Moral decadence in US army
Posted on 29. Dec, 2010 by Raja Mujtaba in US
By: S M Hali
Recent reports and surveys indicate that rape and moral turpitude in the US military has reached alarming proportions and even 
males are victimised. The demographics depict that in 2007 there were reports of 2,200 rapes in the military, while in 2009, the figure increased up to 3,230 cases of sexual assault.
A majority of the victims suffer from Military Sexual Trauma (MST), and are too ashamed to even report the assault. It is even more disturbing to note that the military officials tend to cover up this damaging issue and deflect blame. Kira Mountjoy-Pepka of Pack Parachute, an unofficial non-profit organisation, provides assistance to victims of sexual abuse in the military. Her findings shed some light on why the military system favours the perpetrators of the sexual assault and brushes the crime under the carpet. Kira quotes the Feres Doctrine (Feres vs. United States, 340 US 135 [1950]) that made it impossible for the survivor to sue the investigators since it, “essentially prohibits people from suing the military and/or petitioning any non-military legal authority for interdiction without the military’s prior and explicit agreement and consent.” She explains that if a victim reports this crime and the military mishandles the investigation, they cannot be sued. This factor is contrary to the US Constitution, since it denies the victims their first amendment rights. The US military takes great pains to protect the perpetrators and discourages victims from reporting, although the Department of Defence claims to have a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual assault in the ranks.
The US Department of Veterans’ Affairs states: “The rate of sexual assault on women in the military is twice that in the civilian population”, which is quite disquieting. A US Government Accountability Office report concluded that “most victims stay silent because of the belief that nothing would be done; fear of ostracism, harassment, or ridicule and concern that peers would gossip.” While a civilian rape victim is ensured confidential advice from his or her doctors, lawyers and advocates, the only access a military rape survivor has is to a military chaplain. Compared with a 40 percent arrest rate for sex crimes among civilians, only eight percent of the investigated cases in the military lead to prosecution.
In 2006, the US Congress mandated the military track incidents, which has prompted Pentagon to commence a comprehensive 
programme to do so. Then there were 2,974 reported cases of rape and sexual assaults in the military; out of these, only 292 cases resulted in trials, while only 181 prosecutions of perpetrators resulted. Statistics indicate that 50 percent of the cases are dismissed due to lack of adequate proof or because of the death of the victim. Less than 11 percent of the cases result in a court martial. Often, those prosecuted merely suffer a reduction in rank or pay, and 80 percent receive an honourable discharge nonetheless. The victim, on the other hand, risks ending his or her career when they file charges.
In an interview with ABC News in 2009, Michael Dominguez, former Principal Undersecretary of Defence for Personnel and Readiness, when confronted with the stark figures admitted that “the US Military has to improve” in this aspect and informed that Defence Secretary Robert Gates has taken the initiative to improve the military’s ability to investigate, prosecute and convict. Dominguez’s replacement, Clifford Stanley has issued a Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2010-12, which addresses the need to “establish a culture free of sexual assault”, and puts forth goals of 90 percent “awareness” and 80 percent “confidence” in the sexual assault prevention and response programme by the end of 2015. The downside is that there is no specific mention of the means to accomplish these goals.
Susan Avila Smith, Director of the advocacy group ‘Women Organising for Women’, projects a dismal picture and states: “Some of the people she works with are of World War II vintage and she finds that the cases of moral debauchery remain the same. It used to be covered up then and is being covered up now. As previously, the drill sergeants, chaplains, and doctors appear to be the worst perpetrators. So when these professionals get convicted, rather than punishing to the fullest extent, they get away with just a letter of reprimand.”
Due to Mountjoy-Pepka’s work in the wake of her experiencing MST and taking action, in October 2005 then-Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld authorised the DOD Task Force on Sexual Assault in the military. However, the DOD took three years to name the Task Force, and the group’s initial meeting did not occur until August 2008. During that period, 6,000 service women and men were sexually assaulted or raped. Such is the state of moral decadence in the US military.
S. M. Hali is a retired Group Captain of Pakistan Air Force. He is a regular freelance writer who writes for newspapers and web publications.
