Book tells of female U.S. soldiers raped by comrades

Reuters ^ | April 16, 2009 | Christine Kearney

[Zakeet]

Female U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan have more to fear than roadside bombs or enemy ambushes. They also are at risk of being raped or sexually assaulted by fellow soldiers.

"The Lonely Soldier: The Private War of Women Serving in Iraq," a book based on 40 in-depth interviews, recounts the stories of female veterans who served in combat zones and tells of rape, sexual assault and harassment by male counterparts.

Some were warned by officers not to go to the latrine by themselves. One began carrying a knife in case she was attacked by comrades. Others said they felt discouraged to report assaults.

"The horror of it is that it is their own side that is doing this to them," said the book's author, Helen Benedict, a journalism professor at Columbia University in New York. The book was released in the United States on Wednesday.

One in 10 U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are female, and more women have fought and died in the Iraq war than any since World War Two, according to U.S. Department of Defense statistics cited in the book.

Benedict said the book's title comes from the isolation female U.S. soldiers experience when combining the trauma of their combat duties with sexual harassment by fellow soldiers.

"Because women are under so much more danger now and actually in the battle, it's a particularly tragic situation because all soldiers are supposed to be able to rely on one another to watch their backs," Benedict said.

"And how can you feel that way if your fellow soldiers are harassing you all day or trying to rape you or actually even raping you?"

[hinckley buzzard]

I wonder if she is related to the old anthropologist Ruth Benedict? Would most likely be a grandchild at this point. Of course Ruth Benedict was fully discredited as were most of the early credulous stooges, like Margaret Meade, who launched the fiasco known as "cultural anthropology" back in the thirties.

[greeter70]

I spent 4 years active duty AF and 22 years AF reserve. There was arassment but never assault. Actually, I had more problems with lesbians in the military than with the men.

[Radix]

"First, not all the sources of harassment and assault are necessarily males. I had female soldiers who were the victims of female assault...."

I remember some female Soldiers acquaintances of mine who told me about how afraid they were of living in their all female barracks because of Dykes who ruled the halls.

At the time in my Kaserne, all of the women lived in a separate barracks regardless of their Unit. They had no other kinship.

When I was still in the Army, the barracks began to become sexually disintegrated. It was awkward, but the women Troops I knew all seemed to be very OK with the new paradigm.

[trisham]

Harassment exists in civilian life as well. It is not unique to the military. I know, because I've experienced it, and have seen it happen to others.

What I and some others are saying is that Benedict is exaggerating and possibly outright lying about the degree to which this kind of thing happens in the military.

[Non-Sequitur]

Women are a distraction. In a perfect world men and women would lose their sex drive when they went to war. This however, isn't a perfect world. Combat causes enormous stress as it is. The military doesn't need the additional headaches caused by co-ed troops.

OK, so you boot all your women. You're faced with replacing about 20% of your headcount. Where you going to get it from?

[My hearts in London - Everett]

I agree that she is probably lying about the degree that sexual assault or rape happens. And, while harassment happens in civilian life as well, it is more difficult to deal with in the military. You can't quit and look for a new job. You speak out and you have to deal with the negative and career damaging consequences of that. The best you can do is try to ignore it and keep yourself safe until you rotate to your next command ~ to begin dealing with the same thing, different people all over again. I think a rampant atmosphere of ignored harassment can encourage false reporting of more serious charges. I know harassment can be difficult to deal with. The people who participate in it are sly and careful of who their audience is.

Regarding another point made, my daughters haven't yet ever reported to me being sexually harassed by any homosexual female shipmates. Their female shipmates do routinely courage and spread rumors about female sailors who don't date sailors or sleep around, thus encouraging male sailors to try prove or disprove the rumor.

[trisham]

It appears that Ruth Benedict was childless:

http://www.americanethnography.com/article_sql.php?id=7

[ansel12]

OK, so you boot all your women. You're faced with replacing about 20% of your headcount. Where you going to get it from?

Where did we get it for the first 200 years?

