US Military lags in fighting sexual abuse

By Dan Thomasson

The dramatic increase in military sexual assaults, while startling, is less so I think because it is the inevitable consequence of the mixture of men and women in a profession that has been until the last few decades the sole province of men.

Soldiering always has been a rough trade, and altering those practicing it to include what always has been the protected gender doesn't change that. The fact that American women recently have been cleared for combat roles obviously intensifies the situation. Their presence in these units increases their vulnerability to opportunity.

The statistics are horrendous and that's not just hyperbole. A Pentagon survey released last week estimates that 26,000 of those on active duty have been subjected to unwanted sexual contact, up from an estimate of 19,300 from three years ago.

The Defense Department also reported that it believes there are a large number of abuse cases that go unreported simply because of fear that lodging a complaint will result in retaliation at the unit level. Like civilians, military assault victims are either embarrassed or fearful to make claims against their attackers. Military women are further disadvantaged by enforced subordination. Only one out of six of the thousands of sex crimes committed each year in the armed services is reported, according to the Pentagon's estimates.

Since the first soldier picked up the spear or cudgel, assault and rape have been used by armies to intimidate foes. No greater recent example can be cited than the bloody, brutal war in the Balkans where it was honed to a fine edge against innocents.

That being the case, it can't be tolerated in any culture that truly considers itself civilized. That it apparently has been given the back of the hand in any number of instances by those in this nation who are in charge of seeing that infractions of this nature are prosecuted to the fullest extent is the real tragedy here. Yet that too is unsurprising given the fact that the failure lies mainly with men ― and in one instance a woman ― raised in the very system that produced it.

Nothing spotlights that better than two cases in which convictions of officers charged with assault have been overturned at the highest level of the Air Force, one by a highly regarded female general and another that cost the commander of the Third Air Force in Europe his job. As a result of her decision, Lt. Gen. Susan Helms, a former astronaut, has had her nomination to head the Air Force Space Command blocked, at least temporarily, by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.

Things got worse when the Air Force's director of sexual assault prevention was arrested in Arlington, Va., for allegedly groping a woman in a parking lot while reportedly drunk. All this and an unacceptable increase in reported cases has prompted commander in chief Barack Obama to announce that he expects what amounts to a zero-tolerance policy toward alleged sexual abuse in all the services, and Congress is threatening to deny commanders the right to overturn convictions.

While a percentage of allegations can be considered unfounded and lodged for any number of motives, there can be no excuse for failing to investigate every case thoroughly. Why the Air Force appears to be in the forefront of sex crime tolerance is anyone's guess. Perhaps it is because the service always has had a fighter jock mentality. It was a star pilot whose conviction was overturned by Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin, the fired Third Air Force commander.

The Navy's Tail Hook scandal of nearly three decades ago resulted from the same tolerance for macho, swashbuckling, boys-will-be-boys behavior. The elite flyers historically have been given a lot of leeway in their personal deportment beginning with the aces of World War I.

That doesn't fit in today's modern military where gender equality, while it still has a long way to go, is progressing. The Congress, the White House and the Pentagon's top commanders have become painfully aware of what can result from a change in the culture. We hope that the message filters down and women can enjoy their military careers without fear of sexual abuse and intimidation. For once there seems to be partisan agreement on this issue.

Dan Thomasson is former editor of the Scripps Howard News Service.