Hundreds of Boy Scouts sexually abused came forward

Hundreds of former Boy Scouts come forward with new claims of sexual abuse

USA TODAY
Cara Kelly
April 24, 2019

"I probably would have gotten kicked out" for coming forward at the time, Kimber said.

Kretschmer said he was abused by a Scout leader who was his psychologist through the Air Force base where his dad was stationed. He was a kid with attention issues, he said, which were less understood at the time.

"Nobody would have listened to me," Kretschmer said. "The problem is, then you think, ‘Is it something I did? What was I doing, was it my fault? If I hadn’t done whatever, he wouldn’t have done that.’ It took me years and years to realize it wasn’t that little child’s fault. It was the adult who had control."

More than 200 individuals have come forward with new allegations of sexual abuse by members of the Boy Scouts of America in recent weeks as a trio of law firms seek to uncover unidentified child abusers.

Advised by Tim Kosnoff, an attorney who has litigated more than a thousand cases of sexual misconduct against organizations such as the Scouts and the Mormon church, the group of attorneys said it has identified 150 alleged pedophiles never before publicly accused.

The law firms began running TV and Google ads encouraging victims to sign on as clients for a potential lawsuit after a report in December that Boy Scouts of America – rebranded as Scouts BSA – prepared for a possible Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. The volume already gathered could double the number of cases the organization already is facing although a bankruptcy would halt existing and future litigation, the attorneys told USA TODAY.

In a statement about the new allegations, Scouts BSA said, "Any incident of child abuse is one too many, and nothing is more important than the safety and protection of children in our Scouting programs."

Kosnoff and his colleagues said a bankruptcy filing would have a chilling effect on victims' ability to expose predators who are a threat to their communities. The number of victims who have signed on since last month is evidence for the Seattle-based attorney that many more have yet to step forward.
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Ex-cop has to fight PTSD again, after therapist attacked

Woman says Kissimmee counselor, priest took advantage of her
WFTV
By: Len Kiese
Oct 5, 2018

The former law enforcement officer said she began seeing De Jesus as a patient last year for anxiety, depression, panic disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. "I was there at one of the darkest points in my life, seeking help," she said.

KISSIMMEE, Fla. - A woman said she trusted an Osceola County therapist to help her through one of her darkest times. Instead, she said he took advantage of her.

"It is the most disgusting feeling and such a violation," she said. She is not being identified to protect her privacy.

The Kissimmee Police Department said more women have come forward with accusations against that mental health counselor and Episcopal priest, bringing the number of accusers now to three.

The suspect is already facing battery charges, but even with these two other accusers he's not facing any more charges so far.

Police said a Kissimmee woman won't press charges but will testify against the counselor when he heads to trial.

The other accuser said it happened in California, so it would be up to authorities there to bring charges.
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Do some Trump supporters think the world will stay flat?

Correction: Only some supporters do. My bad, just added that word.

If anyone thinks that President Donald Trump would ever take sexual harassment seriously, they must also think the earth will stay flat.

Considering there was no "due process" for the women it happened to, seems Trump recovered to the highest office in the land, and then hired more accused abusers, with serious enough records the FBI could not give them security clearance. 

“Peoples lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation,” Trump tweeted Saturday morning. “Some are true and some are false. Some are old and some are new. There is no recovery for someone falsely accused — life and career are gone. Is there no such thing any longer as Due Process?”

Trump decries lack of ‘due process’ for men accused of sexual harassment, abuse

Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), a leader in the effort to combat sexual harassment in Congress, said her stomach turned when she saw Trump’s tweet Saturday morning.

It just turned my stomach too. Just a reminder of who was elected and why he would have this disgusting attitude, The Washington Post added it.

As a candidate, Trump acknowledged that he had made lewd comments about grabbing women’s crotches after The Washington Post reported on a recording of Trump making these claims. “When you’re a star, they let you do it,” Trump said on a hot mic before recording a segment of “Access Hollywood” in 2005. Trump denied making any such assaults and dismissed the recording as “locker room” talk.

POTUS said it didn't happen, before he admitted it did, then defended why he said it.

I was a victim of domestic violence. The second it stopped, I was a survivor of it. Back then the attitude toward domestic violence was not what we needed it to be. Men denied it, said we deserved it, or simply got away with it.

