American force

[Dan Scanlan <dscanlan@xxxxxxx>]

Returning female GIs report rapes, poor care

At least 37 allege assaults by U.S. soldiers overseas, little help afterward

By MILES MOFFEIT and AMY HERDY The Denver Post

The State (South Carolina)
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/7791479.htm

Female troops serving in the Iraq war are reporting an insidious
enemy in their own camps: fellow American soldiers who sexually
assault them.

At least 37 female service members have sought sexual- trauma
counseling and other assistance from civilian rape-crisis
organizations after returning from war duty in Iraq, Kuwait and other
overseas stations, The Denver Post has learned.

The women, ranging from enlisted soldiers to officers, have reported
poor medical treatment, lack of counseling and incomplete criminal
investigations by military officials. Some say they were threatened
with punishment after reporting assaults.

The Pentagon did not respond to repeated requests for information
about the number of sexual assault reports during the conflict.
Defense officials would say only that they will not tolerate sexual
assault in their ranks.

Members of Congress said they are alarmed by the assault reports,
confirming that they have learned of incidents as well.

Colorado Sen. Wayne Allard, a key figure in the investigation of the
Air Force Academy rape scandal, said he intends to raise the issue
with colleagues on the Senate Armed Services Committee. And two
Pennsylvania congressmen -- Rep. Joseph Pitts and Sen. Arlen Specter
-- intervened last month on one rape victim's behalf to bring her
home.

"Congressman Pitts is extremely concerned," spokesman Derek Karchner
said. "We have heard that there were cases that hadn't been reported
or were not being investigated."

Women have served greater combat support roles in the Iraq and
Afghanistan conflicts than ever before, flying fighter jets, serving
on patrols and analyzing intelligence data. According to a Department
of Defense estimate, women represent 10.4 percent of the total forces
who were "in theater" between October 2002 and November 2003. A total
of 59,742 women have been or are currently serving in Iraq and
Afghanistan.

As women have returned from duty overseas in recent months, they have
sought help from civilian trauma centers and advocates.

"We have significant concerns about the military's response to sexual
assault in the combat zone," said Christine Hansen, executive
director of the Connecticut-based Miles Foundation, which has
assisted 31 women.

"We have concerns that victims are not getting forensic exams.
Evidence is not being collected in some cases, and they are not
getting medical care and other services."

To protect the soldiers' privacy, the foundation and other victim
advocacy organizations contacted by The Post declined to release
details of individual cases -- such as locations of the attacks or a
breakdown of which military branch was involved -- and revealed only
general trends.

Many of the victims are women of high rank. Several are officers.
Most were stationed in Kuwait, a common launching point for troops
occupying Iraq.

Among the most disturbing trends, say the victim advocates, is a
disregard for the women's safety and medical treatment following an
assault. Women are being left in the same units as their accused
attackers and are not receiving counseling, they say.

"If you don't even get the victim to a level of medical
accessibility, how do you get to anything else, such as evidence
collection through forensic exams?" Hansen said. "There appears to be
a shortage of criminal justice personnel to help them, too."

The military environment magnifies intense stress for victims, Hansen said.

"Just by virtue of the fact that they have to salute the individual
who attacked them adds tremendous emotional trauma."

It could take months or years before a more definitive picture of the
prevalence of sexual assault during the war takes shape. The Defense
Department has not disclosed such statistics in the past.

But some surveys have shown high rates of sexual abuse and harassment
among servicewomen in past military conflicts.

--Nearly 30 percent of 202 female Vietnam veterans surveyed in 1990
said they experienced a sexual encounter "accompanied by force or
threat of force," according to the Congressional Record.

--A study of troops in the 1991 Persian Gulf War by Department of
Veterans Affairs researchers found that 7 percent of surveyed women
reported sexual assaults, while 33 percent reported sexual harassment.

Susan Avila-Smith, a Washington state-based civilian advocate,
assisted Danielle, the rape victim who received congressional help to
return home. A military intelligence officer who asked that her full
name not be used, Danielle said she was assaulted Nov. 28 while in
Kuwait.

She was stationed with her Fort Lewis, Wash., unit at Camp Udairi, 15
miles from the Iraqi border, for training before deployment to Iraq.
She had finished guard duty at 2:30 a.m. and was stepping into the
latrine on the edge of camp when she was hit on the back of the head
and knocked unconscious, she said.

She recalled waking to a man raping her. She said the man cut her
with a knife and hit her with an object between the eyes, again
knocking her unconscious.

When she awoke, the man, who remains unidentified, had left. Danielle
said she ran into camp, and a fellow soldier alerted her commanders.

She was driven to an aid station, where a rape examination was
performed. She received no other treatment for the injuries to her
head, back and knees, she says. She was interviewed for about three
hours, she said.

After a few days, she said an investigator scheduled a polygraph exam
for her but never followed through.

"I was hysterical," she recalled. "There I am, all bruised up and
beaten, and somebody in my chain of command wanted me to take a test."

A Fort Lewis spokesman, Jeff Young, said her case is being
investigated and that she has received proper health care.