SHORT
COMMUNICTION 376
Military
Sex Crimes
By
Roger Behra
If you have not come to the conclusion
that immoral sexual activity has taken over with Americans and seriously
affected American culture, you have to drastically change your thinking, wake
up, and smell the coffee, because that is exactly what has been going on for a
very long time. It is chocking but not surprising that on Feb. 11, 2014, it was
revealed to everyone that the U. S. military has been greatly involved in sex
crimes for a long time. It was additionally shocking to be informed as to how
the military was handling the sexual assaults.
Now the Pentagon is under extreme
pressure by the American Congress, detailed information on the sexual assaults
in the armed forces and how they were handled has to be made known. The sexual
assault cases in japan opened up a large can of worms and turned on the glaring
spotlight.
Five major U. S. bases are involved in
the military sexual assault cases. The base in Japan caused Congress to decide
to get further involved, and they found four bases in the U. S. in four
different states: Fort Hood in Texas, Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia,
Wright-Peterson Air Force Base in Ohio, and Camp Pendleton in California. The
records obtained shed enormous light on the enormity of the assaults. When the
records were actually opened, it was absolutely shocking. Well over 1000
reports were on record.
There was considerably more shock at
the type of sexual assaults that were recorded. The Senate Army Services
personnel panel was totally shocked at the very long list of reports and
allegations that the panel had to investigate. There were more than 1000
reports of sex crimes involving U. S. military personnel. The reports and
allegations included rape, forcible sodomy, sexual assault, sex in the
barracks, adultery and attempts at adultery, conspiracies or solicitations to
commit these crimes. The investigation is an ongoing one, because there are
more than 1,000 sex crimes to investigative and that will take much time.
When the investigation focused on the
sex crimes, the investigators were very strongly overwhelmed with disbelief.
Here they were investigating more than 1,000 military sex crimes, and
investigators were finding that what appeared to be strong cases were often reduced
to lesser charges. Suspects were unlikely to serve time even when military
authorities agreed a crime had been committed. In two rape cases, commanders
overruled recommendations to court-martial and then completely dropped the
charges instead. It was extremely disturbing to find out that some commanders
refuse to prosecute sexual assault cases even when the evidence is
overwhelming. The identities of the commanders are kept secret. That means they
can’t be held accountable for how they handled the cases.
What also has been going on is the
Defense Department has been maintaining a closed system when was really needed
was an open and transparent system so that the root of the problem can be
readily known and that the right solutions can be put in place very quickly.
Congress and the military must wake up and smell the coffee and get the correct
solutions in progress ASAP.
R.
B.
2-14-14