Sergeant First Class Richard Stayskal Military Medical Accountability Act of 2019 claim filed on New Year's Day

Fort Bragg soldier first to file medical malpractice claim against the government

ABC 11 News
By Diane Wilson
January 2, 2020

A new year means the new law named after a Fort Bragg soldier Richard Stayskal is in effect. This new law, The Sergeant First Class Richard Stayskal Military Medical Accountability Act of 2019, paves the way for the military to hold the government accountable for negligence and malpractice by military doctors.

Stayskal along with his attorney Natalie Khawam didn't waste any time and filed a malpractice claim against the government on New Year's Day.

"I filed SFC Richard Stayskal's claim on January 1st, to ring in the New Year," Khawam said. "We're honored that our bill passed in less than a year, especially after 70 years of unsuccessful attempts by many others. We don't want to waste any time pursuing recourse for the Stayskal family. We look forward to helping our Military families seek justice in 2020."

ABC11 first told you about Sgt. 1st Class Richard Stayskal's fight in December 2018. The Purple Heart recipient is stationed at Fort Bragg and lives in Pinehurst with his wife and two daughters. He has stage four lung cancer.

It's a cancer diagnosis that he said should have been caught earlier but was missed by military doctors at Womack Army Medical Center during a routine physical in January 2017.
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Here is the link to the The Sergeant First Class Richard Stayskal Military Medical Accountability Act of 2019

Military Private Housing in Wake of Scandal Review---Bad

update Army IG finds widespread concerns with privatized housing and lack of oversight

More Army, Navy Families Unhappy with Private Housing in Wake of Scandal

Military.com
By Patricia Kime
28 Jul 2019

Fort Bragg was at the bottom of the list with an overall rating of 58.9, or "very poor." The North Carolina base housing is managed by Corvias. Fort Meade, Maryland, also managed by Corvias, and Fort Carson, Colorado, managed by Balfour Beatty, were the only two installations to receive "poor" ratings.

Sgt. Andrew McNeil (left), a public affairs mass communication noncommissioned officer, discusses his housing concerns and conditions with Maj. Tabitha Hernandez, commander, 22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, XVIII Airborne Corps, during the unit’s command housing visits at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on April 5, 2019. Bragg came in last on a survey of Army housing, with an overall rating of 58.9, or "very poor." (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Gregory T. Summers)

Satisfaction with privatized military housing has declined since last year for both the Army and Navy, according to surveys released by the services Thursday.

But while soldiers and families living in base housing can view the survey results and see where their installations fall on the spectrum, the results of the Navy survey don't contain specifics for each base and provide only a general look at the overall state of Navy housing.

After a scandal earlier this year as reports came to light of vermin, mold and lead contamination in U.S. military housing managed by private companies, the services launched a series of inspections and fixes, including resident surveys, to determine the extent of the issues and how to address them.
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Vietnam Veteran Sgt. Matthew Francis Kelly made a dying wish to his nurse

Strangers invited to funeral for Vietnam veteran who died alone. ‘I wanted to honor his final wishes,’ his nurse said.

Philadelphia Enquirer
by Melanie Burney
July 9, 2019

Kelly left Vietnam in November 1970 and received an honorable discharge, his records show. Little is known about his life after the military. He returned to Philadelphia. Richello said he had a hard life, “and he was one of the forgotten.”

BRADLEY C BOWER / FOR THE INQUIRER

Former Army Sgt. Matthew Francis Kelly made a dying wish to his nurse: He wanted to be buried with full military honors, a parade, bagpipes, and a 21-gun salute.

In death, Kelly will get what he did not receive in life when he returned home to Philadelphia from the Vietnam War nearly 50 years ago. His nurse, Jennifer Richello, has recruited a band of strangers to keep the promise she made to Kelly on his deathbed a few months ago.

“I wanted to honor his final wishes, and love and respect for his service to our country,” Richello, a registered nurse, said in a statement Tuesday. “Kelly was a good man and deserves this.”

Richello also made a special request to mourners: bring a can of Pepsi to the funeral. Kelly loved the soft drink, she said.

After graduating from high school, Kelly enlisted on Jan. 14, 1969, his 20th birthday. He completed training at Fort Bragg, N.C, and Fort Sill, Okla., according to his military record. He was deployed to Vietnam in December 1969 and served as a communications chief in the 13th Battalion Signal, First Cavalry Division.
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Retired Green Beret received Distinguished Service Cross for heroism in Afghanistan

Green Beret received valor award upgrade for 2005 firefight

Military Times
By: Kyle Rempfer
June 21, 2019

Retired Master Sgt. Larry Hawks was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross on June 21 for his actions in Afghanistan back in 2005.

