Sexual Assault and the Military by Berlatsky Noah;

Author:Berlatsky, Noah;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Greenhaven Publishing LLC
Published: 2018-06-25T00:00:00+00:00

In the military world, you have a system designed to almost destroy a victim who brings a complaint forward.

Also, many service members fear any sort of mental health evaluation, even for sexual assault, because many of those who have come forward have lost their security clearances, said Taryn Meeks, a former attorney with the Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps.

“We have some victims who have been labeled with ‘a personality disorder,’” said Meeks, now executive director of Protect Our Defenders, a group dedicated to eliminating military sexual assault. “That’s one of the reasons they are not seeking help now.”

If they do implicate someone, the accused service member’s commander decides if the case is prosecuted, Meeks said.

“In the military world, you have a system designed to almost destroy a victim who brings a complaint forward,” said Paula Coughlin, the first female whistle-blower in the 1991 Tailhook scandal. She now operates a yoga studio in Jacksonville.

Coughlin, a former U.S. Navy lieutenant and helicopter pilot, described herself as “acute” and at times suicidal after the attack. The men formed a gauntlet through which dozens of women passed. The men tried to remove Coughlin’s skirt and underwear and she was groped.

After speaking out, she came under attack by co-workers, superiors, even retired veterans she encountered in the grocery store. She heard every day that she had destroyed the Navy.

She said she went to a military counselor but learned the notes from her treatment were being passed to her commanders.

“Why would you seek mental health counseling,” she asked, “from the same organization that destroyed you?”

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