It actually hurts recruiting when you tell young men to "join us and become a warrior, a man among men", but we are just as willing to take your little sister or your mom, or maybe that cute little 90 pound girlfriend of yours because it is all the same to us in the end.

[ansel12]

And, while harassment happens in civilian life as well, it is more difficult to deal with in the military. You can't quit and look for a new job.

Why don't they kick their ass? Even in the military you can destroy a superiors prestige and group standing by making it clear that he is afraid of you, and you can do that while staying legal.

[ansel12]

“From Publishers Weekly
Banner (American Beauty; In Full Flower; etc.) offers here a joint biography of two major figures in American anthropology. Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead met in 1922, when Benedict was a teaching assistant and Mead a student at Barnard College. Two years later, they were lovers. From the 1920s until Benedict’s death in 1948, they remained friends and intellectual collaborators. For each, anthropological research and personal experience were interconnected; not only did a variety of co-workers become lovers and friends, but their sexual experiences shaped their theoretical positions on such questions as the “normalcy” of heterosexuality or the role of culture in defining deviancy. Banner’s is the first work to use previously restricted private letters and papers of Mead and Benedict. She also draws heavily on recent decades of writing on lesbian history and queer theory.

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

For thousands of years women have been banned from armies, especially combat operations... Suddenly feminists are rediscovering why women aren't traditionally used in combat.

Bingo. For libs, there is no history, everything's new and born ex nihilo in their starry eyes. Anything everyone else has known for thousands of years, a liberal needs a grant, a social experiment and his own lifetime to discover.

Now for my personal take on this issue. "One in nine men are rapists" sounds a bit extreme; however, if that one in nine is with four or five others, and one woman...she's an idiot and in some danger. They're a band, a pack, and they're not thinking like HER brother would.

That said, when women report "sexual assault" these days, they're often reporting on what used to be called lame, clumsy, or creepy flirtation behaviors. We used to say no in some form, and extricate ourselves, and that was that. In the PC world of today, particularly in the workplace, this male behavior is always termed harassment. Shouldn't (always) be, but libs have been writing the rules for decades.

[jude24]

And this is why you don’t have female soldiers.

Because soldiers are dogs, and if there are women, they'll jump her, willing or not?

Thankfully, our troops are far more honorable than you give them credit for. It's only the defectives ones that won't respect their fellow soldiers.

[jude24]

I’d like to see the results of a similar survey done by the military.

The Army is focused on rooting out sexual assault. It's attracting the attention of installation commanders.

[ansel12]

“So, you’ve known some good ones then. It only takes one bad one to change your mind, though... or to make you aware that there *are* those who will do that... (but perhaps you already know that and pick carefully who you associate with...)...”

---

What is clear is that you don’t know squat about the military. There is no more vetted group and no more restricted lifestyle than the military.

Those background checks, security clearance checks psychological testing checks and constant monitoring of your life including being able to be charged for getting a sunburn or not getting a haircut means that you don’t “know some good ones” and that “It only takes one bad one to change your mind, though”, it means that you are constantly seeking out and punishing anyone that doesn’t measure up.

You don’t have to waste people’s time pointing out that bad people are everywhere, but you also don’t have to waste their time pretending the military isn’t a very elite, selective group compared to their civilian counterparts as far as criminality and rule breaking is concerned.

In the military you are usually assigned your “associations” you don’t choose them, your squad or your section or your team or your boat or your squadron or your platoon or your company or your battalion are your life for most of the time.

From the time that you become a PFC you are looking for any bad guys and dealing with them, from E3 on up to General you have some level of responsibility to discipline fellow soldiers.

Just look at the structure of a squad,”Squad - 9 to 10 soldiers. Typically commanded by a sergeant or staff sergeant, a squad or section is the smallest element in the Army structure, and its size is dependent on its function.”

If my memory is correct there are even more layers of leadership within that little group of 9-10 soldiers.

All this doesn’t make for God like perfection but it sure does mean that the military has a vastly smaller number of bad guys than civilian life and you don’t have to be “pick carefully” to avoid them, for one thing you can bust their ass, nobody wants flakes in their unit.

