Over at Esquire’s political blog, LTC Robert Bateman has been buying into the entire-“all military men are rapists” theme. Now, I, for one, am sick of hearing it. A) Because it’s not true and B) it’s disguising yet another hidden feminist agenda. Fortunately for us all- ROK Drop is still on the case.
This just confirms to me how these AP writers are interested in sensationalism and not journalism. Each case stands on its own facts which leads to its own outcome. Just because a person is accused of sexual assault does not mean that they should automatically be convicted and receive the same sentence as someone else who was convicted. You have to look at the facts of each case that was presented at trial which the AP writers did not provide. Did the first case come down to just a he said said case where the accuser was drunk and changed her story multiple times? While the second case the accuser never changed his story and maybe even had a witness to help confirm the crime? I don’t know, but it is facts like this that help the legal system get convictions while other cases do not lead to convictions.
The AP writers also suggest in the article that the fact that accusers are not cooperating with authorities shows that they do not have confidence in the system. They make this statement with no evidence of course. I could just as easily make the claim that these were false rape accusations that were made with no evidence. And if anyone thinks that servicemembers do not make false rape accusations think again:
After which, in his usual thorough style-he proceeds to debunk the AP myths.
Additionally the AP writers make a big deal about how few cases in Japan are tried by court martials and instead handled with non-judicial punishment. Could that be because of the heavy alcohol consumption and people piled together in the barracks on Okinawa leads to a lot of the drunken he said, she said cases that are notoriously difficult to prosecute? So instead of going to court martial with little chance to convict due to lack of evidence are the commanders offering the non-judicial punishment route to convict them on something? Could that be why a high number of people are supposedly convicted of sex in the barracks and adultery? Once again I do not know and the AP writers do not provide evidence otherwise. However, McClatchy already looked into this issue and found that the military if anything is over prosecuting service members for sexual assault.
Follow the links and read the rest for yourself. I stand by the statement I made a long time ago. THE MILITARY DOES NOT HAVE A SEXUAL ASSAULT epidemic. It has a rate that is probably lower than that of a comparably sized and aged segment of the civilian population. It has a buyer’s remorse problem and a political correctness problem-by not sticking to its standards and demanding that everyone live by them, male or female. And it has a huge problem with creating policies that place men and women together, encouraging service members to date each other-with the usual hilarity that subsequently ensues. This is the world you said you wanted when began the great experiment-well, welcome to it.
Unfortunately, however, we here at Far East Cynic HQ have been notified that we are required, because of failure to understand the gravity of the problem, to take some required training-and they are taking attendance. This has been de riguer since that fun little party at the Vegas Hilton some 20+ years ago. So sit down and make sure you get your name on the sign in sheet.
Now get trained!
