INTERNATIONAL STOP MILITARY RAPE AWARENESS DAY

May 30 - INTERNATIONAL STOP MILITARY RAPE AWARENESS DAY
One of the saddest realities I faced when my daughter joined the U.S. Army was that sexual abuse is an epidemic in our military. Both of my grandfather's were in the military, one being a Colonel and the other was a Sergeant, and both were good men. I heard the statistics, but thought I had raised a tough daughter, she could deal with anything they threw at her. I had no idea how many perpetrators and sex offenders lurk and hide in our military. I did not realize was that one out of every three women and one out of every five men in the U.S. Military are sexually assaulted. I still feel shocked by these numbers. And even worse is that it is rare that the perpetrator is prosecuted for the crime of rape/sexual assault.

There are some fundamental changes that need to change so that people can serve in our armed forces without fear of being sexually assaulted by their own fellow soldiers. One is hold the command responsible for any type of complaints that are generated. This means independent investigations into any type of complaint is absolutely crucial. All the policies and procedures and task forces in the world won't help iF the command is able to choose which one to enforce.

Informing young people before they sign away their rights about the statistics of rape in the military should be mandated. Informed and honest recruiting needs to be upheld and not a joke.

We must take a stand together to end the good ole' boy mentality of "boys will be boys" and demand a ZERO tolerance for sexual abuse in the military.
Peace~Sara Rich, M.S.W. and proud mom of Spc. Suzanne Swiftsuzanneswift.org