WASHINGTON (AP) - A group of U.S. veterans who say they were raped, insulted and otherwise abused by their comrades want to force the Pentagon to change how it handles such cases.
More than a dozen female and two male current or former service members say servicemen get away with rape and other sexual abuse and victims are too often ordered to continue to serve alongside those they say attacked them.
RELATED | KC woman raises awareness on military sexual assaults
In a federal class-action lawsuit to be filed Tuesday, they want an objective third party to handle such complaints because individual commanders have too much say in how allegations are handled.
The alleged attackers in the lawsuit include an Army criminal investigator and an Army National Guard commander. The abuse alleged ranges from obscene verbal abuse to gang rape.
Retired National Guard Tech Sergeant Jennifer Gould shared her stories with NBC Action News in a special that aired in early February. She served for 23 years and says she was raped four times but never reported the incidents out of fear. Gould says the federal class action lawsuit could be one of the biggest changes the military sees in years.
"Someone is listening to you that's neutral. You're not intimidated. You won't feel like you failed before you even started," says Gould if the change goes through.
In one incident, an Army Reservist says two male colleagues raped her in Iraq and videotaped the attack. She complained to authorities after the men circulated the video to colleagues. Despite being bruised from her shoulders to elbows from being held down, she says charges weren't filed because the commander determined she "did not act like a rape victim" and "did not struggle enough" and authorities said they didn't want to delay the scheduled return of the alleged attackers to the United States.
"The problem of rape in the military is not only service members getting raped, but it's the entire way that the military as a whole is dealing with it," said Panayiota Bertzikis, who is a plaintiff in the lawsuit and claims she was raped in 2006. "From survivors having to be involuntarily discharged from service, the constant verbal abuse, once a survivor does come forward your entire unit is known to turn their back on you. The entire culture needs to be changed."
Although The Associated Press normally does not identify the victims of sexual assault, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit have publicly discussed the cases.
Bertzikis, 29, of Somerville, Mass., now is executive director of the Military Rape Crisis Center. She says she was raped by a Coast Guard shipmate while out on a social hike with him in Burlington, Vt. Bertzikis complained to her commanding officer, but she said authorities did not take substantial steps to investigate the matter. Instead, she said, they forced her to live on the same floor as the man she had accused and tolerated others calling her a "liar" and "whore."
Dr. Kaye Whitley, the Director of the Sexual Assault and Prevention Response Office in the Pentagon issued this statement:
The Department of Defense is always looking for ways to improve victim care. We have several new initiatives underway, include the launch of an anonymous victim support hotline which will allow victims to "click, call or text" for confidential support, anywhere in the world 24/7.
As part of that hotline service, users will be able to be connected to local civilian resources or internal DoD resources. In addition, there are questions not related to immediate victim care, users can enter those concerns into the hotline and that information will be sent to the SAPRO office, and specifically to our Senior Victim Care Coordinator. We believe that this new resource will offer Service members a confidential reporting path, outside their chain-of-command if desired.
"We are aggressively doing everything we can because one sexual assault is too many," Smith said.
In many of the described cases, like Bertzikis', no charges were filed. In other cases, the alleged attackers faced lesser charges and were allowed to remain in the military, according to the lawsuit.
Kori Cioca, 25, of Wilmington, Ohio, described being hit in the face by a superior in one incident in 2005 and being raped by the same man in a second incident soon after while serving in the Coast Guard in Bay City, Mich.
Even though the man confessed to having sex with her, Cioca said in the lawsuit she was told if she pressed forward with reporting the sex as a rape, she would be court-martialed for lying. She said the man pleaded guilty only to hitting her and his punishment was a minor loss of pay and being forced to stay on the base for 30 days. She said she was discharged from the military for a "history of inappropriate relationships."
She said she continues to suffer from numbness in her jaw and has nightmares.
"My body hurts every day. My face hurts. I get the most horrible headaches. My body has been trespassed. The honor
PRINT
