Sexual Assault Information from Commissioned Female (AF)ROTC Officers

[Galaxy]

Hello,

I'm a female interested in joining either the ROTC or AFROTC, but have been hesitant recently after reading about the high rates of sexual assault and rape that happen on military bases. Due to this, I was hoping if anyone (preferably female, as that’s who this question is regarding) who went through either of these programs could shed some light on their experiences.

Thank you greatly,

Galaxy

(edit : Guys, I’m not looking to have some bullshit debate over this. Whether or not you yourself believe it, there is a known issue with gender-based assault in the military, and statistically speaking, there’s a very good chance you’re going to get assaulted (as the rate is above half). I’m not looking for your opinions, as while I’m aware of very unfair male assault, it is different for women. I’m very SIMPLY looking for a woman’s experience on these issues. And frankly, I don’t see why some of you feel like you know everything about something you may not even have to worry about. So please, leave the space open for what I’m actually looking for: a woman’s experience. Not a debate).

 

[cfam]

I'd say lots of claims rather than lots of offenses. Dunno how accurate is but I've heard stories from buddies in the infantry on how "Barracks bunnies" go down on every dude on base then report everyone for "Sexual assault" or "Sexual harassment" for a free promotion. Regardless though sexual assault is definitely an issue the military needs to deal with.

This isn’t an area that you have any expertise in whatsoever, and that comment was completely unhelpful, especially since the OP was asking about American officer commissioning programs, not your buddies’ experience in the Australian military. Your buddies are also full of shit. Recommend you sit this thread out.

To the OP, I agree with everything that has been said so far. The military is far from perfect, but I sincerely believe that there is a sincere effort being made to stamp out sexual assault and to provide support for victims should an assault occur. Absolutely continue your research, but please don’t let this one issue be the deciding factor as to whether or not you pursue a military career.

 

[Rugger]

I’m a female ROTC grad from a big public university, went thru med school, was a flight doc w both Marine Corps & carrier based aviation, did specialized doctor stuff, & eventually retired. I got married along the way & now have a husband, dogs, kids, etc. Thankfully nothing awful happened to me in school or in the Navy. I will admit there were times I was nervous (parties getting out of hand, or being deployed and attracting some unwanted attention) but my buddies looked out for me, both male & female. When I was in charge of a command, there was a harassment episode involving a young female Sailor & a male Chief. The Navy was clear that was not acceptable behavior - the Sailor felt safe reporting it & the Chief was appropriately reprimanded. It’s not a perfect system but it works reasonably well.

ROTC is a good way to pay for school & get a job, maybe a career. Navy/mil is a great way to get some skills, see the world, & serve your county. Do your job, don’t take $hit you don’t deserve / stay out of trouble & look out for your buddies.

 

[KODAK]

We (the DoD) are a reflection of the society we serve. Are there terrible people that wear the cloth of our nation? Unfortunately yes. They are found out and held to account. But, thankfully, I have never felt that around me and were I to do so I have faith that the system would deal with them appropriately. Not to go down a rabbit hole on such a particularly serious subject, but in recent years I think it’s more possible that we have punished too broadly versus hiding bad apples from the punishment they rightly deserve..

 

[Brett327]

I'd say lots of claims rather than lots of offenses. Dunno how accurate is but I've heard stories from buddies in the infantry on how "Barracks bunnies" go down on every dude on base then report everyone for "Sexual assault" or "Sexual harassment" for a free promotion. Regardless though sexual assault is definitely an issue the military needs to deal with.

This is a myth, and not appropriate for this discussion. If you "don't know how accurate it is," then best keep it to yourself.

 

[Brett327]

I take offense to your belittlement.

I'm going to do you a favor and redirect whatever your strategy is on this site.

You've got lots of people here with decades of experience as officers in the military. You have a tremendous amount of expertise and experience at your fingertips if you ask the right questions. I'm here to tell you that you're not making very effective use of that resource. Time to reset your mindset a bit and absorb what people are telling you. If you start telling people that you're offended for reason X, Y or Z, people aren't going to help you.

 

[CommodoreMid]

Whichever female AW chimes in here is going to have their work cut out for them.

I’ll bite. OP, take the chip off your shoulder and listen to what’s been told to you thus far. If you take stuff so personally during a civil discussion on the internet, you will struggle with the frank and not kid glove handling way the military does business. Is sexual assault an issue? Of course it is, we’re a reflection of society. Should that be the barrier to a woman joining? No.

