Protect Our Defenders Advocacy Board Member, Senator Gillibrand’s Press Conference Announcing Gillibrand Bill PR 051613, May 15, 2013
My name is Brian Lewis. Earlier this year, I testified in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee about how my chain of command failed me.
Before I begin, I would like to thank Senator Gillibrand for including male survivors in her efforts to bring attention to Military Sexual Assault. Too often male survivors are ignored and marginalized in discussions of rape and sexual assault. The latest data from the Department of Defense shows that male survivors are a majority of rapes in the military. Senators, you are showing true courage and a commitment to all survivors.
I am a rape survivor. A superior noncommissioned officer raped me, while I was stationed aboard the USS Frank Cable. After the rape, I was told by my command not to file a formal report with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. When I was reassigned to seek medical help, my psychiatrist told me that I was lying about the rape and diagnosed me with a Personality Disorder. I was discharged with a General Discharge in August 2001. I have been fighting to correct my record ever since.
I am proud to be standing here in support of this new legislation designed to mandate fundamental change within our broken military system by requiring commanders to immediately forward reports of assault to investigators and by removing the authority to decide whether to prosecute and convene trials from the chain of command.
The current system is broken. As in my case, commanding officers often fail to report rape and sexual assault because of personal biases and conflicts of interests.
Survivors in turn are afraid to report out of fear of being retaliated against, labeled with errant medical diagnoses, such as personality or bipolar disorder, and involuntarily discharged.
The military has proven time and again that it is not capable of punishing the perpetrators or stopping the sexual assault epidemic. It is time to implement fundamental change and start doing right by our men and women, brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers in uniform. This legislation is a major step in that direction.
This bill, through the creation of an Advisory Council also grants survivors their voices in helping to reform the military. The military betrayed us by involuntarily discharging us after we were assaulted. Under this bill, we would be able to truly show our patriotism by helping to reform our broken military.
Too many survivors have lost their lives to the epidemic of rape in the military. Carri Goodwin, Sophie Champoux, and LaVena Johnson are just a few. Their chain of command failed them miserably. We owe it to the families of those lost and those who have yet to serve to pass this bill as expeditiously as possible.
I am proud to have served my country and to continue to serve by helping to end this epidemic.