Survivors of military sex trauma band together
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“She would have been arrested, court-martialed, and sent to the brig,” observed Susan Avila-Smith, director of VETWOW, an advocacy group for survivors of …

February 17th, 2008 Posted by asstdirector | vetwow/susan | no comments

Meet Me in Fort Lewis’

Thursday, July 13th, 2006
‘Meet Me in Fort Lewis’ - Protests Planned for Army Specialist Who Went AWOL After Charging Sexual Harassment

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Army Specialist Suzanne Swift remains confined to base. She went AWOL when the military did not address her charges of sexual harassment and abuse. We take a look at sexual harassment in the military. [includes rush transcript]

We take a look at the case of Suzanne Swift. She is the Army Specialist who has been arrested and confined to base for going AWOL after her charges of sexual harassment and assault went un-addressed by the military.
Swift served in Iraq for a year but decided she could not return and went AWOL. She said her superiors repeatedly sexually harassed her while serving in Iraq. On June 11th, the Eugene police knocked on her mother’s front door and Suzanne was arrested and taken to the county jail. She has since been transferred to Fort Lewis Washington where she is confined to her base. So far, no charges have been filed against her and Fort Lewis officials have said they will assign an independent investigator to look into her charges of sexual harassment.
Suzanne Swift turns twenty-two on Saturday. Her family and supporters are urging a national day of action on her behalf. A “Meet Me in Fort Lewis” rally and vigil are planned for noon outside Fort Lewis. Another in her hometown of Eugene, is planned for noon at the Federal Building.
A few days ago, we brought you Suzanne Swift’s mother, Sara Rich. Today we bring you Suzanne Swift’s grandfather, Jim Rich. I spoke with him at the Oregon Country Fair near Eugene.
Jim Rich, Suzanne Swift’s grandfather.
For more on the issue of sexual harassment in the military we are joined by:
Susan Avila-Smith, a Military Sexual Trauma Specialist and founder and director of Women Organizing Women, an advocacy group for survivors of rape in the military.
More information at SuzanneSwift.org. Email Suzanne Swift’s mother, Sara Rich, at formydaughtersuzanne@yahoo.com
We invited a representative from Fort Lewis military base to be on our program but they declined our request.