 

[robav8r]

 

[klamsy]

I've been in the Marine Corps for almost 11 years, commissioned from a service academy, and spent two years as the squadron Uniformed Victims Advocate (UVA, who is responsible for training personnel on Sexual Assault Awareness/Prevention and ensuring victims in the unit are taken care of). I am certain I was picked to be the UVA purely on the basis of being the sole female officer in the squadron at the time.

Since I started at USNA in 2008, I think as a military we've made some pretty great strides on how sexual assault is handled. It's pretty hard to overstate how seriously sexual assault and harassment are taken now. A commander who doesn't properly handle a sexual assault in his/her command will not be a commander for long, period. And at the lower levels, while people often still roll their eyes at some of the clunky training modules, I think there has been a pretty dramatic cultural shift on these topics as well (caveat: I live a relatively insulted life as an officer). The military culture regarding these topics has changed, maybe a bit slower, in line with how society has changed.

Thankfully, I have never been a victim of assault and never had to be "first responder" to a case or first person taking a report. I did help a couple victims through the latter/legal part of the process as a UVA for cases of varying severity. They had mixed results, but I don't think that was necessarily due to being held in a military court martial versus a civilian court (tough, hard to prove cases). You are also talking about ~2-3 cases in almost seven years in the fleet, across 3 squadrons each comprising hundreds of people. Is it an issue? Sure. But it's also one that I've always seen handled with appropriate seriousness.

 

[PhrogLoop]

I don’t just want statistics and articles- I want real experiences from people other than whose whole job is to recruit (the only place I can otherwise turn to).

I’m not a woman. But I do have a story and some perspective. I was the SAPR Officer for CNAF (Naval Aviaton, reporting to the 3 Star Air Boss) and a trained Sexual Assault Victim Advocate. I was one of a few people who traveled around the Navy (and other organizations) with the “Change the Culture” presentation. We stood up and admitted that the Navy had a problem. And personally, I admitted that at one point I may have been part of the problem, even though I never assaulted or harassed anyone. Maybe the jokes I told or found funny when I thought my shit didn’t stink contributed to a culture of degradation and disrespect. Maybe perpetrators were allowed to operate inside that culture because it became normative. It took a while for me, but I learned that change starts with the individual (not from lectures, training, or even punishment) and I decided to take some ownership for my behavior and the behavior I’d tolerate around me. In a few cases, I learned that this idea spread and was even quantified and validated by organizations like USNS MERCY that requested extra support, made interventions around their crew, and noticed a dramatic decrease in SA incidence in their next deployment compared to their last. I was also asked to speak about this at the large company where I now work and was asked to lead a culture/behavior change effort for an entire business line. There are others like us still in uniform and I’m glad to see that the Navy is open to different ideas about how to change things for the better.

 

[cfam]

When the first reply is ”you can’t prevent 100% of sexual assault“ and the second is about “barracks bunnies” waving the flag of false reporting, maybe the OP is justified in having a chip

What’s the safety culture in that community? Well, you can’t prevent 100% of crashes. I mean, those jokers over there crash way more planes. We don’t have a problem any worse than any other community. Except for the conclusions of the Independent commission that was only the result of high visibility crashes.

I’m talking about the Independent Super Stallion Readiness report, what did you think i was talking about?

There’s a definite difference between coming off the way the OP has throughout this thread and the analogy you’re trying to make. And the poster that made the barracks bunny comparison has been shut down hard because it’s total bullshit.

Obviously no one here is saying that having any sexual assaults is a good thing or that we should give up because we can’t eradicate it. In fact, the point’s been made repeatedly that we need to do better, and that the Navy is constantly trying to improve. Is the current system perfect? Absolutely not, and we need to keep working until we get it right, exactly like we do with aviation mishaps.

Instead, what people have been trying to get across is that, while incredibly concerning, sexual assault statistics should not be the deciding factor for whether to pursue a military career. To use your analogy, that would be like shutting down flying entirely because mishaps occur.

 

[zippy]

Hello,

I'm a female interested in joining either the ROTC or AFROTC, but have been hesitant recently after reading about the high rates of sexual assault and rape that happen on military bases. Due to this, I was hoping if anyone (preferably female, as that’s who this question is regarding) who went through either of these programs could shed some light on their experiences.