The ceremony took place at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School auditorium on Fort Bragg, North Carolina, according to an Army news release.

Hawks received the DSC — the second highest military decoration awarded to a U.S. soldier — for gallantry under fire as a member of 3rd Special Forces Group on July 24 and July 25, 2005, in Afghanistan.

“Sgt. 1st Class Hawks, while conducting armed reconnaissance of a town, came under intense enemy small arms, rocket propelled grenade, and mortar fire," the citation reads, according to the Army release. “While moving to interdict enemy combatants attempting to reposition themselves on the high ground west of the village, he discovered one of his comrades was pinned down by enemy fire.”

"Sgt. 1st Class Hawks, without regard for his own safety dismounted from his vehicle and charged toward the enemy position on the high ground. Under continuous fire, he engaged and neutralized the enemy position.”

His actions led to 15 confirmed enemy killed in action, the capture of 14 insurgents, and the recovery of over 30 light and heavy weapons, according to his older Silver Star citation.
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Fort Bragg solider dressed to kill, then opened fire in a home

Police: Fort Bragg Soldier Wearing Military Gear Opened Fire into Home

The Associated Press
June 14, 2019

The active duty soldier is charged with attempted first-degree murder and shooting into an occupied dwelling, both of which are felonies. He will be taken into custody if he is released from the hospital, officials said.

Fort Bragg soldier Eric Jerrod Davis is accused of shooting at someone with a shotgun inside a home, officials said. (Scotland County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigative Unit/Facebook)

LAUREL HILL, N.C. — A soldier wearing military-issued ballistic gear opened fire inside a North Carolina home and was wounded by return gunfire before he left and was injured in a car crash, according to authorities.

U.S. Army E-4 Specialist Eric Jerrod Davis was in critical condition at a hospital, news outlets reported Wednesday. Davis is accused of shooting at someone with a shotgun on Sunday morning inside the home in Laurel Hill, officials said.

"Several innocent bystanders were present at the time, and one innocent bystander returned fire, shooting Davis," the Scotland County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. It is not clear if anyone else was injured.
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Fort Bragg soldier raced to save buddy but he was too late

Fort Bragg sniper raced to check on his buddy. He broke into the house and found his best friend's body. Overcome with grief, he fired a couple of shots from his own gun at the floor. Now you know what happened a lot better than how this headline reads! *******

Sniper Who Once Held Record in Afghanistan Now Faces Gun Charges

NBC 4 News
By Julie Carey and Christian Paz
Published May 8, 2019

A soldier who once set a record for the longest sniper shot in Afghanistan by an American is now facing gun charges as part of a larger death investigation in Northern Virginia.

Deputies arrested Nicholas Ranstad in Warren County, Virginia, on May 4 after he called sheriff's deputies to a house where a man had allegedly suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

According to the Warran County Sheriff's Office, deputies responded to a house on the 200 block of Doom Peak Rd. in Linden, Virginia, where they met Ranstad and confirmed that the injured man, Sean David Miller, had died.

Deputies said Ranstad told them that he was friends with Miller, a Marine veteran, and had become concerned with his well-being, prompting him to travel from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to Miller's home to check in on him.

Police said they are still investigating the circumstances of Miller's death, but News4 has learned that the Medical Examiner's Office has ruled the death a suicide.

And Miller's father wrote about his son's death in a social media post, saying Miller "has fallen to PTSD and suicide."
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Fort Bragg Soldier hits 100th marathon!

Soldier Is Running Her 100th Marathon in Boston

DVIDS
By Eve Meinhardt
15 April 2019

FORT BRAGG, N.C. -- It all started when she was stationed in Virginia 12 years ago. That's when Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Beofra Butler saw everyone training for the Marine Corps Marathon and decided to give the 26.2-mile race a try.

