Dayton Daily News: The Military’s ‘Broken’ System
Dayton Daily News reports:
She wishes she could erase the response of her command when she reported the attacks against a Coast Guard petty officer: “We can’t risk losing him. He’s too critical to the mission.”
But she never wishes that she had not reported the attack. “I was raised to speak up and stand for what is right, even if it will harm me,” she said. “Reporting or not he will still hurt others and the command will continue to ignore. Now with all the attention on military sexual assault, it will help others.”
As one of the central figures in the 2012 Oscar-nominated documentary “The Invisible War,” the diminutive Cioca has gained an oversized profile in the raging national debate over sexual assault in the military and what can be done to combat it.
“The entire military justice system is broken and it needs to be fixed from start to finish,” said Taryn Meeks, executive director of Protect Our Defenders, an advocacy group for military sexual assault victims. Meeks, a former Navy Judge Advocate General lawyer, believes the military has failed to protect victims and hold perpetrators accountable.
