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LTC David Brown
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Great post. Congress paid over $15 million dollars of taxpayer’s money to victims of their abuse. Before we get all sanctimonious about Trump or Franken we need to deal with these creeps!
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MCPO Roger Collins
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Sexual assault/harassment should never be tolerated in any venue, private of public. One caveat is that way too many women (and some times men, one report on the military stated 46% were men) place themselves in positions to be victimized. Think before placing yourself in a position to be taken advantage of.
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SFC Intelligence Analyst
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>1 y
CPO Glenn Moss - We will never stop sexual harassment or sexual assault because there will always be predators out there. This has been a problem since the dawn of humanity. You have predators who will find someone that they prey on for some reason.

Yes people do all the "right" things and still get sexually assaulted because most of the time the perpetrator is someone you know and trust. That's how they get in. They gain trust and they gain that safety from the victim before they attack.

I did everything I should have and still had that "friend" do that to me. He actually was married and had tried to get in my pants for the 4 1/2 years I was in that unit. He actually was pissed that I slept with his friend (who was single at the time) and not him. I told him you're married. I don't do that with married guys. "I always wondered what it was like to have sex with a white chick." (He's Hispanic - and I stopped talking to him after that).

I have a story from a case I did as SARC - and this soldier I knew and I was friends with her. She's no longer in because of how shitty our unit was. She was on extra duty on the weekend. The SSG in charge of staff duty let her go early on a Sunday I think. "oh you are a single mom with kids you can go home early." She was a SPC - what SPC isn't going to say "okay sergeant." So she went home early. A couple days later after PT he asked her if he could come use the shower at her house. She lived on base he lived a ways away. He's married so she doesn't think much of it since she has two bathrooms. She says ok and he follows her home. She shows him to the bathroom away from her bedroom. She goes in her room to change. He comes in and he sexually assaults her.

Before that he had been sending her flirty texts and she showed them to me. They were extremely inappropriate and she said she kind of just laughed it off because she didn't know what to do but she would tell him "you know you're married" and other stuff to let him know she didn't really like it though. She said he sent her dick pics but she deleted them because she didn't want them on her phone. I mean I can't say I blame her. I said that would help with CID (and CID said that would have helped). I was the BN SARC actually. She didn't want to file any report. I talked to the BDE SARC with her. She just wanted the guy to leave her alone because he kept sending her inappropriate texts. I think she did block him eventually. So the BDE SARC goes and gets him and has me with. He worked in BN S3. He comes to the BDE office and the BDE SARC says just leave her alone and she doesn't want to file anything just leave her alone (Hindsight probably wasn't the right answer to do). He says at first nothing happened blah blah. I said "I saw the texts." Deer in headlights. "Oh well it was consensual..." I could see predator in his eyes. He reeked of it. So he leaves and slams the door after we talk to him. Then I get a call from the 1SG of her company because she told him she was going to the ER and maybe mentioned she had talked to me. Now it's unrestricted and has to get filed.

I took her to CID. She kept me updated on the case. It was substantiated by CID with the texts. Gets to court martial he gets found not guilty. She had to come back to our base because she had gotten out by the time that happened for that. I think he already had a reprimand for something similar as a recruiter. So he has a history of this crap.

If you look back at it - signs were there that he was grooming her but most people don't realize it at the time.

I mean hell my ex husband beat the shit out of me 3 times. Hindsight is 20/20. The signs were all there and I would have listened to his first wife but she was telling me he was such a POS but then trying to steal him from me when we dated after their divorce. And I had never seen him violent before. We met when we were 18. He was a dick to girls. But I had never seen him or heard of any of the dozens of girls he dated say that he hit them. So I didn't believe her - well meth addicts get crazy. Hard lesson learned. But abusers are master manipulators and so are sexual predators. You don't see it until it's too late. ESPECIALLY when it' someone you have known and trusted for years.
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LTC Laborer
LTC (Join to see)
>1 y
SFC (Join to see) - You are still missing his point ... or deliberately trying to twist it. He is not putting blame on those 'victimized' ... he is simply pointing out that knowing the potential for sexual assault/harassment, one should do one's best to avoid subjecting oneself to it. It doesn't excuse the predator. It is a bit like going in to a high crime area in the dead of night and getting killed ... doesn't excuse the person that did the killing ... but that doesn't make the dead rise again. Being right sometimes isn't enough.
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MCPO Roger Collins
MCPO Roger Collins
>1 y
Thank you, exactly what was said. Kelly is an intelligent person, so the misconstruing of my words would appear to be intentional. We go back always on issues related to “bad” males.
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CPO Glenn Moss
CPO Glenn Moss
>1 y
Yes...there are predators out there. And, in my opinion, the should be treated like the dangerous predators they are.

In every situation in life, there are lessons to be learned...even when it's about the good things that happen.

I asked my kids (I have both sons and daughters) at one point "How do you know what kind of a person someone is? How they're 'good' or 'bad'?" Important, because we don't know what's inside another person's head.

This is a key question that I don't think many people consider as they're raising their kids. Being good or bad, most parents get. How to teach children to judge that in others, maybe not so well.

The answer is that we know what kind of person someone is by their actions. Even though a person CAN put forth a false front, it's the actions a person takes which reveal the kind of person he or she is inside.

The problem is that many people tend to dismiss or ignore the physical tells that a person has. And it's not just the blatant signs, either.

An honest person does not lie or steal...it gives them problems to do so. Little things, like picking flowers from someone else's flower garden are things some dismiss, but may be an insight into how that person views others and their property.

An honorable person is true to their own, freely given word. They do not violate their word unless they have no choice...and even then, they have moral problems with it.

A caring person is considerate of others. Respectful of parents/elders, mindful of other people's property, thoughtful of other's wants and needs. Thoughtless comments or jokes that hurt others likewise gives them problems.

All these things, and more, can provide powerful insights into another person's mind...if only we pay attention.

They're tools in the toolbox by which we seek to understand those around us, to help protect ourselves.

I have my own story, every bit as painful and traumatic across the board, as many other people's. I, likewise, did not ask for what I received. My own survival at one point was very much in question. But I did survive. And I took the time to figure out how I ended up were I had, what fault lay where and what my personal responsibilities were/are. That I did not ask for what happened to me did not mean I could not have avoided it.

Believe me, I tore myself up over it. But I walked away a better man for it, when all was said and done.

Your circumstances, Kelly, were/are your own. I will not gainsay them. But there ARE valuable lessons to be had. Those lessons are for you to learn.

The predators you discussed are truly that...predators that prey on others. I'm glad that you, and the others you mentioned, survived. I hope you're a stronger, wiser person for it, and I hope that better arms you for any potential future encounters.
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PFC Donnie Harold Harris
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We are animals trying to act like spiritual beings. That is an impossible standard. For any normal human except for a few scattered threw out time.
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SSG Diane R.
SSG Diane R.
>1 y
I think I understand your point. The struggle to do the tight thing enobles us.
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