So much for family values voters defending any part of what we've seen from this man, who was accused of marital rape by his first wife, left her for his second wife and then is now on his third marriage.

You may consider this off topic, but if you do then you must have not been paying attention to what continues to happen to women in the military. If you think this Commander-in-Chief, or any of his department heads will do anything about sexual assaults, you have been under the spell of the delusion wand he keeps waving as the master of deflection.

Don't count on this Congress either. Remember they thought it was OK to pay off survivors of their abuse with our tax money?

VA Director Reply to Sexual Harassment Claim--Leave?

VA director apologizes for comments about sexual harassment claims 
CBS News 
May 3, 2017

When we first told Stockwell about the women's claims, he defended the investigative process and said this about employees: "They can certainly vote with their feet about their employment decisions of working with the VA."

CBS SF Bay Area pressed him further, asking if his answer is that they should leave.

SAN FRANCISCO -- CBS SF Bay Area has covered claims of sexual harassment and assault at a Bay Area Veterans Affairs clinic for months.

One woman recently described an incident in which she says her boss tried to grope and kiss her.

Now, a VA director is apologizing, CBS SF Bay Area reports. read more here

Doctor Gave Up On Sex Abuse Victim with PTSD and Let Her Pick Death?

There are times when I read a story and think that it cannot be true. That is what happened with the story of a woman being allowed to choose euthanasia because she had PTSD. It could be a false story but what if it isn't?

Sex abuse victim in her twenties allowed euthanasia as mental health problems ‘INCURABLE’
Express UK
By LAURA MOWAT
PUBLISHED: 08:43, Wed, May 11, 2016

A WOMAN who was sexually abused as a child has successfully applied for euthanasia as she could not live with her mental suffering.

The victim was given a lethal injection after health professionals decided her post-traumatic stress disorder and other conditions were incurable.

Her condition included severe anorexia, chronic depression and suicidal mood swings, tendencies to self-harm, hallucinations, obsessions and compulsions.

Although the Dutch victim showed improvements after intensive therapy, she was given the right to die after doctors said treatment was hopeless.
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There is no "cure" for PTSD but that does not mean there isn't healing and often, coming out of the dark to live a better quality of life. That is if folks get the proper care. If something doesn't work, then try something else. It isn't as if the answer to healing does not exist. It just means she didn't find what could have worked for her.

After surviving what she went through, how could it have been worse trying to heal? How did the medical community give up on her and just allow her to die instead of making sure they tried absolutely everything there is to help her live? They have been working on PTSD for over 40 years and most survivors of trauma, no matter what the cause, survive questionable care until they do in fact find what they need.

VA Counselor Arrested for Sexually Assaulting Mental Health Patients

Tomah VA counselor arrested 
Associated Press
January 6, 2016

TOMAH - Police at the Tomah Veterans Administration Medical Center are investigating allegations that a mental health counselor sexually assaulted patients in the hospital's psychiatric unit. 

The 47-year-old man was arrested Monday by the Tomah VA police and booked into jail. The La Crosse Tribune reports he was released on a signature bond Tuesday and is expected to be charged next week. read more here

Blue Angels Turned Into Dirty Devils?

Blue Angels dived into porn, homophobia and harassment, study says
CNN
By Ben Brumfield
June 4, 2014

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Porn, homophobic jokes and dirty talk about women became common, Navy review finds
It says the team's commander called for more porn postings in squadron scheduling service
Raunchy practices were viewed as a way of building trust among Blue Angels, the study says
The Navy reprimanded the commander and gave anti-harassment training to team

(CNN) -- One of the nation's most prestigious teams of flying aerobats dive-bombed into the depths of sexual harassment and stayed there for at least a year, a new Navy study says.

Under the command of Capt. Gregory McWherter, members of the Blue Angels openly passed around pornography and flew with it in their cockpits during airshows. They cursed gays and spread dirty talk about women.

Their chauvinistic behavior turned the squadron into a hostile workplace, a Navy investigation into the shenanigans said. And McWherter not only tolerated them; he set examples of bad behavior and animated those under his command.

McWherter was reprimanded after a disciplinary proceeding this week and was previously relieved of his duties as an executive officer.

The 63-page document reads like a cross between the burlesque B movies "Hot Shot" and "Animal House," as it describes how the squad's Ready Room took on the atmosphere of a college fraternity.

