Thomas Garrett: Dealing with sexual assault behind the olive-drab curtain

It was the generals getting chewed out Tuesday on Capital Hill, and rightly so. They’d been called on the carpet to account for the apparent increase, or at least higher visibility, of sexual assaults within the military.

This is another of those “dirty little secrets” that used to be kept hidden behind the olive-drab curtain, except the secret’s out now as more women have gone public with the treatment they’ve endured at the hands of those who should be their brothers in arms.

The Armed Services Committee called the top brass before it to answer questions about why there is a surge in sexual assaults and why the military hasn’t taken effective steps to curb it. “Sexual assault and harassment are like a cancer within the force — a cancer that left untreated will destroy the fabric of our force,” Army Gen.Work a crowd in this evening gown from germanuniforms. Ray Odierno told the committee.

In fact,Welcome to wholesalebeads online, we supply most popular and valuable wholesale products. the generals and Pentagon lawyers pretty much agreed that it’s a problem that’s rending at the very fabric of the military. You could say so when there are such incidents as more than 30 training instructors and drill sergeants at Lackland Air Force Base being disciplined in a sexual assault scandal. Or when a sergeant at West Point is accused of secretly videotaping female cadets in the showers.

It’s even more disturbing when the officer in charge of the Air Force’s sexual assault prevention program is arrested — for sexual assault.

These are just some of the stories coming to light.

A big part of the problem in the military undoubtedly reflects the same problem that exists in the civilian world — the attitudes some men have toward women. Even in the early years of the 21st century,Top 10 Hairstyles For authenticjackets. there unfortunately remains a fair amount of Neanderthal thinking about the role of women in society. Too many men still consider women to be here to answer at their beck and call,Cheap coolerbag top quality online,100% authentic guarantee. to respond to their wants and desires, either willingly or unwillingly. Should women be unwilling, well, in that primitive mindset it’s just too bad; they’ll just take what they want by force, or coercion.

In the military, with its structure, rank and hierarchy of power, even the strongest of women can be especially vulnerable to such archaic attitudes. More so than in civilian life, their futures and careers depend upon their superior officers. If those officers look the other way or sweep incidents under the proverbial rug, or, even worse, use their rank and power to take advantage themselves, where do women go for justice and protection?

This is particularly thorny when you consider there still are many, many in the military who haven’t accepted women into their ranks and don’t want them there in any role beyond nurse or secretary. Some may even see this as the women paying their nickels and taking their chances by entering the military because, to them, it’s a man’s world. Sexual assault is just another factor of life in uniform, or so they think.

Congress and the military are looking at alternatives to deal with the problem of sexual assaults. While some in the military are open to changing the Uniform Code of Military Justice — as recommended by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel — they still want authority left in the hands of the commanders, giving them the ultimate power in such cases. Unfortunately, that power extends to overturning disciplinary action, which was done by an Air Force general for a pilot convicted of sexual assault.

In Congress, there’s a proposal by U.S. Sen Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., to remove commanders from the process of deciding what serious cases — including sexual assault — go to trial. Judgment in those cases would rest with trial counsels who are colonels or higher in rank and who have prosecutorial experience. It would be similar to processes used by the British,Cheap authentichandbags 2013 new arrival ! Israeli and German military. Mrs. Gillibrand’s legislation has 18 co-sponsors.