Guardian: BriGette Mccoy – The military’s sexual assault response is a catastrophic blight on our service
Protect Our Defenders Advisory Board Member BriGette McCoy wrote and op-ed for the Guardian in response to the new report released by the Pentagon:
Military sexual trauma has become a blood sport of the military – and the chiefs sit by and watch as the men and women who serve get hunted down, sexually assaulted by leadership, then subjected to a system which is continually biased against the victim. Meanwhile, sexual predators are afforded the opportunity to pursue the continuation of their criminal behavior – both inside the military and in our civilian communities.
These predators should be using their rank and status to lead their troops and complete their missions, but instead their honors are used as a weapon over subordinates and for “favors” up to and including sexual quid pro quo. Over the last year, we’ve seen senior military leaders face charge after charge of conduct unbecoming of a sexual nature. If not for the Feres doctrine, which prevents military sexual assault victims from suing the military in civilian courts, the Pentagon would practically go bankrupt from all the sexual assault and sexual harassment claims.
Service members who are subjected to military sexual trauma (MST) have no recourse in civilian courts, and, since the failure of the Senate to pass Sen Kirsten Gillibrand’s Military Justice Improvement Act in its last session, victims have the same access to justice that they have always had: little or none.
