AAUW Dialog

“Women serving in the U.S. military are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire in Iraq.”

Holly with local AAUW members Lorena Thorne Bruner and Lisa Schaefer before the event.

I’ve read this statement several places, and last night at the “Military and Sexual Assault” event co-sponsored by George Washington University, AAUW, Men Can Stop Rape, and Campus Progress, Angela Peacock, a former sergeant in the U.S. Army, quoted it too. Unfortunately, she knows this firsthand.

Angela, known as Angie, joined the Army in 1997. In 2001 she was sexually assaulted by a fellow service member while stationed in South Korea. When she talked to her platoon sergeant, whom she respected and trusted, he said that people would try to blame her for what happened during a military rape trial, so the best thing to do would be just to live with it and keep quiet. So she did for many years, until the resulting stress, combined with the stress from her tours of duty in Iraq, became too much and she sought medical help. In 2006 she was medically discharged from the Army due to a PTSD diagnosis.

GWU student Zabie Khorakiwala organized the event and will be joining AAUW as a fellow in the fall.

Angie attended a three-month program for women veterans who have experienced military sexual trauma and PTSD. During the sessions, she was approached for an interview by Amanda Spain, producer of In Their Boots, an online documentary series showing the struggles of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Angie agreed to tell her story, and that clip from the documentary was aired last night at the event.

Since the release of the documentary, Angie has been speaking out about what happened to her and advocating for better sexual assault prevention and prosecution of offenders within the military. It was an honor to witness her bravery in action, both in the documentary and at the event, as she talked about very personal and upsetting events to strangers in the hopes of educating us — and anyone who watches the documentary — about this widespread problem.

Angie Peacock, Cynthia Ferguson, Pat McGann, Smita Satiani.

From the panelists, I learned that women like Angie, who were brave enough to share their stories, were the catalyst for the current focus on this problem in the military, a focus that started in 2004 with the Pentagon Taskforce on Military Sexual Assault. Panelists also shared their experiences and thoughts on the problem based on their area of expertise.

Lt. Cmdr. Cynthia T. Ferguson, a certified forensic nurse examiner, discussed the urgent need for more sexual assault prevention measures and better trained medical personnel to conduct rape kit exams and procure forensic evidence properly.

Department of Defense ad campaign poster

Pat W. McGann, the communications director of Men Can Stop Rape (MCSR), told us how in September 2008, MCSR coauthored a prevention strategy for the Department of Defense based on a public health approach. MCSR also helped with the social media campaign the DOD released this past month, featuring ads with taglines like, “Our Strength Is for Defending” and “Preventing Sexual Assault Is Part of Our Duty.” Since the campaign just began, it is too early to know its effectiveness.

Smita Satiani, a certified sexual assault counselor who formerly worked as a policy associate for the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network., discussed the progression of policy initiatives and the pending legislation of the Military Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Act (H.R. 840) and the Harman-Turner Legislation.

During the question and answer portion of the event, audience members asked many thoughtful questions, including one about prevention work done on campus ROTC programs, male sexual assault (which is a hugely underreported problem, especially given the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy currently in place in the military), and many specific questions for Angie. Angie said she is motivated by all the people who contact her to share their sexual assault stories, and she wants to make the military safe for women. She remains loyal to the military and would still recommend it as a career to young women. Angie also said that she will keep talking about what happened until change happens. She’s an inspiration to anyone who has experienced injustice to see that sharing one’s story can make a difference and help create change.