I am a smart lady; I would have been a good soldier, but I would not consider joining the military. You could not have paid me enough to join.
I learned about Tailhook and other sexual harassment and sexual assault cases through the news. The military was not safe then. It is not safe today.
Sexual assaults will happen - to women, men, boys and girls. It is what society does about these crimes that matters. The military has a history of doing basically...........nothing.
In today's news we learn that Lt. Col. James Wilkerson is one lucky man- convicted of rape but set free by his boss. From the Washington Post: "The pilot, Lt. Col. James Wilkerson, had been found guilty in November by an all-male jury at Aviano Air Base in Italy in what was seen as a test case of the Air Force’s willingness to tackle such crimes."
Why is the composition of the jury mentioned? One supposes that an all-male jury wouldn't convict one of its own for a frivolous wishy-washy rape accusation. Since a group of men convicted him, Lt. Col. James Wilkerson must have committed Rape Rape. Since it was Rape Rape, it is all the more shocking that Lt. Gen. Craig A. Franklin, commander of the Third Air Force in Europe, acquitted him and set him free.
Congress is all upset, but Congress sets the rules for the military. If it is not happy with the system it has created, change it.
The Invisible War by Kirby Dick details the stories of men and women who survived sexual assault only to face condescension and outright hostility from their peers and superiors. If this documentary helps change the Armed Forces, and the chew-women-up-and-spit-them-out culture no longer thrives, the pool of young women willing to join will expand.