The Blue Angels are the friendly face of the U.S. Navy and Marines and put on aerial stunt shows before live audiences across the country most every week.

The scandal has sullied their reputation and that of the military branches they represent, Navy investigators said.
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Navy veteran cannot sue VA therapist over sexual abuse?

Vet Can't Sue U.S. Over Therapist's Sexual Abuse
By JOSEPH CELENTINO

CHICAGO (CN) - A Navy veteran cannot sue the U.S. government over sexual abuse by a Veterans Affairs therapist who treated him for mental illnesses, the 7th Circuit ruled.

Wisconsin resident Ronald Lee Glade was discharged from the Navy at 18 or 19 soon after joining because of ongoing mental illness. Sexually abused as a child, Glade suffered from PTSD, panic disorder and bipolar disorder, and may be schizophrenic.

The 64-year-old has been receiving inpatient and outpatient psychiatric treatment over the last 23 years from the VA, both at the agency's facilities and in his home.

In late 2007, a VA therapist began a sexual relationship with him. Though Glade initially resisted, the therapist insisted that it was a necessary part of treatment.

Glade complained to another psychologist in 2008, and after a VA investigation, the therapist admitted the sexual relationship.

Glade sued under the Federal Tort Claims Act, claiming the sexual abuse caused emotional distress that exacerbated his illness.

But because the FTCA specifically exempts claims of battery by federal employees, Glade alleged negligence by the therapist's supervisors in failing to detect and prevent the sexual battery.
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Jessica Lynch's Rescue Soldier Accused of Sex Assault

Jessica Lynch's Rescue Soldier Accused of Sex Assault
By COLLEEN CURRY
Oct. 14, 2011
A male nurse who helped rescue soldier Jessica Lynch from Iraq in 2003 was arrested and charged with two counts of sexual battery against hospital patients in Florida.

Shean Galvin, 49, a former Air Force Reserves captain, was the flight nurse and medical director on the evacuation flight of Lynch, who was captured by Iraqi soldiers in March 2003. He appeared with fellow soldiers on ABC's Good Morning America with Diane Sawyer and Charles Gibson shortly after the evacuation, telling them how the rescue mission went.

On Oct. 12, Galvin was arrested following investigations into his conduct at Osceola Regional Medical Center in Kissimmee, Fla., where he was a nurse. Galvin allegedly assaulted two female patients he was treating.
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Survivor shows sexual abuse victims how to reclaim their lives

Vacaville man showing other sexual abuse victims how to reclaim their lives
By David Deerfeeder
Posted: 03/21/2010 12:02:56 PM PDT


I attended a Roman Catholic elementary school, high school and university. I knew many dedicated priests and nuns who lived in integrity. Early on, I also met the priest who molested me repeatedly as a child. He was a sick and twisted individual. With the emerging news of sex abuse scandals concerning Roman Catholic schools in Europe, I am reminded of my own abuse experiences and the long road of reaction and recovery that followed them. Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, head of the German Bishops Conference, is quoted as saying, "Sexual abuse of children ... has neither to do with celibacy, nor with homosexuality, nor with Catholic sexual doctrine."

I am relieved to hear a Roman Catholic prelate who understands that the sexual abuse of a child by an adult is not about sexual orientation. It is about power. Recovering from sexual abuse is also about power. Breaking the silence about what happened is the start of reclaiming the power that was surrendered -- not lost -- during the abuse. It may be decades before that silence can be approached, much less broken. It requires attaining a moment that feels safe and mustering enough courage to feel strong.

It can be a long and difficult road from the abuse to that moment of coinciding strength and safety. Our society portrays the ideal man as the strong, silent type, expected to rise to any challenge in a world where "winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." Even a boy knows this expectation. When he is sexually abused, he knows he was not the winner in the encounter. Shame over his powerlessness will hold him in silence for as long as he keeps the secret.
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http://www.thereporter.com/features/ci_14725285

Mary Setterholm on a wave of forgiveness

A wave of forgiveness
Steve Lopez
July 19, 2009

It's another beautiful day in paradise and I'm out on the ocean, riding waves with a former national surfing champion and onetime prostitute who's about to join a seminary.

Go ahead, try to name one other state where I could have written that sentence.