Chief Warrant Officer 4 Beofra K. Butler, administrative executive officer to the commanding general, U.S. Army Forces Command, poses with her marathon medals on March 22, 2019. She has run 99 marathons since 2008. Around her neck are medals from her five previous Boston Marathons. She will run her 100th race April 15 in Boston. (U.S. Army photo by Eve Meinhardt)

As a soldier, running was already a part of her daily life and physical fitness routine. She had run several other shorter races, including the Army 10-Miler and a few half-marathons, so the challenge of a full marathon appealed to her. She wasn't even afraid of the dreaded "wall" that everyone told her she would hit around mile 20, when her body would start shutting down as energy stores ran low and fatigue set in.
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Fort Bragg soldier received Soldier's Medal

Army soldier receives heroism medal for saving two lives after car accident

Army Times
By: Joshua Axelrod
April 2, 2019

Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., presents Army Capt. Jacob Riffe with the Soldier's Medal at a ceremony March 22 at Fort Bragg, N.C. (Staff Sgt. Terrance Payton/Army) 

An Army captain was recently awarded the service’s highest non-combat heroism medal for helping two people after a nasty car accident.

Capt. Jacob Riffe — a 29-year-old current operations officer with the 264th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command — was given the Soldier’s Medal for heroism during a March 22 ceremony at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

“I was pretty fortunate to be there in the right time and place to help all those people,” Riffe told Army Times.

In April 2018, Riffe and his then-5-year-old son were traveling from Fort Lee, Virginia, to Fort Bragg on I-95 when he noticed a car “kind of acting strange.”

His suspicion about that car was confirmed when it suddenly darted across the highway over an embankment on the side of the road and crashed into a farm fence. Riffe said he immediately pulled over and told his son to stay in the car while he went to assess the situation.
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Fort Bragg Army Special Operations command soldier OK after standoff

Bragg Barricaded Soldier Surrenders After Evacuation

Fayetteville Observer 
By Rodger Mullen Staff writer 
Posted Mar 2, 2019

A soldier who barricaded himself inside a house Saturday night surrendered after several hours of negotiation, according to Tom McCollum, a public affairs officer for Fort Bragg.

"Everything ended peacefully," McCollum said.

The incident, which was reported after 5 p.m., ended by 11:20 p.m. Saturday, McCollum said.

The soldier's wife and children left the house when military police arrived after 5 p.m. on Charlotte Street, according to McCollum.

McCollum identified the soldier as a member of Army Special Operations command.
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Fort Bragg Stolen Valor within CID?

Agent involved in Army officer's murder case charged with lying about earning a Purple Heart

The Washington Post
By DAN LAMOTHE
Published: February 14, 2019

The charges, if proved, amount to what U.S. troops refer to as “stolen valor,” when service members claim details about their military service that are not true in ways that benefit them. Delacruz has been suspended from his duties since the allegations came to light late last year, Castro said.

A special agent with U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command faces criminal charges after allegedly lying about his military service, Army officials said Thursday, complicating a case he was assigned in which a former Green Beret officer has been charged with murder.

Matthew L. Golsteyn, a former Special Forces officer who is being investigated for alleged war crimes committed in Afghanistan, in his Washington office with his wife, Julie, and their 4-month-old son Henry. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

Army Sgt. 1st Class Mark Delacruz, who is assigned to the Army CID office at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, was charged with the unauthorized wear of a Purple Heart, Air Assault Badge, Pathfinder Badge and Combat Action Badge and is accused of submitting a package to an Army promotion board that stated he earned a Purple Heart when he did not, said Jeffrey Castro, an Army spokesman. The Purple Heart is awarded to U.S. service members who have been wounded or killed in combat.

The charges, if proven, amount to what U.S. troops refer to as "stolen valor," when service members claim details about their military service that are not true in ways that benefit them. Delacruz has been suspended from his duties since the allegations came to light in late 2018, Castro said.

The accusations, first reported by NBC News on Thursday, complicate the case of Army Maj. Mathew Golsteyn, who is accused of premeditated murder in connection with the death of a man in Afghanistan in 2010. Golsteyn, 38, was charged in December following an on-and-off investigation that dates back to 2011, when the former Green Beret officer acknowledged killing an unarmed man that he believed to be a Taliban bomb maker during a job interview with the CIA.
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Another deported veteran returned to US...to be buried

In death, a deported veteran returns home to Texas

The Statesman 
By Jeremy Schwartz 
Posted Dec 12, 2018 

For nearly a decade, Carlos Jaime Torres dreamed of being allowed to return to the United States, the place he had called home since he was an infant and the nation he had served for four years during the Vietnam War.

Since his 2010 deportation after a conviction on marijuana possession and delivery charges, Torres had lived in a small, concrete home in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the border city of Reynosa, across the Rio Grande from McAllen. His cramped bedroom was decorated with photos from his time in the U.S. Army at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and a large black POW/MIA flag. He scraped by as a security guard, called his mother every morning at 8:30 and tried to avoid the violence that often erupted in the troubled city.