RUSH TRANSCRIPT
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AMY GOODMAN: Today, we bring you Suzanne Swift’s grandfather, Jim Rich. I spoke with him at the Country Fair. I asked him how he felt when Suzanne first joined the Army.
JIM RICH: I was very sorry when she succumbed to the blandishments of a very smooth-tongued recruiter. And I thought when she decided not go back, she had made the best possible decision, considering the things that she had gone through, things that no male soldier would ever, ever, ever in his wildest dreams have to endure.
I hope that justice is served. I hope that light is shown on this aspect of the Army that makes women recruits the prey of sexual predators, and that Suzanne is honorably discharged. I also hope that the rest of our soldiers get to come home soon, and no more sent.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s Jim Rich, Suzanne Swift’s grandfather. He’s also a blacksmith, and he was at the Oregon Country Fair, made the iron tools for the new film Pirates of the Caribbean.
Well, we’re joined on the phone right now by Susan Avila-Smith. She’s a Military Sexual Trauma Specialist, founder and director of Women Organizing Women, an advocacy group for survivors of rape in the military. We invited a representative from Fort Lewis military base, where Suzanne is confined, to be on our program, but they declined our request.
Susan Avila-Smith, thanks so much for being with us. I realize it’s tough for you to come out of your recovering from cancer, and yet you have chosen to take the time to stand up for Suzanne. Why?
SUSAN AVILA-SMITH: Good morning. Well, I think it’s an extremely important problem going on in the military right now, and they continue to keep sweeping this under the rug. Congress has done multiple investigations, but they have made no changes to any of the accountability within the military. And it’s really time that somebody stands up, and the fact that Suzanne stood up and went AWOL is showing how bad the problem is.
JUAN GONZALEZ: And you had an opportunity to meet with her. In terms of her experiences, how they compare to others that your organization has dealt with in recent years?
SUSAN AVILA-SMITH: The experience that she’s had has been similar to the 600 other cases that I’ve had. It’s usually a command rape. It’s usually covered up. It’s usually that they try to persecute the victim, rather than persecute the perpetrators.
JUAN GONZALEZ: And have there been any instances where actual rapes or assaults have been prosecuted by the military?
SUSAN AVILA-SMITH: Yeah, there’s been a few, usually the high-profile cases, and sometimes, you know, justice is done. There’s been a 30-year sentence. But generally speaking, of the hundreds and thousands — there’s probably a hundred thousand women who have been raped over the lifetime of women in the service — generally speaking, no, the perpetrator usually is running free, and the victim is usually kicked out of the military.
AMY GOODMAN: Susan, can you tell us your own story, how you got involved with helping women in the military?
SUSAN AVILA-SMITH: When I was in, I experienced some domestic violence and sexual assault, and both times it was dismissed by the military. When I finally got out, I was in a women’s support group at the Seattle V.A. and found out that so many women had been raped in the military, and nobody really knew what to do. And the paperwork to file claims with the V.A. was impossible for anybody with post-traumatic stress disorder. And so we got together and started helping other women with the paperwork, and it evolved into helping other women nationwide with claims as old as from World War II. And now I’m doing a lot of active duty cases.
JUAN GONZALEZ: In Suzanne Swift’s case, apparently she was asked to fill out a 700-question psychological questionnaire. It seems to me quite extreme in the situation that she was under. Do you have similar instances where those who have come forth, the target then has been on them and on their psychological situation?
SUSAN AVILA-SMITH: Yeah. That was also the same with the Sergeant Audra Wood. I think it’s very typical of the military to do an MMPI on the soldiers. Unfortunately, they’re doing it on the victims, rather than the perpetrators. But it also — it does help to find a baseline to see if there is damage to the victim and to see if there’s mental health counseling that needs to be taken care of and addressed.
AMY GOODMAN: In the case of Suzanne Swift, and we’ve talked to her mother several times, she says that when she was in Iraq and she got into a vehicle with a sergeant, he immediately talked about having sex with her. Even back at Fort Lewis at the base, when she showed up and asked where she should report for duty, she said another sergeant said, “In my bed, naked.” Right before July 4th weekend, at the big formation where hundreds of soldiers are there, the person in charge said he wanted 21-year-olds to step forward to tell them, you know, they shouldn’t be drinking on July 4th weekend. And then he said, “Anyone who has gone AWOL in the last six months I want to step forward.” And, of course, Suzanne was the only one to step forward. Then, she was also that week earlier taken for this psych evaluation without telling her mother, without telling her attorney, taken alone until her mother raised such a fuss she was taken back from the psych testing area, though she had to take it the next week.
What about the response of the military in all of these cases, and her saying she even went to her E.O. officer in Iraq, equal opportunity, to complain about harassment, and the message that was sent when he did nothing about it?
SUSAN AVILA-SMITH: Well, she has followed the chain of command or attempted to follow the chain of command, which has failed her. And they have reprimanded the first sergeant who singled her out at formation. And I don’t believe that that’s going to be happening again. She’s currently with a new command, who has been sensitive to her needs and is acting, what I believe, above and beyond what a normal military command would do. They recognize that this is a high-profile case, and they seem to be now doing the right things for her.
JUAN GONZALEZ: And also, the issue of the impact of war itself on these situations, are you finding that the number of victims is greater in war situations, like in Iraq or Afghanistan, than it is in peacetime efforts of the military?
SUSAN AVILA-SMITH: It’s a little bit more during the war, but I think maybe perhaps people are reporting a little bit more. It continues to go on stateside, continues to go on overseas at other bases. Generally speaking, the concept of sexual assault in the military is handled the same and is the same on every single base.
AMY GOODMAN: Finally, Susan Avila-Smith, you’re well known in the Puget Sound area as an advocate for sexually assaulted military veterans, have been working very hard on this. Again, you’ve been going through radiation. And you’re quoted in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer saying, “Cancer is curable. PTSD is not.”
SUSAN AVILA-SMITH: Well, coming to terms with having my own PTSD has taken about a decade to learn to manage my symptoms, rather than my symptoms managing me. I’m lucky that I’m a highly functional person with PTSD, because I sought treatment very early on, after I was diagnosed. And as a result, my level of functioning is good, and that’s my hope for Suzanne, is that she gets out and she’s able to get the treatment that she needs so that she can deal with this. As far as my cancer goes, it’s a bump in the road. It’s kind of unfortunate, because I’m not able to help the number of women that need help, but I’m not looking at this as, you know, a life-threatening illness or something that’s going to be continuing to linger like my PTSD.
AMY GOODMAN: Susan Avila-Smith, we thank you very much for joining us, founder and director of Women Organizing Women, an advocacy group for survivors of rape in the military. Again, protests are planned for Eugene and outside Fort Lewis, “Meet Me in Fort Lewis,” in Washington state, for Suzanne on her birthday on Saturday and, her mother says, for all women in the military to protect them. The website, suzanneswift.org. The email address is formydaughtersuzanne@yahoo.com.
To purchase an audio or video copy of this entire program, click here for our new online ordering or call 1 (888) 999-3877.

January 30th, 2008 Posted by asstdirector | vetwow/susan | no comments

Vetwow Non-Profit

Vetwow Non-Profit

Information available during the process on this site.

Vetwow.com is looking for a Board of Directors to set up now - to include some grant writers.  You have been personally selected based on what I already know about you.  At this point, all positions are open.  If you have one in mind that you feel you would be a good fit for you, please let me know.  You may also want to include a short bio.

This Board will oversee the spending of the monies coming in and right now, I expect that it will be about 4 phone calls a year, and minutes sent by email to you to check for accuracy after each session.  If you do not have long distance, you can subscribe to Skype.com and we can call you for free.

Our big project right now is working on getting a Memorial for Maria Lauterbach.  DeEtta is in charge of this project, looking at artists, and a place to have this Memorial erected.  Currently she is looking in Ohio, where Maria grew up.  Vetwow believes this will be the first Memorial to Military Rape Victims - male and female, and we hope to have more information about this to share in the near future.

If you are interested - we are also trying to get “alternates” for the Board as well, since we know that it is not always possible to “be ready” for a conference call.  If you would consider strictly at Grant Writing, that is great, too!

I am talking with other organizations, like Veterans of Modern Warfare (Julie Mock) who are just starting up to obtain information that can be helpful.

Our only plan “is to obtain money to help financially challenged MST veterans with the costs of living.”  (The Memorial project will not be a NP because it is a short period of time, and completely separate.)

At this point, everything is open to discussion, as we have not finished the by-laws and mission statement.  We are looking for “more reliable than not” people to fill these positions.  Many of the women veterans want to help, but realistically, cannot.  My requests for a certain position are going to be seriously looked at, to make sure that the individual is a good fit.

Susan

www.vetwow.com

smith715@comcast.net

January 26th, 2008 Posted by asstdirector | vetwow/susan | no comments

Vet becomes crusader for victims of soldier rape

Monday, April 11, 2005

By M.L. LYKE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

The Army vet listens and lets fly. She has zero tolerance for tales of soldier rape. “In the military, they’ll tell you, ‘Lady, you can’t get compensation for having sex,’ ” said Susan Avila-Smith, the Puget Sound area’s outspoken advocate for sexually assaulted veterans.

