How the Pentagon plans to reverse its 'tragic' sexual assault crisis

Lt Col Charlie Brown
Posted 6 h ago
Keep men out of women's barracks...that would be a start.

--- So what about men who get sexually assaulted by another man? There are also no such thing as "women" or "men's" barracks. The buildings are coed. The rooms are not. But the buildings are - and again that has nothing to do with sexual assault. I'd bet before women were integrated they were still being sexually assaulted by men.

Absolutely not "separate units" for men and women will NOT stop sexual assault. Men are sexually assaulted - by other men. So how do you stop those assaults? Men were being assaulted by other men before women were even integrated. Sexuall assault and sexual harassment have ALWAYS been there. So don't try blaming this on women.

Here's what I've noticed in 19 years because I was in before SHARP and after SHARP. I have also been a VA at the company and BN level and been a SARC at the BN and BDE level.

Prior to SHARP I believe it all was under EO. I recall CO2 training - "Consideration of Others" training. That was pointless. Also pointless was all the walking EO violations who were made EO advisors and EO reps. Then SHARP came around - and at first not taken seriously at all. 80 hour course to be a primary or alternate VA - then they turned them into SARC and VA. They were not really vetting people at all. I became the BN SARC (I was the BN VA) because the guy who was the SARC got accused of sexual harassment. As the BN SARC, I did my best to try to fix things. I used the initial survey they did in that SHARP standown and I used it every six months to gauge the climate in the unit. The first one I did - one of the companies people were writing on the back of the survey with responses. I tallied up every response for each company, and did an overall BN one. I made slides to show the COs and 1Ss and the BN CDR and CSM - one 1SG responded to me to sit down. Not the one with all the issues. The BN CDR - gave me lip service. He was listening but he wasn't there. I could tellin his eyes - you can tell when someone has tuned out. Then as the BDE SARC - I was only there for 5 months because I got approved for compassionate reassignment for my daughter. Again surveyed all the BNs to see what's going on and didn't get to finish it though.

I have seen how people use SHARP as a verb. "Oh watch out you'll get SHARP'd." It's still a culture issue no matter how much leadership wants to say "ZeRo TolErAncE" it's still a joke. There are slight improvements - like the SHARP Academy so there's far more training before you get certified. The training units get is slightly better now with scenarios - and updating things. Like when SHARP started it was in the slides that if you even have one drink of alcohol, you can't consent. That's not true. Everyone's tolerance to alcohol varies. The point should have always been about consent. If someone clearly cannot consent - then don't go further. That's what a LOT of people - and yes mostly men - don't seem to understand consent. That's not just the military - that's civilian and military. There are women who get assaulted and murdered for saying no to a man we aren't interested in. That begs the question - what are parents teaching their boys about consent? It seems like not much in general.

I was sexually assaulted and sexually harassed in my first unit. Actually - we were pretty much taught to ignore it back then. I had a lot of internalized misogyny. We had to be one of the boys - told that would avoid getting harassed or assaulted...nope. The times I was assaulted - I was in uniform. Not drunk. Not anything like people want to make excuses for perpetrators. Also in my first unit if a woman did report SA or SH, she was ostracized. She was mocked. Belittled. Etc. Add in during basic the female drill sergeants when they split up males and females said "there's only two types of women in the ARmy you're either a bitch or a slut. Like explain how that works when that's what we are told by mid level to senior NCOs in basic training...

The issue is that for too long perpetrators got away with their crimes because commanders had control of deciding whether to prosecute and many didn't want that to show up on their OERs. Or they didn't believe the victims. Then add in the culture around it. The toxic leaders that ignored any report of it - whether it was a woman or man reporting it. And it's like that in civilian society. Look at how many rape kits sit untested in police stations. Look at the low prosecution rate for it - and then how some rapists get probation or months if they even get that far. Rape and sexual assault are not taken seriously in our society in general. "Marital" rape wasn't completely outlawed in the US until 1993. 30 years ago is when all states had finally criminalized one spouse raping their spouse. And even after that, those were looked at differently than other reports of rape. People STILL don't think a husband can rape their wife or vice versa. I heard it in WLC in 2007 - the EO class and this guy says if he wants sex with his wife, she better give it to him and I went off on him. Some men do view their wives as property though. Still. In 2023 even.

The way you stop it is our society needs to be addressing things like consent to kids from an early age so by the time they get to the military, maybe this problem does decrease. We will never have zero rapes or zero sexual assaults. But we can decrease it if we just change the way we think in society and the miltary and we stop victim blaming. That's a start.

IMHO this is about values.

I do not know the apposed "core values" of the other services, but RESPECT is one for the Army.

And it is absolutely impossible to rape someone you respect. Simply can't be done. I think a harder Crack down instilling - and enforcing - those values will have ripple effects far and wide, including sexual assault.