"Terrific!" yells Mary Setterholm, my instructor, who forgives my every wipeout and cheers when I finally ride a wave all the way to shore.

Setterholm, who now runs a Santa Monica surfing school, won the U.S. Women's title in 1972, at age 17. And you're not going to believe where her trophy is:

On Cardinal Roger M. Mahony's desk.

Where do I even begin?

Perhaps with the e-mail from Ann Hayman, a minister at Brentwood Presbyterian, who remembered that I once wrote about a skid row prostitute who lived in a Porta-Potty but later turned her life around. Hayman, who worked with prostitutes for 28 years, had someone she wanted me to meet.

So I drove to Brentwood to meet Hayman and Setterholm. Over coffee -- and the next day at the beach -- Setterholm spun a tale both tragic and triumphant:

As a young child, Setterholm told me, she was physically and sexually abused repeatedly by a baby-sitter, and then beginning in seventh grade, she was molested for years by a now-deceased priest from her Catholic church in Westwood. When her family moved to the Huntington Beach area, Setterholm found herself drawn to the sea. There was honesty and security in the rhythm of the waves, but the ride to the shore was fraught with danger.
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A wave of forgiveness

Woman Interrupts Molesting, Beats Brother

Woman Interrupts Molesting, Beats Brother
A woman beat up her brother after she caught him sexually assaulting her 2-year-old daughter in his East Palo Alto home, police said today.
by Henry K. Lee

Joel Aguilar Guizar, 23, was allegedly attacking the child when his sister broke down a locked bedroom door about 1 p.m. Wednesday, said East Palo Alto police Detective Jeff Liu.
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Senator Hillary Clinton slams Pentagon action on sexual assaults

Clinton slams sex assault prevention efforts

By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Aug 6, 2008 18:32:56 EDT

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., has called for an investigation into the Pentagon program that aims to prevent and respond to sexual assaults, expressing particular concern that such assaults may be on the rise and citing the failure of the defense official who runs that program to appear before Congress last week.

“I am deeply concerned by the Pentagon’s inadequate response to sexual assaults on our troops and the administration’s unwillingness to answer questions about this important issue,” Clinton said in an Aug. 6 letter to Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “Service members who brave so many dangers while defending our nation deserve better.”

Clinton asked Levin to hold an oversight hearing that would “allow us to identify the necessary reforms to protect our service members from sexual assault.”

During a July 31 hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s national security and foreign affairs panel, the Government Accountability Office released a report stating that while the military response to sexual assault is improving, efforts are hindered by such factors as inadequate guidance on implementation in deployed and joint environments, part-time program coordinators filling the job as a collateral duty, and a failure by some commanders to support the program.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/08/military_clinton_sexassault_prevention_080608w/

Preacher killed wife, stuffed body in freezer, police say

Preacher killed wife, stuffed body in freezer, police say
Story Highlights
NEW: Anthony Hopkins denied bail at initial court appearance

Preacher is charged with murder, rape, sodomy, sexual abuse and incest

He was arrested after delivering sermon at his Alabama church

Case began when daughter told police she'd been sexually abused

(CNN) -- An evangelical preacher killed his wife several years ago and stuffed her body in a freezer after she caught him abusing their daughter, according to police and court documents.


Anthony Hopkins appeared in court Thursday to face murder, rape and incest charges.

Anthony Hopkins, 37, was arrested Monday night at the Inspirational Tabernacle Church of God in Christ in Jackson, Alabama, just after he had delivered a sermon to a congregation that included his seven other children, officials said.

He faces charges including murder, rape, sodomy, sexual abuse and incest.

Hopkins was denied bail Thursday when he appeared before Mobile County District Judge George Hardesty. The case is set for arraignment next week, Hardesty's clerk said.

The case began Monday, when the daughter, now 19, went to the Mobile Police Department's Child Advocacy Center and reported that she had been sexually abused by Hopkins since she was 11 years old, according to an affidavit filed in support of a search warrant of the preacher's home in Mobile.
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http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/07/31/preacher.freezer/index.html

Sexual Assault In Military Draws Attention

Sexual Assault In Military Draws Attention
Case Numbers Rise As More Women Join Armed Forces; VA Increases Treatments For Victims

YORK, Pa., July 23, 2008
(AP) It took Diane Pickel Plappert six months to tell a counselor that she had been raped while on duty in Iraq. While time passed, the former Navy nurse disconnected from her children and her life slowly unraveled.