Her client Donna Jean Patee nods from her wheelchair, her service dog asleep at her feet. “It happened to me,” said the former Navy petty officer, who filed a rape claim in 1993. Patee said she was on waterfront watch in San Diego in the 1960s when five sailors gang-raped her.

	Former Army linguist Susan Avila-Smith runs Women Organizing Women, a non-profit patient-to-patient support group, from her Sammamish home.

The claim was denied. “I’ve spent years being told it didn’t happen, that ‘none of my men would do anything like that,’ ” said the disabled 59-year-old, who is working with Avila-Smith on filing government claims for seizures and other disorders. “I thought I had no recourse.

“Then Susan happened.”

Susan happens. And all hell may break loose.

Day after day, the outraged, sometimes outrageous housewife from Sammamish battles to get military discharges, veteran benefits, Social Security disability pay, medical treatment, military back pay and counseling for female vets. At a time when military sexual trauma is in the national spotlight, she’s a mama bear on a tear, stirring it up, rattling brass, breaking rules as she decodes military-speak and spiels off statistics.

The statistics aren’t pretty.

In 2003 and 2004, 147 sexual assaults were reported in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and other active-deployment areas, according to Pentagon figures. But the numbers represent only a small fraction of attacks. A study by the Department of Veterans Affairs shows that 75 percent of assaulted military women never tell their commanding officer.

The reasons are complicated.

Some assaulted female soldiers express concerns that they won’t be “one of the guys” if they tell — or that higher-ups might use reports as an excuse to cut back on women in the military, just as they are making gains in combat support roles. And most have heard horror stories of retaliation.

Avila-Smith, 47, cites case after case of clients who reported assaults and were vilified, blamed for the act, grilled on whether they were actually attacked. The former Army linguist said some clients have been threatened with multiple charges: filing a false report, “conduct unbecoming” and adultery, if they are married.

It makes her blood boil.

“If you want to be a sexual predator, the military is a great place for you,” the laser-focused, dark-eyed crusader said.

In interview after interview, her traumatized vets — World War II to Iraq — sing her praises. She finds them beds to sleep in and couches to surf on, buys them groceries, invites them home for the holidays. She gives them rides to VA appointments and stands in for them when they can’t bear to tell their stories again — can’t handle the smell, the sight, the gazes of so many men in one place.

She listens as they vent, blow, break down, describe struggles with drugs, alcohol, homelessness, continued abuse, their inability to hold jobs. A good number have attempted suicide. Their stories are difficult.

“It’s like you’re lying bleeding in this foxhole for 20 years, and everybody just goes by and ignores you. But Susan stops, says ‘Oh, you’re injured. Let’s get you out of there and get you some help,’ ” said a former Air Force squad leader and soft-spoken mother of three. Her life unraveled after she reported an assault by her supervising officer in Panama.

“I went for help, but they didn’t believe me,” said the fragile woman, who has been in intensive psychiatric care for almost two decades. She worries constantly about personal safety and delicately calls her assault “the blow.”

“The colonel said, ‘It never happened — or else.’ ”

‘In-the-face kind of gal’

If Avila-Smith comforts the afflicted, she can also rub official nerves raw. That was the crusader from Sammamish interrupting a colonel’s speech on Operation Iraqi Freedom to ask: “So what is your policy on military sexual trauma?”

Rick Price, a program manager for the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs, describes Avila-Smith as high-maintenance.

“She’s a little obnoxious, a very in-the-face kind of gal. In that way, she’s a pain …,” he said. “But to get things done, sometimes you need people like her to make it happen.”

Eyebrows may go up in VA circles when her name is mentioned. Avila-Smith is neither a therapist nor a sanctioned counselor, some who are point out. She is herself a patient with her own horror tale of service-connected sexual abuse. She is on full disability for post-traumatic stress disorder, which can manifest in anxiety, sleeplessness, flashbacks, irritability, nightmares, depression.

Her future was determined in 1995, when, during a women’s trauma-support group at the Puget Sound VA, she realized how hard it was for some patients to fill out their own disability paperwork, reliving their tales again in writing. “It was too emotional to put this stuff down and hand it over to a stranger, for them to make a decision about your life,” Avila-Smith said.

So she began filling out forms for sisters in crisis.

And an advocate was born.

Insider know-how

PTSD can sharpen nerves to a ragged edge — as is evident as Avila-Smith talks. She fidgets with her hands, grinds her teeth, works to silence “the chatter in my head.”

Studies indicate that women exposed to trauma are 2 1/2 times more like than men to develop PTSD. They typically experience more symptoms than men and endure a longer course of illness, often accompanied by physical problems.

If the trauma is sexual, the women’s PTSD rates are even higher.

Avila-Smith, who sits on the King County veterans advisory board, estimates that she has successfully filed more than 200 PTSD claims for her sexually assaulted vets, soldiers in a battle they never expected. “The government has a responsibility,” she said. “You protect the country. The country protects you. Done.”

Her insider know-how is invaluable, those who’ve watched her in action say. “She knows PTSD inside and out,” said Bridget Cantrell, a Bellingham-based licensed mental health counselor contracted with the state Department of Veterans Affairs who has worked with Avila-Smith. (Editor’s Note: Her position was misstated in the original version of this story.) “She knows the nuances of PTSD, how it affects someone’s life. Things that aren’t written down in books — Susan knows these things.”

Her manner is manna to women in crisis. “She just nods and understands; she knows. That was so therapeutic after facing so many people who just did not understand, or didn’t agree, or hated me,” said Audra, a former Fort Lewis sergeant, now living in Pennsylvania, who asked that her last name not be used.

