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The Continuum of Harm. How many more Suicides and Deaths by lack of Self-Care have to happen? Targets of The Continuum of Harm regret ever reporting the sexual assaults - it ruined their lives. What message does this send? That is why this must STOP.
“Immediate reform is desperately needed to ensure that military sexual assault survivors can get a meaningful remedy for the wrongful discharges that darken their lives,” Darehshori said. “They deserve support, not censure.”
What the Targets of the Continuum of Harm and their advocates have to say:
“As I look back on the incident I have at times cursed myself for speaking up and reporting what happened but ... I thought I was doing the right thing … I cannot even begin to express how this entire ordeal has affected my life; it won’t go away and I still struggle with self-esteem and trust and the entire myriad of symptoms victims of sexual assault suffer … the Navy discarded me like a piece of scrap iron or less; truthfully, this ordeal continues to haunt me ... I am a broken man.”
–SA Ken Nelson,* October 2012
“I have practiced law in Texas for 31 years now, and I’ve appeared in different state and federal courts in a variety of administrative settings and this is the only time that I've been before a discharge review board. It was a horrific experience … I found myself being cut off and my client being screamed at which was unlike any experience I have ever had before. My client was just completely re-victimized. They didn’t really care what we had to say. We got a decision a few months later that was erroneous in a number of different respects … and it was a 5-nothing decision not to upgrade.”
–JoAnn Merica, attorney for a veteran who was discharged for misconduct after reporting sexual harassment, March 2016
“I was 18 years old, was a mental mess, and was terrified to be back aboard [the ship] any longer than I had to. I wasn’t protected, I wasn’t helped, I wasn’t safe from any type of harm! So how did I actually know what I was signing or even in fact what an OTH [Other Than Honorable] discharge was to mean? How was I to know that from all the sexual attacks that I had to suffer and the harassment, assaults, threats to my life and safety that for all these years [the discharge would be] a huge factor to how I lived and how my life ended up?”
–SR Heath Phillips, 2013
“Why should I be discharged because I was raped? I did what I was supposed to do. Had I never come forward I truly believe I would still be in the Air Force.”
–A1C Juliet Simmons,* November 2012
“I carry my discharge as an official and permanent symbol of shame, on top of the trauma of the physical attack, the retaliation and its aftermath.”
–Brian Lewis, March 2013
“Immediate reform is desperately needed to ensure that military sexual assault survivors can get a meaningful remedy for the wrongful discharges that darken their lives,” Darehshori said. “They deserve support, not censure.”
What the Targets of the Continuum of Harm and their advocates have to say:
“As I look back on the incident I have at times cursed myself for speaking up and reporting what happened but ... I thought I was doing the right thing … I cannot even begin to express how this entire ordeal has affected my life; it won’t go away and I still struggle with self-esteem and trust and the entire myriad of symptoms victims of sexual assault suffer … the Navy discarded me like a piece of scrap iron or less; truthfully, this ordeal continues to haunt me ... I am a broken man.”
–SA Ken Nelson,* October 2012
“I have practiced law in Texas for 31 years now, and I’ve appeared in different state and federal courts in a variety of administrative settings and this is the only time that I've been before a discharge review board. It was a horrific experience … I found myself being cut off and my client being screamed at which was unlike any experience I have ever had before. My client was just completely re-victimized. They didn’t really care what we had to say. We got a decision a few months later that was erroneous in a number of different respects … and it was a 5-nothing decision not to upgrade.”
–JoAnn Merica, attorney for a veteran who was discharged for misconduct after reporting sexual harassment, March 2016
“I was 18 years old, was a mental mess, and was terrified to be back aboard [the ship] any longer than I had to. I wasn’t protected, I wasn’t helped, I wasn’t safe from any type of harm! So how did I actually know what I was signing or even in fact what an OTH [Other Than Honorable] discharge was to mean? How was I to know that from all the sexual attacks that I had to suffer and the harassment, assaults, threats to my life and safety that for all these years [the discharge would be] a huge factor to how I lived and how my life ended up?”
–SR Heath Phillips, 2013
“Why should I be discharged because I was raped? I did what I was supposed to do. Had I never come forward I truly believe I would still be in the Air Force.”
–A1C Juliet Simmons,* November 2012
“I carry my discharge as an official and permanent symbol of shame, on top of the trauma of the physical attack, the retaliation and its aftermath.”
–Brian Lewis, March 2013
US: Raped in Military – Then Punished
Posted from hrw.org
Military Sexual Trauma (MST)
Sexual Assault
Human Rights
Homeless
PTSD
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 3
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