Ackerman reports: "An Air Force brochure on sexual assault advises potential victims not to fight off their attackers."
A U.S. Air Force brochure on sexual assault has come under fire. (photo: U.S. Army)
Air Force Brochure Tells Sexual Assault Victims to 'Submit'
08 May 13
n Air Force brochure on sexual assault advises potential victims not to fight off their attackers.
"It may be advisable to submit [rather] than resist," reads the brochure (.pdf), issued to airmen at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina, where nearly 10,000 military and civilian personnel are assigned. "You have to make this decision based on circumstances. Be especially careful if the attacker has a weapon."
The brochure, acquired by Danger Room, issues a series of guidances on "risk reduction" for sexual assault. Among others, it advises people under sexual attack in parking lots to "consider rolling underneath a nearby auto and scream loud. It is difficult to force anyone out from under a car." A public affairs officer at Shaw, Sgt. Alexandria Mosness, says she believes the brochure is current.
While the brochure also explains that sexual assault is not always committed by people who "don't look like a rapist" - attackers "tend to have hyper-masculine attitudes," it advises - it does not offer instruction to servicemembers on not committing sexual assault. Prevention is treated as the responsibility of potential victims.
"Rapists look for vulnerability and then exploit it in those who: are young (naive); are new to the base, deployment, area, etc.; are emotionally unstable," the brochure (.pdf) continues.
All this comes as the Air Force, and the U.S. military more broadly, deals with the fallout of the service's sexual-assault prevention and response chief, Lt. Col Jeffrey Krusinski, getting arrested on sexual-battery charges on Sunday. During a Senate hearing today, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), grilled Air Force officials on how Krusinski was placed in his post. "His record is very good," Gen. Mark Welsh III, the Air Force's chief of staff, said, citing a lack of warning signs in Krusinski's prior service.
Welsh said he and outgoing Air Force Secretary Michael Donley were "appalled" to hear of Krusinski's arrest. "We will not quit working this problem," Welsh continued.
Pages from the brochure were provided to Danger Room by Protect Our Defenders, an advocacy group that raises awareness of sexual assault within the military. The organization's spokesman, Brian Purchia, described it as an example of the military's myopia about a problem that top leaders like Welsh have sworn to take seriously.
The brochure is "an affront to victims", Purchia told Danger Room. "The Air Force should be passing out pamphlets to our men and women in uniform on how not to commit sexual assault. ... This brochure is just the latest in a long history of failed programs and policies. The military's sexual assault prevention campaigns are rooted in a wrong headed 1950's paradigm."
The military does some of that - not without controversy. An artistic group called "Sex Signals" has performed for airmen to teach scenarios about sexual assault in what an official Air Force release called "a ‘lively and humorous' way." (The group's founder, Gail Stern, says the effort "utilizes the strategic and intentional use of humor to reduce the emotional and cognitive resistance audiences have to the subject of rape.") The Army has a video game designed to instruct soldiers about the dangers of "alcohol-induced date rape." The military has also come under criticism for a poster advising servicemembers to "Ask When She's Sober," which the New York Times blasted as a "grotesque parody of an etiquette poster."
Rape-crisis counselors sometimes advise, like the Air Force brochure does, that there are circumstances whereby fighting back against an assailant is a bad idea. Purchia doesn't dispute that. "You can always identify some circumstances," he said, "but as a general rule research indicates and it's generally understood that fighting back often can fend off the attacker and usually does not lead to greater injury."
"To any rational person this is completely backwards and shows the scope of epidemic," Purchia continued. "Fundamental reforms are needed - the reporting, investigation and adjudication of sexual assault must be taken out of the chain of command."
That's a step that the military has been reluctant to take. At today's hearing, Welsh and Donley expressed concern that doing so might pose a risk to "good order and discipline," as Donley put it. ("This is not good order and discipline," replied Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand of New York.) Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel took a more limited step last month by proposing to prevent commanders from overturning verdicts in criminal cases, after the general in charge of the Third Air Force voided a lieutenant colonel's sexual-assault conviction.