The former tactical intelligence specialist filed an assault report from Kuwait in 2003 that detailed how she was knocked unconscious, tied up with her hands tied behind her back, gagged with her own underwear and raped. In a sworn statement, she described how her masked assailant whispered “Be quiet or else” and threatened to cut her genitalia.

When she reported it, commanders gave her a rape exam, got her treatment for her cuts and took her to another camp, where she was asked to take a lie-detector test. Although the Army denied that she received inadequate care, Audra said she was left alone, with no rape counseling, and, distraught, almost overdosed on anxiety medications.

Then Susan happened.

Avila-Smith helped Audra return home, find a trauma counselor, get medical treatment and prepare VA claims — Audra is now on full disability for PTSD and injuries to her head, back and elsewhere. The crusader also took Audra and her husband into her home, fed them and lent them her car and, always, her shoulder. “I’m totally in debt to her,” said Audra, who received an honorable discharge last spring.

It’s a story heard often in the suburban Sammamish house Avila-Smith shares with her second husband, who works for the Federal Railroad Administration. The town-and-country rambler, dolled up with a pretty palette of paint on the walls, is home base for Women Organizing Women, her non-profit patient-to-patient support group. She is founder, director and one-woman hot line. The phone rings constantly.

Yes, the advocate says, picking up the receiver to hear sobs, she can help.No, she doesn’t charge anything — only that each female vet help three others. “Sometimes you have to fight to be heard, and that’s not right,” she says into the receiver.

Only a few of Avila-Smith’s clients know her own tangled story. After living abroad for years, she joined the Army at age 34, looking for three squares, a cot and a “wardrobe that’s picked out for you. How hard could it be?”

She was soon married to a soldier husband who, she says, abused, stalked and threatened her in the early 1990s, on a military base on Oahu, Hawaii. Honolulu police records show a string of domestic violence calls to 911 and a no-contest plea to third-degree assault charges by her ex-husband. Avila-Smith said base command neither backed her charges nor enforced restraining orders — complaints she made in formal, sworn statements before her honorable discharge in 1995.

“The commander told me I was not worthy to be in the military.”

Those were fighting words for the nervy girl from California who boasts that she “bosses the colonels around now.” She’s a soldier on a mission, marching to her own orders.

Her goal is to get 300 veterans hooked up for military disability pay, which ranges from $108 to $2,229 monthly. So far, she figures she has helped file about 200 successful claims. She has 150 or more others in the works.

If she is successful, she figures, the claims could cost the Defense Department about $300 million. “It’s my way of dealing with my rage and indignation,” Avila-Smith said, flashing a fleet smile.

Her time frame is limited. She plans to retire when her husband does, within a year and a half. She is looking for someone to fill her shoes.

It’s not going to be easy.

The crusader’s shoes are big and heavy and kick hard.

And they aim where it hurts.

WHERE TO GET HELP

• National Sexual Assault Hotline: 800-656-4673
• The Puget Sound VA Health Care System: 800-329-8387
• VA Health Care Benefits: 877-222-8387
• Military Onesource hot line: 800-342-9647
• To contact Susan Avila-Smith at Women Organizing Women, e-mail smith715@comcast.net

[Editor’s Note: An incorrect e-mail address was given for Avila-Smith in the original version of this article.]

RELATED ARTICLE

- Assaults in military go unreported for a variety of reasons

P-I reporter M.L. Lyke can be reached at 206-448-8344 or m.l.lyke@seattlepi.com

November 12th, 2007 Posted by asstdirector | vetwow/susan | no comments

Military assaults spur call to action

Military assaults spur call to action

Lawmakers pledge rape, abuse inquiry

Amy Herdy and Miles Moffeit
Denver Post Staff Writers

Article Last Updated: 05/18/2005 07:33:23 AM MDT

Members of Congress are promising public hearings into the military’s handling of sexual assault and domestic violence as they demand answers from the Pentagon on the issue.

Dozens of lawmakers are forming coalitions and drafting letters to Department of Defense officials and key congressional leaders calling for a broader investigation of the military. The leadership of the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues is vowing to rally every female member of Congress in support of military reforms.

Citing stories in The Denver Post, Reps. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., launched a bipartisan effort this week to persuade House leaders to hold full committee hearings to examine the military’s justice system and “root causes” of crimes against military women.

Slaughter called reports of female service members being raped shocking and pledged to hold public hearings through the women’s caucus if the full Congress does not pursue them.

“We cannot allow this problem to go on in the military institutions any longer,” Slaughter said. “We (the women’s caucus) can do hearings on the grounds of the Capitol and certainly have our own public testimony on these issues.”

Capito said she intended to launch “a full-court press” on the issue to every member of Congress, beginning next week.

“Recent reports have revealed a disturbing trend of sexual assault and abuse of women within the U.S. military,” a Tuesday letter from Slaughter and Capito to leaders of the House Armed Services Committee reads. “The problem is exacerbated when these attacks seem to be ignored by some within the military leadership, and when the perpetrators often go unpunished, sometimes at the discretion of their commanding officers.”

Committee chairman Duncan Hunter did not respond to interview requests Thursday.

In a separate move, another 24 lawmakers, led by Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., have written Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, requesting an internal review of existing procedures for investigating and prosecuting abuse and assault cases. They also asked for an “assessment” of victim care and support programs available to service members deployed in war zones.

On Sunday, The Post reported that at least 37 female service members have sought sexual-trauma counseling and other assistance from civilian rape-crisis organizations after returning from deployment in and around Iraq. Among some of the patterns in the cases: complaints of lax investigations, poor medical treatment and threats of punishment.

The Pentagon and White House declined Thursday to respond to requests for comment.

Meanwhile, lawmakers blasted the Pentagon and White House for not addressing the issue.

