For those not familiar with the issues of rape in ther armed services - it is one of those situations where the victim is in a lose-lose scenario. News reports that contain interviews with victims are horrifying. It seems that many women servivng in Iraq cannot even go to the latrines at night without another woman soldier to escort them because that is the most likely place to get jumped and assaulted, usually by a solider from your own unit. The Army claims they take all allegations seriously but the women who come forward are ostracized and face having to go against higher ranking males or fellow soldiers who had the sense to ctach them alone so their claims cannot be substantiated. It is a very serious problem. A number of women who have since left the Amry say that after reporting their rapes, they were re-assigned to riskier jobs or or worse - they were then targetted for more harrassment by soldiers who now knew she was a "marked" woman. Just like sexual harassment in the civiliian world, in the servies, men in positions of power over women have the opportunity to be alone with them on "business" and if so inclined can behave however they wish without any real chance of witnesses confirming the woan's account of the incident. In ther Armed services, it's worse because of the male to female ratio, the stress of combat and the general attitude towards female soldiers. I'm not speaking about this one woman's case - I'm simply saying that it is virtually impossible for a female soldier to press a charge against her assailant. If a solider you know jumps you on the way to the latrine in the middle of the night, how are you going to prove that? it's not as if the MP's are going to run a rape kit, do fingernail scrapings and demand DNA samples from the guy who did it. That might happen if the rape took place on base in the USA but it's higghly unlikely in a combat zone. Women report being told to "suck it up" (no ppun intended) and "get back to work."
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