Congress needs to approve changes to the Uniform Code of Military Justice for that to happen. Today, Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) introduced a bill that would "refer cases to the general court martial level when sexual assault charges are filed or to the next superior competent authority when there is a conflict of interest in the immediate chain of command."
This afternoon, the Pentagon will release its annual report on sexual assault prevention and response. Reportedly, it will estimate that there were 26,000 instances of sexual assault - about 70 per day, as Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) previewed - up from the 19,000 reported in last year's report. As ThinkProgress' Hayes Brown noted, only 3,374 such cases were reported to authorities. The military might be the one hiding under its cars.
Update, 4:45 p.m.: According to the newly-released report (it's a huge, two-volume .PDF) the Pentagon indeed estimates there were 26,000 incidents of sexual assault over the past year, and 3,374 reported cases of such. Out of those reported cases, 1,174 servicemembers were recommended for "command action" - either judicial or administrative punishment. Of those, 594 were proffered for criminal charges; and 460 cases have been completed. Thus far, 238 people were convicted of at least one charge of sexual assault. (See page 73 in the first volume for these stats.)
Defense Secretary Hagel, in a press conference this afternoon, said that "the frequency of this crime and the perception that there is tolerance of it could very well undermine our ability to effectively carry out our mission, and to recruit and retain the good people we need." Hagel outlined a number of administrative steps to improve accountability for setting command climates intolerant of sexual assault throughout the military. But Hagel stopped short of removing responsibility for investigating and prosecuting sexual assault from the chain of command, as several members of Congress want.
"I don't think taking it away - the ultimate responsibility away from the military, I think that would just weaken the system," Hagel said.
But the door isn't closed. An independent panel mandated in the last defense bill passed by Congress will study whether the chain of command ought to be removed in investigating and prosecuting offenses.
The Pentagon report found that of active-duty servicewomen who reported experiencing sexual assault to a military authority, only 38 percent said they experienced no form of retaliation. Of the much-larger cohort of active-duty servicewomen who did not report their sexual abuse, 50 percent did not do so because they "did not think anything would be done"; 51 percent declined to report "did not think [the] report would be kept confidential"; 47 percent "were afraid of retaliations/reprisals from the person(s) who did it or their friends"; 43 percent "heard about negative experiences other victims went through who reported their situation"; 28 percent "thought [their] performance evaluation or chance for promotion would suffer."
Fully 94 percent of mid-career to senior officers who declined to report their sexual assault - that is, majors/lieutenant commanders; lieutenant colonels/commanders; and colonels/captains - did so because they "felt uncomfortable" making such reports.
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Most females decline to report becos they come to feel they are interegated and it is they who brought it on!
Abuse is rampant in ohr society globally,. It is scaresly even addressed and
cerainly not a police priority!
QThe problem lies in educating men to respect women,. ,
It disgusts me how women are teeated in society,.. interesting is it not,. That a maes conquests make him the "Man" and oh so macho,. Yet women,. Are sluts ,.the bitches and the ho's,. , worse still is the gansta mentallity that have been conditioned this way,. And even worse the women who not only refer to themselves in a derogitory manner but actually allow men to speak to them this way ! Women are thinking and feeling intelligent beings,. Witjout which man would mot survive,.. after all the man just plants the seed,. The wonan produces life itself,.. educating men,. To respect and honour women not only as an equalbut also a hhighly valued equal,.
Nit is way past due thatblittle boys with toys who are conditioned to grow up and use bigger toysvas wrapons realized that they are pawns to an empre that considers them expendible and does not even care or them ! Just tools ;of the empre,. Thatbonly think with their tools
Anyone who has ever resided in a barracks knows that the biggest 'sexual harassment' issue in the military is not of the heterosexual variety.
..
She served our country and got thanked by a bunch of hoodlums that are given gold stars for being males who have no respect for their mothers (or any woman) What a tragedy.
To get into Navy Intelligence, she had to pass tests with high scores and learn many things so she is a smart lady. I hope she can find a path to peace within herself soon.
..
As most of the people who have to deal with rape will tell you, rape is not about sex, it is about control. It is about having power over someone, rather than power with.