“No more letters saying, ‘We’re working on it,”‘ said Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., referring to previous communications from the Pentagon. “Public hearings are going to have to happen. I want to hear President Bush say that as commander in chief, he will not tolerate sexual assaults in the military on his watch.”

Doug Gordon, spokesman for Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, said the Ohio representative is very concerned about the allegations raised by the newspaper and that the Department of Defense must conduct a full and expedient review of its procedures.

“The congressman believes it is essential, for the health and morale of our troops, that the Department of Defense immediately respond to this matter.”

Kucinich is the ranking member on the House Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations, which has oversight of the Defense Department.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., said the military will no longer be allowed to “sweep the issue under the rug.”

“Our military is great at winning wars. They need to be just as great at enforcing the law,” Maloney said. “Rape is a serious crime.”

Colorado Sen. Wayne Allard said he supports public hearings in the Senate but has stressed that Sen. John Warner, the committee chairman, and Saxby Chambliss, head of the personnel subcommittee, will make that decision.

“The senator has brought this to the attention of the Senate Armed Services Committee,” Allard spokeswoman Angela de Rocha said. “The appropriate channel is for the committee to take the next step.”

Warner and Chambliss did not respond to requests for interviews Thursday.

Momentum for public hearings has also been driven recently by victim advocacy organizations that have conducted phone campaigns and organized petitions calling for hearings.

“I think they’re going to find out the problem is so pervasive that no one’s going to know how to handle it,” said Susan Avila-Smith, a victim advocate whose clients include a female officer who was raped after being deployed to Iraq. “I think they’re going to be so horrified by what they find.”

The Post published a series of articles in November examining how the military mistreats rape and domestic violence victims and extends leniency to thousands of sex offenders. Senate leaders vowed to investigate but have stayed silent on whether they will call for public hearings other than testimony about the Air Force Academy’s sexual assault problems.

To some members of Congress, such as U.S. Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif., the issues are so complex they warrant an intensive investigation.

“She believes all the issues (lack of victim services and the criminal justice system) need to be examined in a comprehensive analysis to determine whether changes are needed,” said Bridget O’Brien, a spokeswoman for Capps.

“The Defense Department has historically turned a blind eye to such offenses,” said Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif. “Whether in peacetime or in war, these actions are travesties, and conditions and policies that do not discourage and do not prosecute these sexual assaults are wholly unacceptable.”

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., said she would support public hearings concerning military sexual assault for the same reason she signed the letter to Rumsfeld.

“Reports of rape and sexual assault in the armed forces are shocking,” Baldwin said. “Even more alarming are reports that investigations are either not undertaken or not taken seriously. No person serving in our armed forces should ever fear the consequences of reporting a sexual assault. This is not an issue the Pentagon can ignore.”

Other members of Congress said they were not surprised by the allegations of the mishandling of sexual assaults and domestic violence in the armed forces.

“After all, the Air Force Academy scandal erupted almost a decade after the Tailhook episode, when (Navy) Lt. Paula Coughlin was forced to walk through a ‘gantlet’ of officers who pawed her body and taunted her during a party at a convention,” said Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass.

“Obviously, whatever reforms were implemented as a result of Tailhook didn’t stop the sexual assaults at the Air Force Academy. The military needs to change the culture that allows sexual harassment and assaults, and this will require not only more aggressive enforcement of the rules but a sustained commitment to changing the attitude that women who report misconduct are the problem,” said Meehan, adding that he supports hearings on the matter. “When we ask men and women to risk their lives in Iraq and elsewhere, we owe it to them to ensure they are treated with dignity and respect.”

Amy Herdy can be reached at 303-820-1752 or aherdy@denverpost.com . Miles Moffeit can be reached at 303-820-1415 or mmoffeit@denverpost.com

November 10th, 2007 Posted by asstdirector | vetwow/susan | no comments

VOICES WITH VISION 06-18-2004: MILITARY RAPE, PART ONE

Author

• Ryme Katkhouda and the DC Radio Co-op

Date Created

• 22 Jun 2004

• More details…

Date Edited

• 22 Jun 2004 04:57:30 PM

VOICES WITH VISION script 2004-06-18 MILITARY RAPE part1
Today’s show On the eve of Juneteenth, is a witness to the courage of a few US military personnel… survivors of rape by US military personel.. another detail in army business…
They dare to speak out so others won’t be silenced…
…in Washington DC, accross from the US supreme Court, they testified on June 17th 2004 of what they witnessed and survived… from bases in Japan, Europe, Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq and right here in the USA…

audio

VVV20040618MilitaryRape

(music announce)
>>>===============================
Ryme-Welcome to Voices With Vision, a progressive mix of voices, news, music and spoken word brought to you by the DC-Radio-Coop and edited at WPFW 89.3FM, Pacifica’s Station in Washington DC.
>>>===============================
Today’s show On the eve of Juneteenth, is a witness to the courage of a few US military personnel… survivors of rape by US military personel.. another detail in army business…
They dare to speak out so others won’t be silenced…
…in Washington DC, accross from the US supreme Court, they testified on June 17th 2004 of what they witnessed and survived… from bases in Japan, Europe, Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq and right here in the USA…

[…SOUND…out intro theme music mix…]
>>>===============================
A.Voice/Sound-STAAAMPPRESS CONFERENCE
VOICES WITH VISIONS
2004/06/15
RyK
By Ryme Katkhouda

[SOUND…]

>>>===============================
BREAK WPFW id

Ryme-You are listening Voices with Vision, a progressive mix of voices, news, music and spoken word brought to you by the DC-Radio-Coop and edited at WPFW 89.3FM, Pacifica’s Station in Washington DC…