It never felt like home.

“I look American. I act American. I dress American. I am an American,” he said in a 2016 interview with the American-Statesman. “The hardest part is being told you’re not wanted.”

Torres, who died Saturday, returned to the United States this week, to be buried Thursday in the Rio Grande Valley State Veterans Cemetery in Mission. He was 64.
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In April it was Enrique Salas

Sgt. 1st Class Eric M. Emond killed on 7th tour

Sgt. 1st Class Eric Emond, Co-founder of Massachusetts Fallen Heroes, killed in Afghanistan

WCVB 
November 28, 2018

One of the special forces soldiers killed Tuesday in Afghanistan was a co-founder of a Massachusetts organization that provides support for veterans and gold star families. 

Sgt. 1st Class Eric M. Emond, 39, succumbed to wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device struck their vehicle during operations in Ghanzi province, the Department of Defense announced Wednesday. 

Also killed were Captain Andrew P. Ross, 29, and Air Force Staff Sgt. Dylan J. Elchin, 25. Emond and Ross were both members of the 3rd Special Forces Group out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. 

Emond was a native of Boston who had more than 21 years of military service in the Marine Corps and Army. He was on his seventh overseas tour. read more here

North Carolina Veteran Population Dropping, VA Enrollment Growing

Veteran Population In NC Steadily Declining

WUNC 91.5 NPR
Jay Price
November 26, 2018

Despite the downturn in the number of veterans, the VA here has been seeing its enrollment grow, as a higher percentage of veterans sign up for VA care.

North Carolina is home to two of the world’s largest military bases — the Army’s Fort Bragg and the Marine Corps’ Camp Lejeune — but the state’s population of veterans is steadily declining.

Last year the number of veterans in North Carolina dropped to about 656,000. That’s down nearly 90,000 from a decade earlier, according to US census bureau estimates.

The number has steadily fallen from a plateau a decade ago. That’s despite the substantial rise in the state’s overall population, according to a new report from UNC.

A big reason that the population is falling off so much is that the veterans of the draft-fueled buildup during the Vietnam War era now dominate the veteran population, but are “aging out ” said Rebecca Tippett is the director of Carolina Demography at the Carolina Population Center.

The veteran population is older than the average, she said.

“The result of that is that you’re going to see much higher mortality rates, and overall population decline because young veterans are not replacing older veterans at a fast enough rate and are not likely to,” Tippett said.
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Woman takes command of 776,000 soldiers and 96,000 civilians

For the first time, a woman is leading the largest command in the US Army

CNN

Andrea Diaz

October 16, 2018

(CNN)Lt. Gen. Laura J. Richardson has succeeded in breaking through a few glass ceilings in the US Army. Now she's set to break a new one.

Lt. Gen. Laura J. Richardson earned her pilot's license at age 16 and has flown to high rank in the Army.

For the first time in US Army Forces Command, or FORSCOM, history, a woman will be leading the largest command in the Army, representing 776,000 soldiers and 96,000 civilians.

This may be a first for the Army, but Richardson has had other firsts.

She has been with the US Army since 1986, and in 2012 she became the first female deputy commanding general for the 1st Cavalry Division, known as "America's First Team."

In 2017, she became second in command to Gen. Robert B. Abrams, when she was named the first female deputy commanding general of FORSCOM in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the US Army reported.

Now, Richardson will become the first female commanding general of the US Army FORSCOM as Abrams steps down from his post, reported CNN affiliate WTVD.
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Motorcycle crash claimed life of soldier who survived Afghanistan and Iraq

Motorcyclist killed in Saturday crash was JBER soldier
KTVA News
By Chris Klint
October 8th 2018

The man killed last weekend in a Gambell Street motorcycle crash was an Army soldier, military officials confirmed Monday.

JBER soldier Staff Sgt. James Alcorn, 35, died in an Oct. 6, 2018 motorcycle crash on Gambell Street in Anchorage, according to Anchorage police. (Credit: From U.S. Army Alaska)

Staff Sgt. James Alcorn, 35, was a field artilleryman assigned to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson's 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division according to U.S. Army Alaska spokesman John Pennell.

Alcorn, who joined the Army in 2006, served at Fort Benning, Fort Knox and Fort Bragg in the southern U.S. before being assigned to JBER in July 2016. He had served two combat tours in Afghanistan, as well as one in Iraq.
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Fort Bragg Soldier died in training accident a month ago?

