From the Ranch

From the Ranch

Friday, April 26, 2013

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, SPREAD THIS EVERYWHERE IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE

PLEASE, SPREAD THIS EVERYWHERE, IF YOU HAVE EVER CARED ABOUT THE MILITARY, THEIR FAMILIES, SPREAD THIS STORY EVERYWHERE. IT SPEAKS FOR ITSELF IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE IF SHE IS GUILTY OR NOT, I PERSONALLY THINK SHE IS INNOCENT. MANY RETURNING MARINES ABUSE ALCOHOL, ENGAGE IN RISKY BEHAVIOR, PLEASE SPREAD THIS STORY OF INJUSTICE... DAVID BETRAYUS LECTURES TO STANDING OVATIONS AT ROTC FUNCTIONS... DOD HAS A DOUBLE STANDARD. I came across this case as I was researching Camp Pendleton after meeting the father of Carri Leigh Goodwin, a non survivor of Military Sexual Trauma whose rape occurred at Camp Pendleton.

Synopsis of what has happened:
At Camp Pendleton in California a female Marine with 17 years of service, who is married to a Marine, both of whom have deployed to the Middle East, after drinking heavily went to a motel with another Marine.  She is married to a Marine, who first reported the incident to her command, and later regretted doing so when he learned all the facts.  She admits she lied at first, trying to stay out of trouble, and for the sake of her marriage she claimed it didn't happen.  They both admit they had intercourse.  She said she had been too intoxicated to consent.  That made it an outcry of  rape.  The other Marine said he didn't know she was married, (they worked in the same building,) and he said she didn't look too intoxicated to him.  The details are in the links.  In the big picture, the Marines who return from service in the Middle East often have trouble with alcohol and such, and they often engage in risky behavior.  There is a reason for that...      

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/apr/24/adultery-sexual-assault-court-martial/


"[There are] 19,000 rapes and sexual assaults that the [Department of Defense] admits take place every year," Speier said in an Apr. 17 press conference to introduce the Sexual Assault Training Oversight and Prevention Act.
While many are never reported, the ones that are investigated hardly ever move forward. Of 3,192 cases reported in 2010, she said, only 191 saw convictions. "This should be an alarming figure to everyone."
If you are wondering why Camp Pendleton chose to prosecute such a thing in light of all that is going on in the top positions in the military, I can tell you.  At the last count available, Camp Pendleton had the second highest reported sexual assault rate of all the military installations in the country.  With this conviction as a shining beacon, the next years data will surely change.  I will let you be the judge of how it will change.  Any thinking person will understand what this will do to women who are considering making a sexual assault complaint at Camp Pendleton.  

There have been four violent murders at Camp Pendleton this year in the news, and Camp Pendleton's  record in other crime areas is not good either.  Remember the road rage incident that got so much press... Camp Pendleton.  Stress is rampant at Camp P.  In the news articles I find words like "party barracks, sex cult, stabbed 44 times, jumped from the third story window,"  The events of this almost 12 year war have found many young Marines drinking to excess, taking part in risky behavior, as I said before. 

To discount the cry of rape is unconscionable, to make an example, or whatever Camp Pendleton is claiming is less than what is owed to this Marine couple.  Going to a motel with an individual is not consent to sexual intercourse.  At any moment she could have become incapacitated, or she could have realized she did not wish to participate in the behavior.  (The details of the news articles seem to suggest this.)  

What does the DoD, the command of their individual installations owe our Warriors?  What do we as the American people owe our returning troops whose lives for the last twelve years have been to conduct war?  Write your Congressional Representative and Senator concerning this particular Marine couple.  Write them concerning the judgment of those commanding them.  Write them concerning how the Military is handling claims of sexual assault, the messages commanders are sending daily to women and men impacted by Military Sexual Trauma.  Tell them we the American people, will not  tolerate this display of complete lack of judgment.

   



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