Since the attack, I have been stigmatized by family, friends, and other Marines and service members, and it hurts mentally and emotionally. It hurts every day.
Because of the MST, I was retired from the U.S. Marine Corps due to post-traumatic stress disorder – or PTSD – with no valor or honor. Sexual assault victims are blamed and stigmatized (victim blaming must STOP). We survive the attacks and retaliation and then struggle with shame and must fight for our benefits and services.(this must STOP)
Over time my PTSD worsened to where I wanted to end my life. I sit here before you in this wheelchair as a paraplegic, due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound. This has taken a toll on my marriage and my relationship with my daughter. My family suffers, while predators roam free inside the military or are discharged out into our neighborhoods to keep committing these heinous crimes.
I loved being in the Marines; it was my honor, duty, and life to wake up each and every day to put on the uniform of United States Marines. During my service I received good performance reviews and was the Marine of the Quarter and a highly integral part of my battalion as a Motor-Transport NCO.
I was assigned to Weapons Training Battalion, MCB Quantico, VA where I had the outstanding privilege of serving with the finest Marines I came across.
One night the unimaginable happened, my former SSgt. who was my SNCO at my command sexually assaulted me and then tried to get me transferred back underneath his command.
After the rape, I began to fall apart emotionally and it took me about 60 days to report the assault. I feared of being blamed, retaliated against, and I was embarrassed.
When I reported the crime, I was told by NCIS I needed to help provide proof of the attack. I was asked to make repeated, recorded phone calls and then to go to his home while wearing a body wire. It was terrifying. I asked him to tell me what happened. He did and the NCIS now had a full confession on tape.
The perpetrator was arrested and charged with six counts including sexual assault and sodomy. During the trial his defense counsel, began (witch hunt) asking me about my prior sexual history. My privacy rights were not protected in court.
Although my Command did the right thing, the perpetrator’s Chain of Command came after me and tried to have me brought up on phony charges.
The trial took over a week. Even with overwhelming evidence of a confession tape that he committed the more serious crimes, the jury convicted him of only one count but he was still facing serious prison time. Instead, he received a bad conduct discharge and no jail time because they took his 23 years of service as a “kudos” for him. He was supposed to be put on a sex offender’s registry. He was ordered to NCIS headquarters for fingerprinting where they determined he had removed the skin from his fingers. No fingerprints were taken and he refused to register on the sex offender database. Nothing was done.
It took several months to discharge him. During the time he remained in the service, he continued to torment me using his official email address.
Eventually, this predator walked off the base a free man into someone’s neighborhood. I live in fear to this very day.
I’m here today because I want to make a difference and want to rid the finest military force of these sick individuals. But to do this we need your support, don’t sit on the sidelines and say we support you, get up and demand change.
This is an epidemic that is ruining lives. No more false promises or half measures to fix this problem. The military justice system is fundamentally broken. The only solution is to remove the reporting, investigation, prosecution and adjudication outside the bias and conflicted chain of command. I am here today to ask all Americans who love their country, their military and their service members to join us in supporting the STOP ACT.