Soldier in secret unit dies in training accident
Yahoo News
SEAN D. NAYLOR
Aug 3rd 2018

WASHINGTON — A highly decorated soldier from the Army’s elite Delta Force died last month after a free-fall parachute training accident the military did not make public.

Master Sgt. Christopher Nelms, United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), finishes a low craw under the “Worm Pit” at the Malvesti Obstacle Course in the Best Ranger Competition, April 13 at US Army Fort Benning. Photo by Patrick A. Albright.

Sgt. Maj. Christopher Nelms, 46, died July 1 from injuries sustained when his parachute failed to fully open during a June 27 jump at Laurinburg-Maxton Airport, N.C., about 40 miles southwest of Delta’s home post of Fort Bragg, N.C. “He was fighting it the whole way down,” said a former Delta Force officer familiar with the accident.

U.S. Army Special Operations Command, which exercises administrative control of Delta Force, did not announce Nelms’s death, but confirmed it when contacted by Yahoo News. “One service member died as a result of a free-fall training incident on June 27, 2018, in Laurinburg, N.C.,” said Lt. Col. Robert Bockholt, the command spokesman, in an email response to questions from Yahoo News. Nelms “received initial medical treatment for his injuries but unfortunately died at the hospital.”
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Caregiver wife battles for combat wounded husband

Hidden Heroes: When her husband was injured in Afghanistan, she fought to get him the care he needed 
Johnson City Press 
Hannah Swayze
July 8, 2018

Soon, Susan also realized, they had to move. The family was living in Fort Bragg at the time, and there, military life was unescapable. They decided to look for another place to live and they heard about the Mountain Home Veterans Affairs Healthcare System.

“Once we came here it was like the Disney World of VAs,” said Susan. Susan says their lives look a lot different now.

Hannah Swayze
This is a photo collage that Susan created to show their doctors and counselors to illustrate really what Jason has gone through. The first top left photo is Justin before the injuries and the other three surrounding it are the aftermath of the explosion. "I realized as I became justin's advocate and I became his voice that words simply won't describe what he had survived," said Susan.

Susan Freeman became her husband Justin’s caregiver after he returned from war. He was severely injured after his truck was shattered by a 1,000-pound improvised explosive device, or IED, in 2009, though looking at him and talking to him today, you might not notice more than a limp.

Justin, a U.S. Army veteran, said it was the largest successfully detonated IED that had been used in Afghanistan at that point in the war.

The explosion left Justin severely injured. He suffered damage to his brain and spinal cord and various other places throughout his body. It wasn't until after he painfully finished out his deployment and returned to the United States that he and his family realized just how much damage had been done.

“When he walked off the plane I could see that he was just broken,” said Susan. “He was broken mentally and physically and spiritually broken.”

When Justin returned, he was put in rehabilitation, going to appointment after appointment. It wasn't long before Susan realized that he wasn't really getting better.

Justin was grieving the loss of his career in the Army and struggling both physically and mentally. His injuries were numerous: nerve damage in his shoulder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and more. His mental health plummeted.
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Womack Army Medical Center retaliated against whistleblowers?

Army criticized for its handling of whistleblower retaliation case at Womack
Military Times
By: Kathleen Curthoys
February 5, 2018

OSC found that a pattern of retaliatory personnel actions against Gilbert aggravated the seriousness of the hospital’s infection control problems and increased the risk to patients. Those actions were likely a deterrent to others who may be whistleblowers, the report said, and the supervisor deserved discipline for actions that violated personnel policy.

A federal agency that protects government whistleblowers criticized the Army on Monday for declining to discipline a staff member at its Fort Bragg, North Carolina, hospital after an investigation found failures in infection control that put service members and families at risk.

Whistleblower Teresa Gilbert was a board-certified infection control technician at Womack Army Medical Center who reported violations of infection control policies in early 2014 that she said presented a health and safety threat to troops and family members at the hospital.

She reported that Womack staff members failed to correct infection control deficiencies that an earlier inspection had found, including dirty and unsterilized medical equipment, according to a redacted 2017 report by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, the independent federal agency tasked with safeguarding whistleblowers from reprisal.

A supervisor retaliated against Gilbert by restricting her access to infection control practices and patient medical records and excluding her from meetings, the OSC report said. The supervisor also cut her work hours to half days, requiring her to take four hours of leave each day and then charging her with being absent without leave for not submitting leave requests for that time, the OSC report said. In addition, Gilbert was threatened that she would be removed from the hospital unit.
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Wounded Female Veteran Saved 500!