We are bringing you the voices of military personel raped by the US military…

Reverand Dorothy Mackey…served in the US Air Force
Susan Avila-Smith…served in the US Army
Caryn Walsh…was with the US Air Force
Andrew Schmidt…was with the Navy Medics
Precious Rush… is with US Army

You can reach STAAAMP-Survivors Taking Action Against Abuse by Military Personnel) at www.staaaap.org or at 215-848-1120, that’s 215-848-1120.

and Global Women’s Strike is at www.globalwomenstrike.net . They are supported by Payday, a multi-racia group of men who refuse to rape and kill reached at www.refusingtokill.net

[SOUND…music bed…]
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[SOUND…]

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[SOUND… –outro theme Music Words PSA on DC-RADIO-COOP]
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Ryme-This was Voices With Vision, a progressive mix of voices, news, music and spoken word brought to you by the DC-Radio-Coop and edited in the studios of WPFW, 89.3FM, Pacifica’s station in Washington DC.

The theme music is a mix from Jimmy Cliff-The Rebel In Me and Sabreen-Maz’ooj (Bothered) from Palestine.

With Clue Fisher, Aaron Cobet and Jabari Zakia of the DC-radio-Coop, I am Ryme Katkhouda… and I am Beverly Jordan, …Special thanks to Lona Alias and Yolanda Turner…

Ryme-Stay tuned for a Voices With Vision …every Tuesday and Friday morning coming to you on WPFW, 89.3FM, Pacifica’s station in Washigton DC, and published on dc.indymedia.org d-c-.-i-n-d-y-m-e-d-i-a-.o-r-g.

To publish social justice and spoken word events, email the details to “events (at) wpfw.org“, and for breaking news, email breakingnews (at) wpfw.org
>>>===============================
Ryme-The DC-RADIO-COOP is a Community News Reporting Training program at WPFW done in collaboration with WBIX.org-Exiles & Refugees Radio Network, Free Speech Radio News and the IMC-DC. You can join us every Thursday at 6:30pm at WPFW, 2390 Champlain Street, NW in Adams Morgan. This is Thursdays at 6:30pm at WPFW, to join a community News Reporting Training program.

Al Salamou Alaykum wa Aladlou Alayna…Let Peace be upon you and Justice upon us all…
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Links to Part II below.

Related

• http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/100409/index.php

November 10th, 2007 Posted by asstdirector | vetwow/susan | no comments

More Homeless Veterans Are Women

Brian Rademaekers, Philadelphia Inquirer

April 29, 2006

Army Pfc. Betti Nelson’s scars from Vietnam weren’t caused by a land
mine or sniper’s bullet. They came from five American GIs who raped
her, stabbed her in the chest, burned her with cigarettes, and left
her for dead.

Her attackers were convicted. But for three decades, Nelson, now 51,
has struggled to overcome the effects of that attack, turning to drugs
and becoming part of a growing trend: homeless female veterans.

In the last 10 years, the percentage of women among homeless veterans
has more than tripled from 2 percent in 1996 to 7 percent at the end
of 2005, said spokesman John Driscoll of the National Coalition for
Homeless Veterans, which compiled the survey.

The exact number of female veterans on the street remains unclear -
estimates range from 6,800 to 14,000 - but all agree their ranks are
increasing.

Experts say at least two very different factors are causing this.
Female soldiers are at an all-time high - 11 percent of troops in Iraq
and Afghanistan - and still rising.

Also driving the trend is the continuing prevalence of sexual assault
in the military. Research shows that from 20 percent to 40 percent of
female veterans said they had been sexually assaulted in the service.
These crimes are rarely reported and prosecuted, records show, even as
they send female troops on a downward spiral of drug abuse and
homelessness.

Susan Avila-Smith, founder of Seattle-based Women Organizing Women,
calls sexual assault a form of “friendly fire.”

Avila-Smith experienced that in 1992 when, she said, an Army physician
raped her while she was under anesthesia.

Many officers, she said, “are not interested in weeding out the
perpetrators. They’re interested in weeding out the victims.”

Defense officials acknowledge errors in handling sexual assaults and
say they are making progress. They now require military sexual-trauma
coordinators in every Veterans Affairs hospital, and made reporting
assaults easier and more confidential.

“The change is happening, but you can’t just snap your fingers and say
it is fixed,” said Roger Kaplan, a spokesman for the Defense
Department’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office.

“We are trying to make sure that our victims are taken care of,” said
Kaplan, whose office opened in 2004. “The biggest problem is the
underreporting.”

Three-quarters of female veterans who were raped did not report the
incident to an officer, according to VA researchers.

The 30-bed Mary E. Walker House in Coatesville, which opened in
January 2005, is the nation’s largest shelter for homeless female
veterans.

Twenty-three of the 40 women who have lived there said they were
sexually assaulted in the service. Only seven had reported it.

That prevalence is not unusual. A recent VA study of more than 600
homeless female veterans found that 40 percent reported being raped in
the military.

Nearly one-third of all women who served in Vietnam or later said in
phone interviews that they were sexually assaulted in the service,
according to a VA study in 2003. That compares to about 17 percent of
civilian women who report a sexual assault in their lives, according
to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Researchers say the macho nature of the military plays a large role,
fostering aggression and dominance - factors that can accompany sexual
assault.

An institution that is dismissive of sexual harassment “sets the tone”
for what else might be accepted, said Bradley Doebbeling, a VA
researcher in Indiana.

Kaplan said the military’s struggle with harassment was no different
from other mainly male groups.

In 2001, VA hospitals began asking veterans in health screenings about
sexual assault. About 20 percent of female veterans reported they were
sexually assaulted, said Carole Turner, national director of the women
veterans health program for the VA.