One thing I've thought might start to change society and male attitudes is to tell all men that a rape of this or any nature, is a crime committed by a coward. Those people who are doing this need to be told, and need to understand, that there is nothing brave or courageous about this kind of act.
Scratch the surface of a bully, and you will find a coward. To me, rape appears to be bullying carried to an extreme. (I was bullied from 5th grade until I graduated from high school.)
Perhaps if the social stigma of cowardice is attached to bullying and rape, it might make some men look at their behavior more closely, and not allow them to rationalize what they might think about doing.
Or maybe not. When a person gets to the point of needing to control others, the denial may be so strong, it wouldn't matter what stigma was attached to the acts of bullying or rape. Those are the dangerous ones.
In many ways, we live in a culture of violence, (rape being one of its forms,) in which people are violated and used by those in power in all kinds of subtle and impersonal ways. The rape of your daughter seems to me to be the most personal kind of violation.
I am so sorry for your daughter,....an d you, for when something awful happens to our children it affects us too.
So THIS is the finest military the world has ever seen. There are WAY too many hoodlums in it.
It needs a thorough scrubbing and cleaning. And the perpetrators MUST have jail time, and then they should be thrown out of the service, no matter what their rank is.
The victimized women should NOT have their careers damaged.
If it were not so hard to find work I would say to women stay out of the military. You are i more danger from your fellow servicemen than from the enemy.
Unfortunately the women need to make money, so they are in danger. That is sickening.
...And castrate them. Men need to learn respect and humility. If they cannot use their body parts responsibly, it can be taken away - just like misusing a gun! Every woman is a mother, potentially. Would they do this to their own mother?
This has got to stop! If the consequences included castration, I wonder if that would slow down the rapes?
The military will always blame the victim for having been present when an attacker could no longer resist abusing power and inflicting harm on others.
..
Helping others (in organized and unorganized groups) has introduced me to such friends.
Your grandson is like the men I grew up with (but that was a LONG time ago) - and there were hoodlums then too.
And I expect that the White House will ignore that--for reasons--very Bush-like--havi ng to do with the, ahem, preference, of big dollar Wall Street donors.
Do have the courage and integrity to see the film given awards by Sundance among others, *The Invisible War*, which interviews males as well as females abused by the system before blowing hot air out of your empty hat.
"You have to make this decision [to rape] based on circumstances. Be especially careful if the [victim] has a weapon. According to new regulations, if she kills you, it will go on her record, but if she merely aims at your genitals, you're on your own."
In the military the only place a victim can go is to her (his) commander (a non independent source) and THAT IS TOTALLY inverted and horrific. Thus, the victim is judged by her superior (and likely the attacker is also known to the commander) - and most likely that commander is MALE - so how can this system ever ever work?
Since the raped victim cannot get justice from an outside independent source - rape will continue and the rapists will never be punished.
This is horrendous injustice to an alleged Democratic society which preaches "and justice for all" ... what part of "all" does the military honor? ZERO
Write/call your congress people and tell them to change the law in military for independent law enforcement (or you'll vote them out) -- the military laws (as in this case CAN BE CHANGED BY CONGRESS)
If you're in a bagger/Gop state, you can bet your Congress person does not want women (most likely to be raped) to have any (much less equal) rights.
Call anyway and make your case.
Until it comes from the top down that sexual assault, sexual harassment, and sexual discrimination against any woman, whether or in the US military is unequivocally unacceptable, and is a violation of a servicemember's oath, and will be prosecuted and punished vigorously, the US is all too often sending predators to the countries we claim to be helping.
President Obama needs to remember his own daughters and daughters everywhere who are become the victims of the US' tolerance of and failure to discipline members of the military who commit sexual assault and sexual harassment.
It is NOT good for this to be the fact or our country abroad. And it is horrible for those who become victims, wherever they are.
As Zerlina Maxwell has said, how about teaching men not to rape?
Thumbs up to you, Vermont Grandma.
It is a VAST understatement, "That it is not good for our country abroad." We are considered BULLIES in many parts of the world. This proves it. That is horrible indeed.
Obama has a golden opportunity to demonstrate his concern both for the nation and for his daughters and his wife.