Thank you greatly,

Galaxy

(edit : Guys, I’m not looking to have some bullshit debate over this. Whether or not you yourself believe it, there is a known issue with gender-based assault in the military, and statistically speaking, there’s a very good chance you’re going to get assaulted (as the rate is above half). I’m not looking for your opinions, as while I’m aware of very unfair male assault, it is different for women. I’m very SIMPLY looking for a woman’s experience on these issues. And frankly, I don’t see why some of you feel like you know everything about something you may not even have to worry about. So please, leave the space open for what I’m actually looking for: a woman’s experience. Not a debate).

Yes it happens.

It’s kind of a tricky topic because there’s a presumption that a % of events go unreported. How much? That’s a legitimate question.

DoD is very encouraging of sexual assault reporting, which may play into why the stats are higher in DoD, along with the environment being heavily male dominated. There are different ways to process sexual assault reporting (restricted vs unrestricted). Restricted gets access to healthcare etc, but doesn’t notify command or law enforcement and Unrestricted notifies command and law enforcement. I personally know two females and two males who were victims of sexual assault (1 each during officer accession programs and one each in the fleet).

Victims often feel a stigma about reporting. Alcohol and drug use can really complicate a case. Service member on service member assault allegations also become quite complicated and victims feel that commands circle the wagon to protect their guy and the accused often feel they’re burned at the stake over allegations that aren’t true. Internal tracking inside NCIS has revealed that close to half of the sexual assault cases they get involved in contain false reporting.

It’s definitely a risk for you as a female. Probably higher risk for a longer period of time compared the civilian world due to the close nature of the work/social environment. Definitely good on you for doing the research beforehand to know what you’re getting into.

 

[AllAmerican75]

It’s kind of a tricky topic because there’s a presumption that a % of events go unreported. How much? That’s a legitimate question.

DoD is very encouraging of sexual assault reporting, which may play into why the stats are higher in DoD, along with the environment being heavily male dominated. There are different ways to process sexual assault reporting (restricted vs unrestricted). Restricted gets access to healthcare etc, but doesn’t notify command or law enforcement and Unrestricted notifies command and law enforcement. I personally know two females and two males who were victims of sexual assault (1 each during officer accession programs and one each in the fleet).

Victims often feel a stigma about reporting. Alcohol and drug use can really complicate a case. Service member on service member assault allegations also become quite complicated and victims feel that commands circle the wagon to protect their guy and the accused often feel they’re burned at the stake over allegations that aren’t true. Internal tracking inside NCIS has revealed that close to half of the sexual assault cases they get involved in contain false reporting.

It’s definitely a risk for you as a female. Probably higher risk for a longer period of time compared the civilian world due to the close nature of the work/social environment. Definitely good on you for doing the research beforehand to know what you’re getting into.

If I remember a SAPR program review put on by the DoN Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO) a few years ago, the DoD as a whole has higher reporting and response rates than the civilian world. I can't remember where they pulled that data from but they attributed it to the fact that we are VERY encouraging of reporting sexual assault, that EVERY SINGLE REPORT gets investigated, and that we have a two-tiered reporting structure with Restricted and Unrestricted reports. If I can find the brief, I'll post it. I don't think there was anything FOUO or SBU in it.

@Galaxy, I'm not a woman, but I can tell you from experience having dealt with the SAPR program as both a unit XO and at the Fleet level that the entire DoD takes sexual assault seriously. I can't comment on other services but I haven't seen any program outside of the Navy that is as rigorous or victim-oriented as the Navy's. I'm sure the other services are similar but I've seen entire commands move mountains to help their Sailors who have been victims of sexual assault. While no organization is perfect, the Navy does a pretty good job. Please don't let this dissuade you from serving if that's what you really want to do.

 

[Swanee]

View attachment 38123

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

Hello,

I'm a female interested in joining either the ROTC or AFROTC, but have been hesitant recently after reading about the incredibly high rates of sexual assault and rape that happen on military bases and through military programs. Due to this, I was hoping if anyone who went through either of these programs could shed some light on their experiences.

Thank you greatly,

Galaxy

I caution your use of the word “high” and claim the military has incredibly high rates of sexual assault/harassment.

I would also (kindly) recommend researching other fields outside of the military before tying the military as “incredibly high”.

First article link:

These are the industries with the most reported sexual harassment claims

Most just don’t make the headlines.

www.vox.com

With that said, does sexual assault happen in the military? Unfortunately so, with many cases becoming high visibility due to the scope of the profession involved (the police industry is tied to this). However, the military takes any case or accusation highly and has made efforts in recent years to both prevent and handle cases.

It’s impossible to 100% prevent any sort of sexual assault, rape, etc. and that includes inside and outside of military.