In June 2005, the Department of Defense also started a new reporting
option that allows victims to seek care without triggering an official
investigation.

That change has led to a 40 percent rise in reported sexual assaults
for all military branches, increasing from 1,700 in 2004 to 2,374 last
year.

But only 2 percent to 3 percent of sexual assaults end in
court-martial, said Anita Sanchez, a spokeswoman for the Miles
Foundation, a victims group in Newtown, Conn.

This month retired Army criminal investigator Myla Haider made similar
criticisms before Congress.

Haider cited statistics showing that military investigators dropped
641 cases out of 1,386 in 2005 - or 46 percent - because of a lack of
evidence or from victims recanting.

Of 20 cases she worked, Haider said, only one led to jail time.

Haider, 30, was raped by a military investigator in 2002 in South
Korea. “I knew that nobody would believe me,” she said. But four other
victims came forward, accusing the same man. He was found not guilty
of rape but convicted of lesser charges and was sent for nine months
to an Army jail.

Katäri Brown, a psychologist at the Coatesville VA Medical Center,
said women often joined up to find a surrogate family.

That was true of her client, Betti Nelson. Raised by an abusive aunt
and raped by a family member when she was 8, Nelson joined the Army
looking for a sense of belonging.

Her Army ordeal left her addicted to drugs and wandering the streets
of Philadelphia’s Germantown section.

A turning point came in 2004 when her son James, 26, died in a car
accident. At the funeral, another son, Drew, now 25, refused to speak
to her because of her drinking and drug abuse.

“That’s when I turned things around,” Nelson said. She soon began
therapy.

Now sober for close to two years - her longest yet - she just started
job at a food plant in West Chester. Her dream is to live near Drew
and her two grandchildren in Massachusetts.

“They are so precious to me now,” she said. “If I could go back and
start over again, trust me, I would.”
Contact writer Brian Rademaekers at 215-854-5568 or
brademaekers@phillynews.com.

© 2006 Philadelphia Inquirer and wire service sources. All Rights
Reserved.
http://www.philly.com

November 10th, 2007 Posted by asstdirector | vetwow/susan | no comments

Local Woman Helps Military Sexual Assault Victims

KIRO 7 Eyewitness News Anchor

POSTED: 3:40 pm PDT April 28, 2005

UPDATED: 3:59 pm PDT April 28, 2005

It’s the military’s dirty little secret: soldiers sexually assaulting fellow soldiers.Soldiers say it’s happened for years, but new pressure is forcing the Pentagon to act.New rules, however, come too late for some soldiers haunted by what happened more than 20 years ago, soldiers who are only now finding the courage to come forward and end their nightmares.

Like other members of her family, Linda Sue Swisher joined the Army in 1972 to become a medic.It was in Germany, in Berlin. Linda Sue says she was raped by her fellow soldiers.”I ended up being medivaced out of Berlin as a psychiatric patient,” she said.The rape, and her military experience, changed Linda Sue’s life. And she’s not alone.The number of sexual assaults in the military is alarming: Department of Defense statistics show nearly 2,000 sexual assaults and rapes reported in 2002 and 2003, but a much larger number likely go unreported.”You get overwhelmed because most people’s stories are so emotionally involved that you don’t know where to begin,” said Susan Avila-Smith of Women Organizing Women.Avila-Smith helps women who’ve been sexually traumatized during their military service.Susan herself was an Army soldier with an abusive husband who threatened to kill her.Now Susan’s mission is helping others, and she’s put together a collage to get them talking about it.If they need immediate treatment or help with benefits — she helps them get it.Avila-Smith: “I say I make generals cry, and it’s true. They don’t want to do their job, but they don’t have a choice. And to have that kind of power now after not having it…”
Myers: “What do you tell them?”
Avila-Smith: “They will do their job, this is what they’re gonna do, they’re gonna have it done by tomorrow and that’s the way it is.”Brigadier General K.C. McClain commands the Joint Task Force for Sexual Assault Prevention and Response.She’s worked to bring in brand-new Defense Department standards to combat military sexual assaults of both men and women.”I think our focus was on the perpetrator and taking legal actions and at some times forgetting that we needed to also be paying attention to the victim and helping them start healing,” said McClain.Soldiers are to be better educated to prevent assaults in the first place, there will be improved support for victims, and a better system to investigate and prosecute offenders.”Our real goal is to prevent sexual assault so we don’t have victims,” McClain said.New goals and standards that might have made a difference in the life of this soldier 30 years ago.Myers: “(It) still affects you?”
Avila-Smith: “Yes, yes, yes.”There are more changes coming in the military.For the first time, starting in June, the Pentagon is allowing victims to come forward ‘without’ immediately triggering an investigation.In fact, commanders will learn of the assault, but will not be told of the victim’s identification — to avoid further harassment.