Carolyn Schapper says she was harassed in Iraq by a fellow Army National Guard soldier to the extent that she began changing clothes in the shower for fear he'd barge into her room unannounced - as he already had on several occasions.

Even as women distinguish themselves in battle alongside men, they're fighting off sexual assault and harassment. It's not a new consequence of war. But the sheer number of women serving today - more than 190,000 so far in Iraq and Afghanistan - is forcing the military and Department of Veterans Affairs to more aggressively address it.

The data that exists - incomplete and not up-to-date - offers no proof that women in the war zones are more vulnerable to sexual assault than other female service members, or American women in general. But in an era when the military relies on women for invaluable and difficult front-line duties, the threat to their morale, performance and long-term well-being is starkly clear.

Of the women veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who have walked into a VA facility, 15 percent have screened positive for military sexual trauma, The Associated Press has learned. That means they indicated that while on active duty they were sexually assaulted, raped, or were sexually harassed, receiving repeated unsolicited verbal or physical contact of a sexual nature.
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/23/national/main4285105.shtml

Female soldiers raise alarm on sexual assaults

Female soldiers raise alarm on sexual assaults
Pentagon responses include new trauma ward, prevention strategy
By Kimberly Hefling

updated 12:54 p.m. ET, Mon., July. 21, 2008
YORK, Pa. - It took Diane Pickel Plappert six months to tell a counselor that she had been raped while on duty in Iraq. While time passed, the former Navy nurse disconnected from her children and her life slowly unraveled.

Carolyn Schapper says she was harassed in Iraq by a fellow Army National Guard soldier to the extent that she began changing clothes in the shower for fear he'd barge into her room unannounced — as he already had on several occasions.

Even as women distinguish themselves in battle alongside men, they're fighting off sexual assault and harassment. It's not a new consequence of war. But the sheer number of women serving today — more than 190,000 so far in Iraq and Afghanistan — is forcing the military and Department of Veterans Affairs to more aggressively address it.
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25784465/
Linked from ICasualties.org

Warrant Details Doctor's Alleged Non-Reporting Of Abuse

Warrant Details Doctor's Alleged Non-Reporting Of Abuse
By CHRISTINE DEMPSEY | Courant Staff Writer
July 4, 2008
A mother suspecting her son was being sexually abused told the family doctor she had found her son naked and asleep beneath the man.

But the South Windsor doctor, Raymond C. Kurker, didn't report the mother's suspicions to the state. He still wasn't sure if the boy had been abused, according to the warrant for his arrest.

The warrant was released Thursday in Superior Court in Manchester, where Kurker, 55, was arraigned on a charge of failing to report the alleged abuse.

Doctors, police officers and teachers are among the "mandated reporters" who must notify the state Department of Children and Families of suspected child abuse "as soon as is practical" but not more than 12 hours after the incident, said South Windsor police Sgt. Scott Custer. The mandated reporter is not required to gather evidence.

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Homelessness a problem for women veterans

Homelessness a problem for women veterans
by Melissa Schmitt
Jun 12, 2008

WASHINGTON -- When Debra Filter enlisted in the Army in 1978 as a 22-year-old high school graduate, she saw it as a way to escape childhood abuse, get an education, and see the world.

She didn't get what she signed up for.

On the night of her graduation from basic training, Filter said several fellow soldiers raped her. The next day, her drill sergeant told her, in front of the rest of her platoon, that she ought to be ashamed of herself.

It was like pouring salt on an open wound--Filter had suffered years of sexual and physical abuse during her childhood. Distraught, she said she did not report the rape; she went AWOL for two days.

She was discharged from the Army shortly thereafter with an honorable discharge, according to her military records.

"I joined the military to escape abuse in civilian life," said Filter, 49. "But I found it again in the military."

Filter bounced around over the next two decades, plagued with nightmares, panic attacks and bouts of depression. Unable to hold down a job, she ended up homeless, living between women's shelters and her cousin's couch before finding out about U.S. Vets, a temporary housing and employment assistance center in Las Vegas, NV.

She is one of roughly 7,000 homeless female veterans living in the United States today, according to Department of Veterans Affairs statistics--a number that VA officials expects to rise as more women return home from Iraq and Afghanistan, where women are on the front lines as never before in our nation's history.

