United States: Sexual assault plagues military

Off Our Backs, Sep/Oct 2003 by Osborn, Corrie, Dalton, Melissa

Over the past year dozens of women have reported being sexually assaulted at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado.

In July, Douglas Meester, 20, was court-marshaled after being accused of raping a female cadet the previous October, making him the first assailant to be tried in this year's long list of sexual assault cases. The victim of this particular assault reported the rape to her cadet commander and several administrators; however, instead of coming to her defense, the academy disciplined her for breaking rules against having sex with upperclassmen and drinking. A little over a week after the academy announced its decision to court-marshal Meester, he sent a request to Air Force Secretary James Roche for permission to resign from the academy and thereby avoid standing trial for his crimes. There is no word yet on the outcome of this request; however, in the course of the last two years Roche has allowed for the resignations of eight members of the Air Force who were facing court-marshals. Additionally, in early August, sexual assault charges against 2nd Lt. Ronen Segal, who was accused of raping a freshmen cadet last year, were dropped by the Air Force.

The Pentagon's investigative panel-set up to determine whether some 57 cases of sexual assault were mishandled by the Air Force Academy over the past ten years-also came under scrutiny this summer. Led by Anita K. Blair, founder of the conservative anti-feminist Independent Women's Forum (IWF) [See page 33 of this issue for more information on the IWF.], the seven-member panel appointed by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also included IWF member Sally Satel. However, this July the panel saw some improvement as Blair was removed and anti-victim panelist Amy McCarthy was pushed to resign after telling AP Radio that, "Due to the fact that many of the women making the allegations were involved with drinking, partying, strip poker, what I call high-risk behaviors...the veracity of these allegations may be suspect." With these absences a victim advocate was finally added to the investigative panel. The Air Force Academy itself has also done some recent restructuring in response to the uproar caused by the sexual assaults; three academy leaders were reassigned and the superintendent was demoted in rank and replaced in July.

In addition to the violent acts against women committed by members of the Air Force Academy, it is worth noting several incidences of sexual violence in other branches of the military. In late July, a U.S. marine pled guilty to charges of rape and assault against a 19-year-old Japanese woman whom he beat and raped on a street in Okinawa. At the U.S. Naval Academy, a midshipman was court-marshaled for the rape of a first-year student in July, and two midshipmen faced a military pre-trial for the rapes of two classmates in June. Also this year, a Marine Corps Sergeant was charged with the murders of his girlfriend and her baby; an Army Captain killed his mother-in-law and then himself after his abused wife was issued a protective order and hid at her mother's house; an Army Sergeant was charged with murdering his girlfriend a month after returning from Iraq and a year after charges of aggravated battery upon a different girlfriend who was seven months pregnant; and finally this summer, Paul Duroussea, who was discharged from the military after facing a court-marshal for rape, kidnapping and assault, was arrested and charged with the murders of five Florida women.

-info from: Denver Post ongoing feature, www.feminist.org