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10 Responses to “Moral decadence in US army”
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LTC Retired
31. Dec, 2010
This article fails to address the 3-decade increase in false allegations, both heterosexual and homosexual. It also accepts all "reports" as "rapes" despite the fact hat may accusations are FOUND unproven. Additionally, there is no effort to improve report mechanism "confidence" or to pursure liars who destroy the careers of others. There is no factual basis to support that victims end their career when filing charges.
Best find another axe to grind.
LTC Retired
31. Dec, 2010
The rate of pedophile-and-bestiality-related activity in the Pakistani Military might make a goood study…I wonder if there's a reporting mechanism for the victims?
Cpt. Swindle
31. Dec, 2010
As an officer in the US Army it is very obvious to all involved that the coed units of the military should be segregated by sex, just as they are in basic training. I am a member of a combat arms unit that is all male and coincidently has the most dedicated and disciplined soldiers in the Army. The coed units are dysfunctional civilians at best unprofessional and incompetant at worst. Several times my platoon has been tasked with training these units in combat maneuvers prior to deployments and they truly are mission incapable. This is not because of the women soldiers who are by far the most professional and motivated of these units. The problem is the game playing and politics that the male (mainly black) "soldiers" display in almost every instance. Infantry- Cavalry- Artillery units are devoid of these kind of people who are literally incapable of performing the most elementary of tasks, resulting in a break down at every level. This post will probley be deleted or at least considered harsh. This is the truth.
Blues Bland
31. Dec, 2010
In reply to Captain Swindle: If unit cohesion is not being observed in relation to the "games" he says has been his experience, it is the unit commanders responsibiolity to straighten out the problem soldiers. No military is a democracy. If individuals are not doing their job there is the Uniform Code of Military Justice system from Article 15's up to and including court marshal. Is it any wonder that women, of whom Captain Swinle states "are by far the most professional and motivated of these units", do not report abuse as they should. They know nothing will be done and they will be looked upon as "trouble makers". It is not coed units that are the problem. It is the refusal of ranking officers and the senior enlisted NCO's that, for what ever reasons, possibily a version of the male sexist "old boys network", are allowing lawlessness to run rampant in the services. The military needs to take drastic action to see that ALL personnel are held accountable for their actions.
Carl Street
31. Dec, 2010
As a former 95 Bravo (MP to you civilians) I can tell you that only one in 10 or LESS of all military sexual assaults are even reported.
So, if you think the reports are bad, do the MATH and get the REAL picture…
f.van
31. Dec, 2010
Considering the demographics of the army (mostly males 18-35) it's surprising that the rate of rape is said to be only twice as high as it is in the general population. I would expect it to be higher, with such a concentration of people from the most crime-prone segment of the population.
Let's face it, women, children and the elderly commit few crimes, let alone rape.
Has any statistician really analyzed how many army staffers are criminals, and compared it to a cohort of civilians in the same age/sex bracket? I wouldn't be surprised if the crime rate in the army was actually lower than in the civilian population.
Cj
31. Dec, 2010
Being former Army, I can personally attest to the moral decadence of the military. But what can you expect when you take your personnel from the lowest levels of society? Enlisted personnel are there for the amusement/abuse of NCO's who have been given some rank and develope power complexes, ruling by tyrany. Then there is the Officer class who don't even bother to report, let alone see what's going on because any complaint/incident (valid or otherwise) looks bad for them and could be career ending.
The WhoAhhhhh attitude does nothing to actually raise the individuals moral or cultural level and the "be all that you can be" attitude really did go out the window long ago. Instead of building the personnel up to their full potential, policy is to break everyone down to the lowest common denominator of the group and start over. Forunately this does not affect specialized units to the same degree, and to my honor and privilage I was a part of the 7th SFG.
Paul Mannstein
01. Jan, 2011
Rape in Hitler's army, the Wehrmacht, was a capital offence.