Combat-related stress is a risk factor for homelessness, according to Peter Dougherty, who is the director of homeless veterans programs at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"We're finding among younger women, that they play a much more mission-critical role…in today's military, women are much more likely to be at or near the front of a military operation," he said.

Sexual trauma, whether experienced in the military or in civilian life, is another risk factor for homelessness, according to Dougherty.

This complicates matters for those who provide services to homeless veterans. About 75 percent of female veterans report being victims of sexual abuse, suffered either in the military or in civilian life.

In an ideal situation, women veterans would be housed separately from men and receive separate counseling and other services.

"The great struggle is you have this burgeoning trend of female homeless veterans in a traditionally male homeless provider network," said Scott Rose, director of Way Station Inc., a Frederick, MD-based homeless shelter that serves women veterans. He said that women veterans represent 11 percent of the newly homeless in the veteran population.

"Many of these women are suffering from trauma--the last thing they need is to be in a male environment."

And it's difficult for providers to develop specialized programs for women veterans, as most providers are strapped for resources already.

According to Dougherty, out of 500 Veterans' Affairs-run homeless shelters, 300 can accept women, and none can accept women who also have children. Only 15 have programs that address women veterans specifically, or have separate living arrangements from men.

Debra Filter tried for years to get into post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) peer support group for women-only through the Veterans Affairs mental health center in Las Vegas, in addition to the counseling she receives about once a month.

Frustrated, she decided to fill the gap by starting her own group in October 2006 with other female veterans living at U.S. Vets.

Called “United Women Warriors,” the group meets once a week. All are women veterans who are homeless, and many say they suffered sexual abuse while serving in the military or in civilian life, eventually leading to a diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder. Many attempted to relieve their anguish with drugs or alcohol.

Military Sexual Trauma: A risk factor for homelessness


23 out of 100 women who use the VA health system reported experiencing sexual assault in the military
Sexual assault is a risk factor for developing
PTSD--another risk factor for homelessness
Homeless Women Veterans: At a Glance


Approximately 7,000 women veterans are homeless
Numbers are expected to increase as more women return from Iraq and Afghanistan
Women veterans are four times as likely to go homeless than their civilian counterparts
75 % report experiencing sexual abuse, in the military or in civilian life
Half suffer from substance or alcohol dependence
One third have mental illness
Of 500 VA veterans shelters, 300 say they accept women
15 VA shelters have women-only programs
None can accept women and their children

go here for more
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/washington/news.aspx?id=94017

Army tops all services for sexual assaults combined

Army sexual assaults top all services combined
An internal Army-wide message issued Tuesday by the Army chief of staff states that sexual assaults “continue to occur at an unacceptable rate” as the service in 2007 “accounted for more assaults than the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force combined.”

VA Psychiatrist says Sexual Trauma does not cause PTSD?

VA Ignores PTSD in Women
Posted by Christy Hardin Smith, Firedoglake at 4:00 PM on May 27, 2008.
The VA will not consider trauma from sexual assault a cause of PTSD.

As a female soldier or Marine, you prepare for service with a lot of training with your squad, a lot of extra time in the gym, a lot of mental and physical preparation. But nothing could prepare you for an assault ... a sexual assault ... from one of your fellow soldiers.

What do you do, as a female soldier, when the VA folks in charge of your treatment don't think you merit psych care in the wake of this trauma?

Via AnchorageDailyNews:
I asked the briefer, a VA psychiatrist, whether the VA also considered Military Sexual Trauma an experience that can lead to PTSD. He replied "no."

I looked at the physician with amazement. Many peer-reviewed journal articles assert that Military Sexual Trauma, or MST, is especially associated with PTSD. That the Veterans Administration continues to disassociate MST with PTSD is remarkable.

But it may be understandable, considering the military is a culture that ostracizes and ridicules women who "rock the boat" by reporting incidents of sexual assault and violence.

This is not an isolated opinion, unfortunately. Sen. Patty Murray, who has personal experience working with Vietnam vets in the VA system and understands the long-term ramifications of not doing this work properly, has been trying to give this issue a much louder voice on the Hill.

Kudos to her. But it's going to be a long road to change.
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http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/86579/

Where did this psychiatrist get his training? How many others dismiss what the mental health workers have known for years?