[Star Traveler]

You said — What is clear is that you don’t know squat about the military. There is no more vetted group and no more restricted lifestyle than the military.

—

Sorry..., I’ve heard too many tales about it from relatives, immediate family, and also friends — so I know a lot different than what may be conventionally told...

Now..., here I’m talking about *direct* from very close relatives, in that in the military, there were guys (military guys) selling military weapons from facilities where they were kept. Now, mind you..., I’m not the one who was in the military, but talking to close relatives who *were* in the military and they know what has gone on there.

A lot of weapons were sold “out the back door” so to speak, by military people...

In fact, I was *assured* absolutely, that if I had the money, I could get almost any weaponry that I wanted. And although they (i.e., those relatives) did not do it, they “knew” who did and where to go and what contacts to make.

Then there were the accounts of what happened while in the military. Again, I’m not the person who was there, and only listening to and taking in from the people who were there and getting “confirmation” from two or three of them talking about it, from different places.

There’s also the drug trade in the military and using military transport to get drugs around. That’s another story, and apparently there’s money to be made there.

In terms of the “drug trade” that’s a consistent theme, over and over again, I hear from many military people. That is extensive.

I’ll guarantee you that these stories don’t get into the daily papers..., that’s for sure... LOL... but I know what goes on there...

[trisham]

Thank you, ansel.

[ansel12]

Sorry..., I’ve heard too many tales about it from relatives, immediate family, and also friends — so I know a lot different than what may be conventionally told...

Like I said you don't know squat about the military, we military and veteran people do.

[Star Traveler]

Sorry..., I’ll listen to the people that I know and who know from what they’ve seen and experienced. I’m not going to believe someone who I’ve never heard of, over someone who I know directly.... LOL...

And all anyone has to do is talk to some of those people they know who were in the military and talk to them privately and confidentially — get ready to hear a lot... hoo-boy! :-)

[Star Traveler]

Here’s an example of a recent story, online... for those who don’t know about this going on....

---

December 18, 2006 · An Army Ranger who is accused of robbing a bank with machine guns says his weapons came from Afghanistan — and that they were brought back to the United States by American troops.

Luke Sommer, 20, has been charged with robbing a Bank of America branch in Tacoma, Wash., on Aug. 7. Surveillance cameras captured the robbery, which showed men armed with fully automatic AK-47s, balaclavas on their faces, carrying out a heist that investigators describe as having military-like precision.

Sommer neither admits nor denies the crime. But he does acknowledge the illegal machine guns found by the FBI in his Army barracks are his.

“I’m not going to deny the fact that I purchased one off a friend of mine,” Sommer says. “Whether it was used or not in a robbery is obviously another issue. But I purchased one, and it cost me less than $300, $250.”

And he adds that the gun, along with another AK-47 found in his quarters, were both brought over from Afghanistan by other soldiers.

The fully automatic AK-47 is a weapon typically found in war zones, but the model is hard to get in the United States because it is tightly restricted by federal law. Larry Kahaner, a journalist who’s written a book on the AK-47, says it’s an intimidating weapon.

“With an automatic AK, depending on the model and so forth, you can spray out between 600 and 700 rounds per minute,” Kahaner says.

[ ... ]

—

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6642653

---

That’s just what got into the news...

[ansel12]

"In fact, I was *assured* absolutely, that if I had the money, I could get almost any weaponry that I wanted. And although they (i.e., those relatives) did not do it, they “knew” who did and where to go and what contacts to make."

"There’s also the drug trade in the military and using military transport to get drugs around. That’s another story, and apparently there’s money to be made there."

In terms of the “drug trade” that’s a consistent theme, over and over again, I hear from many military people. That is extensive.

You need to quit hanging around that criminal trash and turn them into the law, if you think that their knowledge of the crimes aren't sufficient for conviction don't worry, they will be forced to turn in the criminals that they are protecting.

Here is your chance to do something patriotic for your country and to help the military.