Kristin Johnson
02. Jan, 2011
The statistics that show increases in rape reports from 2,200 in 2007 to 3,230 in 2009 is a difficult statistic to explain but as the author demonstrates, an easy statistic to distort and use to support a theory that is not necessarily true. To look at the higher number and automatically assume that more rapes are occurring is ignorant and wrong. The increased number of reports could be an indicator that victims are feeling more confident in the system and thus are reporting more. If this were true, the author’s article and claim is completely false. Although the author has the freedom to write whatever he wants, he should have at least addressed the possibility that the increased number could also be a result of increased reporting. I believe this type of article does more damage than good because it promulgates the malicious rumor that the military and chain of commands don’t care about the victims and will try to hide assaults. An article like this could be the reason that a victim is discouraged from reporting. Negative media is not going to motivate and help the cause of sexual assault reporting. Instead, the author could have focused on the efforts the military is making to help sexual assault victims; like establishing restricted reporting. Although I truly hope that this author never writes about this subject again, if he does choose to write another article, hopefully he will do better research and consider the negative consequences his article might have on the victims rather than focusing so hard on trying to slander the United States military.
A former WAC
03. Jan, 2011
I was in the last gender-segregated WAC basic training unit and we were treated like the scum of the earth! Women then were considered DISPOSABLE,DISPENSIBLE & great experiment fodder at the time.
Vietnam was still going but the Draft had ended and military was going ALL VOLUNTEER. Slick recruiters wre literally SCRAPING THE STREETS looking for Volunteers who had no idea of what it was like in there.
There was Lesbian sexual assault nightly and when we could finally go to the seedy EM/EW club, I saw officers & NCOs checking us out like meat or cattle. I was told that we were not to fraternize w/ officers but nothing said that they could not fondle, make promises and have sex w/ us whether we wanted it or not!
Many I knew were getting extremely discouraged by the abuse, constant belittlement and threats and the chance to marry one of those guys was good for the ego and a chance to get out of Basic Training HELL!
Every experience I had in there served to reenforce my SUBHUMANITY, INHUMANITY and TOTAL WORTHLESSNESS.
I managed to just shut it all out and they were going to put me in a special training batallion to figure out why I wasn't succumbing to their mental or physical beatdowns. They had no idea an abusive ex had already torn me down pretty much an dI thought serving my country would help me to feel good about myself. Was I ever wrong. I was over 21 when I went in and I guess I was too old than what they were used to intimidating. There were plenty of suicides too.
I was assaulted twice while in there by white guys. And there were six lesbians who tried to kill me. I ended up mopping up with them.It was at night.When I ran downstairs to get the NCO on duty at the barracks,everyone was pretending to be asleep and nobody had seen anything. Of course. Just like prison, I was told later.
I volunteered to do something FOR my country not to have my country do something TO me.But they did.
I had an up close and personal look at the Pentagon's view of women and the world and what it is like to lose all of your freedom,sense of humanity,experience emotional death ( which you would need if you were going to kill).I found how to lie, to keep from getting killed, to make it seem I was obeying their rules while getting around them and trying not to play their games and let them grind me into the dirt because I didn't think they would rebuild me just right.
If my Congressman had not interceded, I would have ended up as I was threatened, to have a plastic bag put over my head and handcuffed and locked in a wall locker in the WW II abandoned barracks. I wondered how many other people would have been there and mistakenly declared AWOL. I was told to go AWOL but refused.
I was also told if you can't make it in the Army you can't make it anywhere. I only wanted out.
The Army DID teach me how to evaluate if I had made it!
If I have a safe,secure place to sleep w/ shower facilities,warm in the winter&cool in the summer and food to eat w/o worrying about mind-control drugs in it,I was OK.
I look back on that like it was being in prison!
Incidentally, I was told if I ever told anyone what happened to me or said I had military service,they would "get" me no matter where I hid.I was threatened w/ the backwards of the VA psychiatric facilities, etc.
My final day, the lady sgt. in charge of Casual Company barracks asked me how I got out so fast w/ an honorable discharge (but w/ an entirely false and horrible spin number). I just smiled and said "Goodbye."
A lot of the changes for the better to subsequent women in the service came from talks I had with my Congressman but the Pentagon does NOT like change and did NOT like women in their military.They STILL don't, I guess.
The sexual assaults by the two male personnel I wrote off as the cost of being in a man's military.I never saw them again or even remember their names.It was more horrible with the women but I defended myself rather well. That I owe to the military!