USA Today: Military women say sexual assault and harassment remain
USA Today reports:
COLORADO SPRINGS — A recently graduated cadet remembers waiting for her accused rapist at the Air Force Academy to be brought to justice. A former sailor, now living in Denver, talks of being sexually harassed by shipmates and eventually forced to leave the Navy after she reported a subordinate’s rape. A male sergeant, based at Fort Carson, speaks of seeing participants in a gang rape get away with it.
As the military tries again to deal with an epidemic of sexual assaults, these three servicemembers have witnessed the problem firsthand. They know what happens when those who are victimized try to report assaults. They have seen commanders look away or worse.
The Senate is drafting its annual defense bill this month, including a provision that would strengthen how the Pentagon handles sexual assaults and harassment. Military leaders oppose a plan that would remove discretion from commanders to overrule juries in some of these cases, but a tougher proposal offered by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., is gaining bipartisan support.
