We are all in this together. If you care about your country and its military, if you have served or know someone who has or is serving, if you have a daughter who tells you she is joining the military, if you have a son in the military who is likely to be sucked into the culture of abuse toward women, if you are currently serving proudly and want to hold onto your pride in our military, please help. We need every voice! Our military-justice system is broken and change is imperative. We can no longer allow the military to investigate themselves. They are far too self-protective. It is time for independent unbiased investigations into these sexual assault crimes.
Please read Women Under Fire: Abuse in the Military and watch the Invisible War Movie, grasp what this culture of abuse is, then call your congressional representatives and senators, plus members of the Senate and House Armed Services Committee, and tell them to: investigate how our military handles reports of sexual assaults, how they train personnel to investigate, how investigations are done, how leaders are trained including the nonverbal communication, how the system applies accountability and justice, if at all. Tell them to examine the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) in relation to these sexual assault cases and make necessary changes. We also need our media to keep focusing on this issue until it is resolved. Justice has lost for now, but the fight will continue until accountability and justice prevail for both men and women in our military.
This article appeared in the March 19, 2014, issue of Truthout.
Sarah L. Blum is a decorated nurse Vietnam Veteran, still serving as a nurse psychotherapist in Auburn, WA with 34 years' experience healing PTSD. She is the author of Women Under Fire: Abuse in the Military. www.womenunderfire.net
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