‘Molded and crafted by heroes’

Fayetteville Observer
Michael Futch
January 14, 2018 

Sellers, who previously served with the 1st Cavalry Division Sustainment Brigade at Fort Hood, Texas, said she helped save over 500 lives down range in Afghanistan by standing between the suicide bomber and the participants in a Veterans Day run.

India Sellers-Walker received the keys to her newly refurbished 2004 Chevrolet TrailBlazer from a skydiving former Army Golden Knight.

The 70 or so on hand, who witnessed Mike Elliott’s long descent from a darkening cloudy sky, loved it.

On Saturday afternoon, Sellers-Walker, a 26-year-old member of the Fort Bragg Warrior Transition Battalion, received the sports utility vehicle as a gift from Caliber Collision’s Changing Lanes Academy and the U.S. Veterans Corps. The car donation, part of the National Auto Body Council’s Recycled Rides program, was presented to her during a program held under cloudy skies on the parade field outside the Airborne & Special Operations Museum.

“This is a very special gift,” said Larry Keen, who is president of Fayetteville Technical Community College. “It has been molded and crafted by heroes.”

Changing Lanes was developed in partnership with FTCC and Fort Bragg’s Career Skills Program. It is one of the first programs in the nation to provide transitioning service members with training and employment opportunities in the collision repair industry.

The Warrior Transition Battalion nominated Sellers-Walker for the vehicle, which was donated by Jennifer and Mike Burch of Holly Springs.

She said she can use the extra room in it.

Since a Veterans Day suicide bomb attack inside Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan on Nov. 11, 2016, Sellers-Walker has undergone 26 surgeries for the extensive injuries that riddled her body. 
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BS on Military Sexual Assaults When Congress Made Payouts for Their Own

Members of Congress need to be removed if they approved of coverup!
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 10, 2017

The Department of Defense reported there were 3,000 women sexually assaulted in 2006. By 2008, Senator Bob Casey said that harassment and assault of military women, especially in combat ones, is a "scourge" that needs to be eliminated. No one said when they actually planned on treating this as a crime.

Given the fact recent reports of payouts happening when members of Congress have regarded assaulting women as something ok with them, no need to wonder why nothing has been done to protect women from other service members.

(CNN)Two things have become painfully clear on Capitol Hill this week: Lawmakers and staffers say sexual harassment is "rampant" -- but even members of Congress have no idea just how widespread the problem is.

On Thursday, the Office of Compliance released additional information indicating that it has paid victims more than $17 million since its creation in the 1990s. That includes all settlements, not just related to sexual harassment, but also discrimination and other cases. 

By 2008, the GAO reported that 52% of service members who had been assaulted, had not reported it. They did the research from just 14 installations.

Women at War: When the enemy is one of your own was a followup to the video I did back in 2006.  
There are more, but you get the idea.

Now, take a look at what was just reported about Fort Bragg.

Fort Bragg leaders say recent Pentagon data ranking the installation among the highest for reports of sexual assaults reflect in part their efforts to combat the crimes for which they have zero tolerance. 

Still, advocates for veterans and sexual assault victims believe the military needs to do more to address the problem, including how cases are handled at installations and the reluctance of some victims to report assaults. 

Fort Bragg, as the nation’s largest military installation, has been at the forefront of the Department of Defense’s efforts to prevent sexual assault for years, officials said. Now, comprehensive sexual assault data from all installations, released for the first time, is bringing the issue into focus. 

Even as many local troops have been deployed around the world to help fight the nation’s enemies, the data shows the on-going fight against sexual assault in the military that is taking place on the home front. 

And for the first time, it reveals installation-specific data. In past years, the Pentagon had instead released aggregated numbers for each branch of service. 

The latest data shows four years worth of reports across more than 200 installations, both large and small, from 2013 to 2016.At Fort Bragg and Pope Field, the Pentagon says 156 sexual assault reports were made in last year. The number of reports for the installation has risen each of the past four years.

The title of the news report is 

"Fort Bragg leaders respond to sexual assault data"

What should the headline be when members of Congress are forced to explain why this was all ok to them while they were telling the public a totally different story? 


UPDATE

Current and former cadets speak out on sexual assault at Air Force Academy

UPDATE

Fifty-six female Democratic lawmakers ask House to investigate Trump sexual misconduct claims

Former Air Force Academy official alleges sexual assault cover-ups