A couple weeks ago I interviewed a special guest on my radio show, Rowena Darvin-Varab, a disabled Army veteran. She was in charge of a platoon while serving in Iraq, and sadly, she was raped by one of the men in her platoon.
Rape in the military is much more prevalent than the general public may think. The Pentagon estimates that 19,000 rapes and/or sexual assaults occur each year.
But what she told me next left me speechless.
Rowena said that rape in the military is treated as an ‘occupational hazard’. The full impact of that statement has yet to sink in. An occupational hazard of being a fireman is getting burned and for a policeman it’s getting shot at or possibly killed.
For a soldier in a war zone, occupational hazards are abound: bullets flying at you, stepping on Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), bombs, rockets & grenades aimed at you and getting wounded and/or killed. Now add rape to the list!??
A recent lawsuit was filed against Secretaries of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates for their failure to protect military personnel from this growing problem. The plaintiffs were 28 military members/veterans who were all victims of sexually violent crimes. The judge said his hands were tied because of precedent where the judiciary does not typically interfere with military matters and concluded his ruling by saying, (rape) was simply “incident to service”.
Come on, is this the best we can do? Is this the best explanation that our military can come up with? As a society that believes in the rule of law, are we able to look in the mirror and honestly say this is acceptable?
And of course, the numbers confirm the shameful and lame responses from the U.S. military. In 2011 only 3200 victims reported sexual attacks and less than 200 cases resulted in a court-marshal conviction. Nineteen thousand rapes; less than 200 convictions!
How do you explain to your son or daughter as a parent, “Oh, that’s a great job daughter, but be careful, rape is incident to working there.” Rape is a criminal act and it’s against the law both in the civilian world as it is in the military.
The statistics above are a black mark on a military that drapes itself with words like ‘Honor’, ‘Virtue’, ‘Distinction’ and ‘Valor’. A 2006 study by the VA estimated that one in three military women were sexually assaulted and/or raped during their time in the service. And our nation’s military schools are not immune from the problem either; the numbers are even higher. There’s nothing honorable about rape. Even worse, it’s a betrayal by the senior military commanders who don’t take care of their enlisted personnel and clean up this mess. There’s certainly more they could do to prevent this despicable, dishonorable and criminal behavior. There’s always one more thing that could be done to influence the situation to their favor. And then one more thing after that.
This is a horrible failure in leadership. It’s a failure of leadership in the military. It’s a failure of leadership in our courts. And it’s a failure of leadership in our Congress.
Are ‘Moral Waivers’ still in place? If so, get rid of them. Under Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, up to 125,000 enlistees were allowed into our military who had criminal records: Domestic Battery, Rape, Assault on Women, etc.
Make lie detector tests mandatory for both the accuser and the accused.
We owe a lot more to the men and women who serve our country in uniform and protect the freedoms we enjoy. This is detrimental to the morale of all active duty and reserve personnel everywhere and will ultimately affect enlistment and recruitment efforts by the military.
So what happened in Rowena’s case? She chose not to report the incident because:
- Since there were no eye witnesses it would be her word against his word.
- She didn’t want to go through the grind. She would have been treated more like the criminal than the perpetrator. And then kicked out of the Army.
She has since left the military with 19 ½ years of honorable service.
If you are shocked and disgusted as I am, then write a letter to Representative Jackie Speier (D-CA). She is a member of the House Armed Services Committee and has been vocal on this issue.
With Faith there is hope. And with your input, democracy flourishes.
P.W.
Patricia Wenskunas
