I'd like to put in another plug for ROK Drop if I may. It is probably the only military blog trying to drag some sense into the discussion about the supposed "problems with the military culture" ( which was just fine until feminists came along and decided to fuck it up for their own twisted purposes).
Bottom Line up front: The military does not have a "sexual assault" problem. It has a "buyer's remorse" problem that is fueled by the ease with which one can field a false accusation. This so called problem is being aggravated by politicians and professional feminists who wish to capitalize on the issue to promote their own agendas. The military has a better record on "sexual harassment" and "sexual assault" than a similar sized and aged civilian cohort.
GI Korea has done a real good job of documenting this. You should put it in your read list-if you want a clearer view of the real picture.
The Stars & Stripes pretty much has no creditability on this issue since they continue to peddle special interest propaganda. Notice how they throw in the 26,000 number right after discussing violent rape that could confuse readers into thinking that the 26,000 number was all violent rape incidents. I have already pointed out all the problems with the 26,000 number and anyone that describes the number as sexual assaults as the Stars and Stripes did is lying. That number did not represent sexual assaults, it represented an expanded definition of sexual assaults that the survey defined as “unwanted sexual contact” (USC) that could range from someone putting their arm around you without your permission to violent rape. In fact if one looks at the survey results there was in fact very little rape at all. In fact the majority of the 26,000 USC number was reported by males with unwanted touching the top complaint which is something most in the media will not mention. –
In an earlier post he has a very detailed rundown that proves conclusively that the numbers are exaggerated from a statistical standpoint-and also ignores the ideas of trends, namely that the trend is not upward-its going down.
And he clearly takes on the key issue-buyer's remorse, which is a problem:
This is all the Pentagon says about false accusations out of all the pages in their report. This is 17% of the people investigated for sexual assault being found to be falsely accused and is on a 4% rise since FY09. This is a fact that is very significant and should be looked into. It would be interesting to know how many of these 363 people were prosecuted for lodging false reports? I doubt very few of them were. This number is actually higher because of the cases that went to court martial 307 more were dropped for lack of evidence. How many of these cases were false allegations as well? Also there was 244 servicemembers who were not convicted of sexual assault during their court martial, but were convicted of other crimes. Though what they were convicted of was not specified, usually adultery is what they are convicted of. However, how many of these servicemembers were falsely accused as well? This is all adds up to a huge number that no one other than the Washington Times is willing to talk about. This creates concern for many in the military who do not want to be falsely accused of a sexual assault because they fear the system is stacked against them and politicians want to make it even more stacked. As the US Court of Appeals overturning of rape convictions has shown servicemembers have every reason to fear the system is stacked against them. Additionally lawyers are coming out and saying the current environment created by the politicians is in fact unlawful as well.
Over many very good postings-GI Korea has taken on this flawed idea that the military has a "rape culture" and thoroughly debunked it."Witch hunts to advance political agendas is not what the US military legal system should be used for. Unfortunately that is what some people are trying to do and in the process are causing the American public to think the military is filled with a bunch of rapists that uncaring commanders are largely letting these criminals go unpunished. I hope this posting at least starts a conversation to counter these claims because as I have shown the problem is much more nuanced than what the special interests claim. This means the solution to the problem needs to be more nuanced than what the special interests are recommending as well."
I've said it before and I will keep saying it-there is no crisis of sexual assault in the military. This is the world you said you wanted in 1992-well, welcome to it.
Fortunately-GI Korea is on the case, pointing out the facts against the lies.