Bay Pines tends to male and female military sexual assault victims

Bay Pines VA program tackles military sex cases
By HOWARD ALTMAN
The Tampa Tribune
Published: January 12, 2013

SEMINOLE
"Get in the jeep."

Joseph Sebastiano knew it would be bad.

A few days earlier, his sergeant had forced him to have sex in the barracks shower. Now, with the other men in the platoon done for the day, the sergeant told Sebastiano he had "extra duty." His voice drops to a near whisper as he describes what happened next.

More than three decades later, Sebastiano, 54, is finally coming to grips with the attacks in February 1976 at Fort Polk, La. Sitting in the safety of the Center for Sexual Trauma Studies at Bay Pines VA Hospital, Sebastiano talks about his experience as a victim of military sexual trauma and the residential treatment program helping exorcise his ghosts.

There are many like him. An estimated 19,000 troops were victims of rape and sexual assault in the military last year alone, according to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. The Air Force recently released the findings of a series of rapes by drill instructors at its training facility at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.

And on Friday, military leaders spoke about the problem at a conference in Washington, D.C.

As the military struggles to cope with the problem among active-duty members, the Veterans Health Administration is facing challenges treating the estimated half-million veterans, like Sebastiano, who have experienced military sexual trauma.

A Veterans Affairs inspector general's report released last month found that the VA is not doing a good enough job connecting victims to programs like the one at Bay Pines, which was lauded in the report for providing training to other centers.
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