Could people who know the U.S. Military please help confirm/deny?

What you describe is a major problem in the US in general, but I don't see why it's necessarily connected to sexual assault in the military. Those seem to be separate issues.

Respect for women in these groups are rather low. It's a start.

And while some of it is a overall US problem, it's unusually bad in Colorado Springs.

I would recommend moving the Air Force Academy.

^

That's officer territory there, I don't have too much input there other than the fact that I can't stand Academy Graduated ring knocker douchebags that didn't enlist and make at least E-4 before getting into their program.

Pilots in the Air Force often treat women like trash, but the women they are usually treating like trash are the star studded groupies who will hump anything with a set of pilot wings pinned to a flightsuit. Not a lot of sympathy for those dumb broads. Not to mention that the majority of them are Enlisted, and it becomes a fraternization issue. I've dealt with that stuff so many times that I'm out of patience for it.

edited 13th Dec '11 12:58:15 AM by Barkey

This was ... around the same time I went to boot camp, actually. The amount of training on proper reporting procedures, how to help victims, and what to do if you suspect a rape has drastically increased since then.

This part of the article is flat-out wrong. Some crimes are handled in-house, yes, but sexual assault is not one of them. Practically anything that would be prosecuted as a felony in the civilian world must be handled outside the accused's chain of command.

Nobody can "quit" the military, save by doing something like taking drugs, going repeatedly UA, or anything else that would get them fired with cause from a civilian job.

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw

Excellent, but if we have approximately 22,000 rapes a year, something tells me they aren't being implemented very well.

Are there special military punishments for these kinds of things, or does the civilian sector handle it from start to finish?

That's kind of the point. If you get raped in the military and the perpetrator gets away with it, you have to deal with them for the rest of your term of service or face a dishonorable discharge and consignment to unemployment and/or shit jobs for the rest of your life.

I am now known as Flyboy.

The investigators are civilian agencies that are attached to the Do D. OSI for the Air Force, NCIS for the Navy and Marine Corps, and CID for the Army. They do all the fact finding and investigative work, and then the facts are brought before the JAG office for the actual trial. They are punished under the Uniform Code Of Military Justice, and the punishment is fair, as the JAG has no connection to actual units on the base. The only way the JAG could be considered in any way biased against a case would be if they had a rape happen in-house, meaning within the JAG unit. In which case an outside JAG unit from a different base would handle it.

Mm... I always thought of JAG and NCIS and such as military organizations. Such is why I found it confusing when you said that they put it out to other, civilian organizations...

I am now known as Flyboy.

JAG is active duty military, mostly officers and enlisted*

^{Legalman rating for the Navy, and I'm assuming something similar for the other branches}

. NCIS, while they do give preferential hire to veterans, is all civilians - heck, even the TV show gets that part right. Anyone investigated and found to have sufficient evidence gets prosecuted by military courts, which other than a lack of a jury and inability to choose your own lawyer, work almost identically to civilian courts.

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw

Thread Hop

Wow. That is sickening.

JAG isn't a civilian organization, but it's a neutral organization. The same way that the Chaplains Office is. Both offices entire duty and responsibility consists of hearing the troubles, both legal and spiritual(sometimes they overlap) and giving advice, or when the need arises, intervening directly(in the legal realm)

What I'm trying to say is that the actual investigative departments for each branch are civilian, where as the JAG is a third party within the military. They are basically lawyers who are given a uniform. Their mission is to both prosecute and defend military members in legal conflicts, just like real lawyers are supposed to. They are very far removed from the goings on of the actual nuts-and-bolts military that is involved in the mission, they are specifically there for that one purpose and nothing more.

I like our base JAG, they essentially act like a lawyer advice column,you can ask them just about anything and they'll research it for you. I tap that resource constantly when I want to know things like California and Federal code regarding specific issues I'm curious about.

edited 14th Dec '11 9:49:26 AM by Barkey

Bold for emphasis... Mostly because it's wrong.

You're allowed to have a personal lawyer represent you in a military court. The problem is that most military members cannot afford a civilian attorney. Not to mention the fact that said civilian attorney may not know the military standards, rules, and regulations he will be required to follow as the serviceman's lawyer during the proceedings.

For the most part, it is probably not in a serviceman's best interest to hire an attorney rather than taking one from the JAG office... But that option is available.

Also, the jury thing: Every (non-summary) court-martial is essentially a jury trial... Granted most may not view it as such, but they are... Summary court-martials(Non-judicial punishment) are the most common ones, though... Because they cover pretty much everything except for felonies...

Huh. I like that show, too, and I never caught that. You learn something every day.

@Barkey,

There's still the question of whether or not it's getting reported or not, though. The culture isn't conducive to such.

I am now known as Flyboy.

^

If it gets reported to the IG, the Chaplain, or the JAG, those troops will report it, because their entire job is duty bound to do so.

So if a rape doesn't get reported it's either because it wasn't reported, it wasn't reported to the right organization, or the victim specifically requested anonymity. Which is something you can do through the Chaplains Office and several of our civilian third party sexual assault prevention organizations, and many victims do.

If you file it under anonymity, then Law Enforcement is told not to start a case on it to protect the identity of the victim.(More accurately the damn Chaplain doesn't tell us anything about it, not even who the rapist allegedly is, even if we aren't told who the victim is) Our hands are tied when that happens.

The only thing I can really say would make things better is more courage from the victims in the face of a really traumatic, daunting, uncomfortable situation. You have to stand up, report the issue immediately to the proper authorities, and make absolutely damn sure that your issue doesn't go away until a conclusion is made. I can't have a whole lot of sympathy for someone who wants justice for something they didn't report, or waited several months or years to report. I understand the traumatic gravity of the situation, but it pisses me off because then I can't help catch whatever disgrace to the uniform is out there raping people.

I'll bet that last part is frustrating as fuck.

Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.