Posted on 04/18/2009 8:16:48 AM PDT by 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?"
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Armored cavalry, Vietnam: Women would NOT have fit in.
You said — So you’re saying that military personnel cannot be trusted around women during trying circumstances? Doesn’t say much about them, does it?
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Military people are drawn from our society, and as such there are plenty of people around I wouldn’t want to be around, military or not. And I *have* been around a lot of military, from immediate family members and relatives. There have been quite a few in the military in all the major wars. Some are *absolutely* and without a doubt, certifiably insane, and I simply would not have them around anyone, alone — even if they are a relative... LOL...
You apparently don’t know enough military people... :-)
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And then you said — I think the solution would be to punish the child molester for his actions, not spank the child for being molested.
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That’s not the advice and warnings given. You train the kids to “get out of those situations” — and *not* stick around to see if someone has enough discipline to not do something...
I’m glad you’re not training kids... LOL...
Yours by far. For thousands of years women have been banned from armies, especially combat operations. Do you perhaps think that was aberration? A mistake in judgment, or perhaps they knew what they were doing when they decided that women in combat caused more problems than they were worth? Suddenly feminists are rediscovering why women aren't traditionally used in combat. Surprise surprise!
Your post on the other hand presumed the poster thought that rape was ok just because he thought women didn't belong in the military. That is the stupidest presumption I have seen in quite a while. No one on this thread has said that rape was ok.
monday, you said to another poster — That is the stupidest presumption I have seen in quite a while. No one on this thread has said that rape was ok.
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Stupid presumptions exist here, in force, on Free Republic (and actually many other types of online communications) because there no connection to *real life* in posting on a board. It makes it easy to say really stupid and dumb things..., such is life on a “board”... LOL..
Maybe this (among other issues) is why we kept Women out of combat zones for so long?
Maybe this (among other issues) is why we kept Women out of combat zones for so long?
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.
Mating is difficult enough for civilians in peace time. Mating during combat just adds additional and unnecessary stresses to an already stressful situation.
I did qualify it by saying “in quite a while....”
You said — I did qualify it by saying “in quite a while....”
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Yes, you did... in my case, I can’t say the same... :-)
The very first essay stands out to me and makes my BS detector go off before I got any further...Marines don't train male and female recruits in the same environment. (this is based on personal experience, but things may have changed since then)
Some of this probably goes on. Hell, the military is going to see the same problems as society does to one degree or another. Where it does happen, it’s wrong.
Then you get an author who has a leftist anti-military, anti-men, anti-love between the sexes vent, and strangely enough she seems somewhat biased. Go figure.
Passing this off as the experience of all women in the military is unconscionable.
When you get an activist woman involved in this, everything from hi there cutie, to hey wanna give me pleasure carries equal weight. Under those parameters, 100% of women in the military could say they’ve been abused or harassed.
One does ponder what the actual percentage of women actually abused in the military is. I’d wager it probably comes pretty close to the figures in the civilian populace at large.
Sexual harassment is also pretty subjective, from actual unwanted advances to a casual glance.
An friend's sister spent a few years in the Navy in the early 90s. She said that a significant percentage of women her unit at that time were lesbians and that sexual assault and harassment were much more likely to be initiated by them than men. She said that this led her and quite a few other women to rethink their careers.
As another poster surmised "Wonder what the rate of rape and harassment is at Columbia?"
Just another "smear the military" attempt by the left.
Bottom line, Helen Benedict is an anti-war leftist femi-nazi and prolly a lesbo. She can't say 'Misogyny' enough.
"Thus, many American troops in Iraq have deliberately shot children, raped civilian women and teenagers, tortured prisoners of war, and abused their own comrades because they see no moral justification for the war, and are reduced to nothing but self-loathing, anger, fear and hatred.And as to 'sexual harassment'. Well.. per her screed that's Males just looking at the Females in a Mess Hall. Some 'Harassment'! (OH NO!!! Sgt Johnson looked at me - Help me, help me!) And her constant use of 'comrade' outs her a lousy commie.Although these explanations for why soldiers rape are dispiriting, they do at least suggest that the military could institute the following reforms:
- Promote and honor more women soldiers.
The more respect women are shown by the command, the less abuse they will get from their comrades.
- Teach officers and enlistees that rape is torture and a war crime.
- Expel men from the military who attack their female comrades.
- Ban the consumption of pornography.
- Prohibit the use of sexist language by drill instructors.
- Educate officers to insist that women be treated with respect.
- Train military counselors to help male and female soldiers not only with war trauma, but also with childhood abuse and sexual assault.
- Cease admitting soldiers with backgrounds of domestic or sexual violence.
And last — but far from least — end the war in Iraq.
She can go to HELL!
Bingo!
Is every unit perfect? Heck no. I'm just not convinced that this is as wide spread as described.
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Agreed. My father was in the service for thirty years. Twenty years and ten in the reserves. I have a brother in law who is also a twenty year man, and a nephew (Marine) who did two tours of duty in Iraq. I have the utmost respect for our military, and some of the comments on this thread are more than disappointing to me.
Thank you for doing the research and posting the truth about this woman. I for one do appreciate it.
How many were raped or sexually harassed by other females?
past surveys by the militrayu reveal a 50% false allegation rate for female active duty personnel. That was some years ago. Now, any incident of rape or assault that has not been duly reported should be looked upon as a probable false accusation.
Yes, rape is perpetrated, and in this day and age, adult women are under some expectation to report it in a timely manner when it happens.
My daughters joined the Navy to serve their country and have come to appreciate and love it even more since enlisting. It's a sad fact that they have to deal with this crap to do their jobs and serve a country they love. They deal with it the best they can. It doesn't do any good to complain as you are held to a higher standard than your shipmates thereafter and are written up for infractions others skate on.
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