In 2011, the Pentagon’s Military Leadership Diversity Commission recommended eliminating combat exclusion policies for women.
At his confirmation hearing, Chuck Hagel, President Obama’s nominee for defense secretary, stated that he would work with the service chiefs to open combat positions to women, even though women are already fighting and dying in combat. But before the ban is officially lifted in 2016, the military has a far more important task, as illustrated by Director Kirby Dick in his horrific documentary on rape in the military entitled “The Invisible War.”
According to the Department of Defense, a female soldier is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire. In 2010 there were an estimated 19,000 violent sex crimes in the military and only 244 of those resulted in convictions. Since 2006, the government estimates there have been 100,000 rapes. Of all active-duty female soldiers, 20 percent are sexually assaulted, with women between the ages of 18 and 21 making up more than half the victims. Twenty thousand men were also victims of sexual assault in 2009.
It is estimated that 80 percent of victims do not report the crimes against them, not surprising since fewer than 10 percent of assault cases are prosecuted. Even more telling is the fact that 25 percent of women in the military don’t report rape because the person to notify in their chain of command is the rapist.
In the film, six women describe their rapes and the gross indifference and victim blaming displayed by their superiors after they reported the crimes.
So what needs to be done? Director Kirby Dick believes that over 250,000 men and women have seen the film. That helps spread the word.
After watching it, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta directed commanders to hand over all sexual assault investigations to a higher-ranked colonel. Panetta also announced the establishment of a Special Victims Unit for all military branches. That’s a start, though there is a long way to go. Investigations and prosecutions should always take place outside the chain of command using independent prosecutors.
This film is a savage indictment of a broken military system. Instead of worrying so much about women in combat, the military needs to deal with a sick culture of “leadership” that blames the victims while covering up the crimes. Until that change occurs, women face far more dangers from their own comrades and superiors than from an enemy in combat.
