I was standing watch on a trident ballistic missile submarine (my 4th submarine where I reenlisted just before this happened) when the Engineering Laboratory Technician (ELT) walked up and snickered. This happened a couple of times and I finally asked what he was snickering at. He asked if I was gay. I said no. A couple of weeks later, the E-7 in charge of the division I was working in made graphic sexual comments to me. I just walked away. When we pulled into port, I had first day duty. An E-5 from the other crew asked me to tell him about my boyfriends.

The next day, I had to leave. I was called back and I told the E-6 gold crew corpsman. He told his XO. I then saw the blue crew E-8 corpsman and a Navy chaplain. The Navy chaplain said this was sexual harassment and would be investigated. The next day, I saw the Group 9 medical officer who was the only person who said anything in my medical record. During the in-port period, I was not with the crew due to schooling. I then went underway and thought that everything would be all right. (This would be my second underway on this trident). However, I was instead written up for not talking to the E-7 who did the harassment.

Everything I had been doing for the previous 8 years of underways had changed. I told the command what the E-7 did, and the commanding officer said it never happened. We pulled into Kings Bay, GA and the Group 10 medical officer said I was to follow the orders of people I didn’t trust. I was then kicked out as an E-3 for “not following procedures” and my medical records says I have a social and occupational disorder. I am now a service-connected disabled American veteran (50% PTSD due to the sexual harassment) and trying to upgrade my discharge to get things corrected.