After all, if we are going to get the reform we need in the military, it will obviously have to come from the top down.
Now it is up to Obama to demonstrate he is indeed the Commander in Chief, and take command of this grotesque US military culture & tradition.
You may want to learn to articulate your thoughts a little better.
Rape, like any other form of violence, is characterized by limitlessness.
If you don't think so, does that prevent others from thinking so?
REAL MEN don't rape.
Not resisting is standard advice in rape situations--fro m every police department in the USA-- and the USAF--the better to reduce deaths.
Reporting the assault is a different matter.
There is a problem in 'military culture.'
Most rapes in the military are unreported--bec ause they are homosexual, in nature.
But it is not politically correct to examine that subject matter.
Good Luck, Secretary Hagel.
"Fully 94 percent of mid-career to senior officers who declined to report their sexual assault - that is, majors/lieutena nt commanders; lieutenant colonels/comman ders; and colonels/captai ns - did so because they "felt uncomfortable" making such reports."
These "mid-career to senior officers" are 94% cheap cowards. They are "uncomfortable" doing their duty. What?! Yes.
The real question here is who zoomin' who?
We are zooming ourselves if we think we are safe with that kind of cowardice rising into the military leadership. In fact, it is the only kind of military leadership we have.
In my life experience I have never anywhere found more cowards per capita than during my nine years in the US Air Force. With far too few exceptions, I came to believe the radical disrespect that junior officers and enlisted men held for senior officers was insufficient; we still respected them too much. We gave them far too much benefit of the doubt.
And the military's track record in all the undeclared wars since WWII proves that in great detail.
General Smedley Butler wrote that "War is a Racket." That title to his brilliant experience-rich essay was a significant understatement.
Cowards do not good soldiers/sailor s/marines/airme n make.
Great you mentioned Gen. Smedley Butler's essay. I have read it. Too bad he came out after the fact.
Such things as rape, bullying, and all forms of addictive behaviors cause problems, and are problems. They are also, from a more inclusive point of view, symptoms of a problem.
We can spend a lot of time and energy dealing with all the problems, and avoid looking at the real problem, which underlies all the symptoms.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, and as a few other people have also mentioned, the need to control others is an indication of someone who is afraid, and then acts in cowardly ways. To me, any act of violence (not based on self-defense) is an act based on fear.
It is not simply a matter of "Ladies, stop enabling your boys." It is more a matter of changing a culture that is based on fear. It is a matter of changing a culture based on obsessive competition rather than cooperation. It is a culture based on defining "winners and losers" strictly in patriarchal terms.
It is all of the above, and it is all inter-connected . You cannot shake one strand of this web without shaking the whole web. The question has become, how many people have the courage to shake the whole web?
The answer is that, eventually, everyone must be involved and willing to do so. Everyone must understand that we are all on this web, and we are all connected. Those who are awake, must do their best to wake the others still sleeping.
The whole culture of violence and rape is seen everywhere --in the military, in Steubenville, in Cleveland etc. !
Time for boys to stop being boys, and thinking with their penis brains!
As anyone who has worked with addictive behaviors in people will tell you, the tow main symptoms are denial and blame. We either deny there is a problem, or, if we admit to a problem, it's always someone else's fault.
Those two symptoms keep people stuck where they happen to be, and usually it is stuck in fear of one kind or another.
The antithesis to fear is awareness. If qwe can support people being curious, they will change their own feaqr, as curiosity, when aroused, is a greater motivator than fear.
To me, the best teachers support kids in being curious. Curiosity should be a life-long habit. Why is that not true for so many people? What have we done to support or inhibit curiosity?
See what I mean? My cat wants some attention, so I think this is all for now.
Excuse me but if rape is characterized by limitlessness at all it is certainly a NEGATIVE "limitlessness- more like a kind of Black hole of negative sexuality that sucks all of one's positive potential limitlessness away. The rapist has a NEGATIVE ILLUSION that he is exercising POWER over someone when his negativee, i.e., violent sexuality is what has POWER over him. In other words, if the rapist has any limitlessness at all, it is only negative limitlessness, so that any rapist becomes, an exponentially negative non being.
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