Copyright 2005 by KIROTV.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

November 10th, 2007 Posted by asstdirector | vetwow/susan | no comments

AWOL soldier’s cause gets a hand

November 10th, 2007 Posted by asstdirector | vetwow/susan | no comments

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Author Topic: Women Organizing Women. Veteran Advocacy Gale Admin IGWC Member # 4Member Rated: posted March 30, 2006 03:29 PM http://www.vetwow.com/index.htmAbout UsSusan Avila-Smith established the “Women Organizing Women” WOW group in 1997, beginning with monthly meetings at the Seattle VAMC, and later adding American Lake. This forum was used to provide advocacy and network vital information regarding services and benefits to women veterans and their providers. It has evolved into a National group of women veterans who are helping others to obtain benefits while supporting them emotionally through the process. With nine years personal experience within the VA system for PTSD, and a 70 day in patient treatment at the Palo Alto, California Women’s Trauma Recovery program Susan believes that she can help women obtain services that they would never apply for. She has obtained 100% service connected benefits for 250+ women, and have 150 women (and men) currently in the system. She also advocates for Active Duty servicemembers who have been sexually assaulted, and need help outside the military system - which would tend to be ALL of them. ——————————————————————————– Participated: Board Member, King County Veterans, Washington, Department of Veterans Affairs (PTSD and Women Veteran issues), Veteran’s Independent Enterprises of Washington, Veteran’s History Project - World War II stories, Governors Veterans Advisory Committee, Yakima Stand Down, Veterans Information and Assistance Fairs (Pasco, Tacoma, Bellingham, Seattle, Olympia), Oregon State Department of Veterans Affairs Women’s Conference 2002, Fremont Fair 2002,Viet Nam Veterans of America, American Legion Member Post #204, Disabled American Veterans, life member, STAAAMP (Survivors Take Action Against abuse by Military Personnel), African American PTSD Association, USO, incarcerated women veterans Established: Women’s Wellness Fair, The Northwest Veteran’s Quilt Project, Seattle and American Lake VAMC Women’s Clothing Bank Articles: CNN, Good Morning America, Seattle Times, Seattle Post Intelligencer, Sacramento Bee, Repetition and Avoidance Quarterly, The Gift Within, American Legion Legionnaire, The Northwest Veteran’s Newsletter, Central Oregon Job and Workforce, King5 TV News, KIRO7 TV, The Denver Post, Dateline NBC Vet becomes crusader for victims of soldier rape Monday, April 11, 2005 By M.L. LYKE SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER Projects: Washington Women Veterans Retreat 2003, Wellness Fairs 2001 & 2002, Yakima Stand Down 2003 I just appreciate anything Susan Avila-Smith has done for All the Female Veterans in the past years and today. I have been working on my claim since 1991 and Susan Avila Smith has been helping me since 2000 and she is also helping many of my Military Friends that I Served with in 1975. She is so effective and successful in help all Female Veterans and works with us all and within the systems of VA and Politics to Spearhead many programs, organizations and doesn’t give up! She is a wonderful person and we couldn’t ask for a better leader to help all of us and especially those of us, who have suffered with Military, sexual abuse and tramas related. If I can help her in anyway I will always try to do that, just as she has helped me and many Veterans I know. Sincerely, Deborah P. Lung/Judge Olympia, WA ——————————————————————————– I have worked with Susan numerous times. Her dedication to our women veterans is inspiring. She has filled a much needed service gap for our women veterans. The website looks great. The graphics and color are perfect. Kari-Mae R. Hickman, MSW, LICSW Women’s Clinic Social Worker Seattle VAMC Puget Sound Health Care System ——————————————————————————– Susan, I have been waiting to write something to you regarding your assistance and this is the opportunity to do that. It is only now that I can do this after all this time and I still get choked up. Until a couple of years ago, I wasn’t quite sure what was wrong with me. But, I knew someting major was affecting my ability to function and live what I viewed as a “normal” life. The depression I had hidden from people for years by wearing the “good person mask” was now at an all-time low and my ability to function at work and in a personal life was down to “0″. After moving to Bellingham (one of my frequent moves caused by what was going on with me) I had a chance meeting with Susan at a Veterans Fair at the American Legion. I was at a volunteer table for the Red Cross. Susan told me who she was and I remember stating that “I have issues from the service that I have never dealt with.” Susan told me I was eligible for counseling and after some very indept communciation and help over the phone from Susan she referred me to a counselor who had just moved to this area. The first year was extemely painful and so many ups and downs…. but, then I agreed to try out medication to help my depression. I had been also diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome and had trouble with paranoia. I was also reclusive when it came to one on one personal relationships and yet was able to function in a safe work environment. All this time Susan was by my side and answered every phone call and helped with my depression, fears and anxiety that had plagued me for years. My sleeplessness and dreams caused me to have a very distressed life since I was never really rested. The medication began to work and I also had been given something to help me sleep. I opened up about my “demons” but also my guilt and shame that I had carried with me for years. I also felt guilty when I saw a veteran at the hospital with a missing leg or arm and felt so undeserving. Then, recently I realized that I had lost something — my life. I had been a walking dead person who was totally numb and didn’t even know it. The life that could have been was taken away from me but I am now getting it back. I owe so much to Susan and my Counselor Dr. Cantrell for I feel they have saved my life. I am now able to help others and will be returning to school this coming fall. I still have irritable bowel syndrome, get anxious and have sleepless nights ….. but I have learned how to cope in a possitive way and know ways I can improve my quality of life. I still have trouble slowing down when it comes to work…. seem to need that adrenaline to help to keep going. But, taking steps to slow down and smell the roses. I have gotten my life back and don’t need much to make me appreciate what I have. I am now living in the present instead of being afraid of it. I appreciate the help I am getting from the VA for the things that happened to me when I was serving my country. I feel validated and know there are many others like me out there. I may never be able to repay my advocate Susan Avila-Smith or my counselor Dr. Cantrell, but I will be there for others and for ever be indebted to those that helped me have a life again. Susan you and Bridget are my angels. Thank you, Cecilia Stevens ——————————————————————————– This website would be very bennefcial. There is so much to learn in the proccess of getting the claim solved, and Susan Smith has indeed done all she could to help but not even she can keep up with the questions, so that female veterans can get there claim through as quick as possible. My claim has been a nightmare, its been sent to the archives 2 times, and I have had to relocate it to get it going. It would be nice to hear from other female vets so that we might all learn something and have the support we need to get through some rough roads. Thank you, Susan Hamilton Posts: 2246 | Registered: Jul 2005 | IP: Logged |

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November 10th, 2007 Posted by asstdirector | vetwow/susan | no comments