Standing Up in Washington

You can watch the beautiful woman's face next to me to judge the effectiveness of my voice speaking out against Military Sexual Trauma in Washington D.C.

 I just loved her, she was so nice!

I Can't Believe What Good Fortune Those Who Have Suffered Military Sexual Trauma at Camp Pendleton Now Have...

They are truly without judgment in their leadership... Do they not realize how this indictment of a Marine for "adultery" makes them look in light of their own reputation and current events?  What an opportunity to showcase their lack of fair treatment of victims of Military Sexual Trauma...  May the chips fall where they should...

http://discussions.latimes.com/20/lanews/la-me-ln-marine-adultery-20130423/10

Here are my replies to the article in the LA Times, you should take the time to reply as well.  Support the Marines!

There are four current murder trails going on involving folks from Camp Pendleton.  Last year they had the second highest rate of sexual assault reports of any installation in the military.  They have a long standing reputation of failure to act when an accusation of sexual assault is made.  There are men and women who have taken their own lives after reporting sexual assault at Camp Pendleton, and after being denied justice, found themselves without hope.  I have to question the judgment of any commander allowing such a prosecution.  Guilty of adultery or not, the message sent with this prosecution is "if you dare report sexual assault at Camp Pendleton, you will regret it."  When was the last person at Pendleton prosecuted for sexual assault?  By the way, the husband now states he didn't have all the facts, and regrets reporting the incident.  The other party states something to the effect, I didn't know she was married, and she didn't seem too drunk to consent to me.  He is charged with nothing.

LA Times, I think you should have mentioned the husband now regrets reporting this incident, stated he didn't have all the facts.

Why don't you send a reporter out to get a few more facts... there are a bunch more that will interest your readers....

Camp Pendleton, say hello to David P. for me!

DoD IG, are you awake and alert out there somewhere...

Command of the DoD... yoo hoo... a dummy is making decisions out on the West Coast...

Just look at my other posts for links to the vile stories of murder and violence coming out of Camp P.  

Clean house DoD.  It is the only way to save face and careers.  Careers are eventually going to be harmed by failure to act.  I know what motivates you people...

In 2011 This Article Appeared in a San Diego Newspaper Online, There were No Comments Made... Until Today.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2011/apr/16/military-more-than-300-sexual-assaults-reported/?page=3#article-copy

This initiative spoke of by Camp Pendleton was started in 2011, last year they had the second highest number of reported sexual assaults of any military installation the the country.  Evidently their efforts are not yielding results. Perhaps they need a different plan.

I left these comments:

I do not think the base at Camp Pendleton is responding to Military Sexual Trauma in a wise and just way. When today there is news of a Marine who reported rape being charged with adultery, and the Marine who stated, "I didn't know she was married, and she didn't seem too drunk to me to consent to sex," isn't charged with anything. Her husband is a Marine as well. What is the message the commander sends with this prosecution? The one I get is if you have been raped at Camp Pendleton, keep your mouth shut... or else...

 When your record as an institution concerning Military Sexual Trauma is that which Camp Pendleton's is, when there are young women, (and men,) who claim to have been sexually assaulted at Camp Pendleton, and refused justice, who have taken their own lives as a result... this action is unconscionable. Whether she is guilty of adultery or not, the reputation of Camp Pendleton demands different actions.

 I would suggest to Rep Bradley, the only hope for true justice for every victim of Military Sexual Violence is to take these cases out of the UCMJ, and allow prosecution by civilian courts.

 Things like prosecution for adultery by persons who claim rape, do not exist for a civilian. When terms like "party barracks" are used in national news stories concerning murders which happen at Camp Pendleton, or "sex cult," or chaos,.. the problem is not people committing adultery.

 Those who have served in the military are familiar with the term "command climate."

Open Letter to Senator John Cornyn Concerning the Indictment of a Female Marine At Camp Pendleton for Adultery After She Reported Rape

Dear Senator Cornyn:

Last week I was in Washington as a delegate to the SWAN (Service Women's Action Network,) conference on military sexual trauma, which I am sure you are aware is rampant in our military.  My husband is an honor graduate of West Point and the Army War College who retired with 30 years of service and is now serving with the State Department in Baghdad, Iraq.  We have two sons in law, one still serving in Germany, and one with a purple heart who can no longer serve.  We have a daughter who served eight years.  We are acutely aware of just how UCMJ can be manipulated by corrupt command.  

Today I have a grave concern.  Camp Pendleton has a terrible record for dealing with MST. There are four murder trials currently in the court systems involving Marines from Camp Pendleton, and three of those murders involve sexual trauma.  Please see the links at my web site:
 http://soldiersheartranch.blogspot.com/2013/04/please-be-very-careful-if-you-might.html  

Today it has come to my attention that there is an indictment against a female Marine at Camp Pendleton for adultery, after her cry of rape against another Marine.  I see this for what it is.  You will too.  Please intervene for the sake of all the women who were at last week's conference, and all those no longer with us, who could not bare the burden of their own Military Sexual Trauma. Please intervene for the sake of  the Marine couple (the female Marine is married to a  Marine.)  http://www.swrnn.com/2013/04/23/camp-pendleton-marine-to-be-tried-for-allegedly-lying-about-rape/  Please contact me with information of what action you take.



Sincerely, 
Debra LeCompte

This is Without Excuse... Trying to Quelsh Military Sexual Trauma Reports

http://www.swrnn.com/2013/04/23/camp-pendleton-marine-to-be-tried-for-allegedly-lying-about-rape/

Sometimes the Flaw is the Thing of Most Importance

This photo was taken in the flowers planted in one of the large planters that are all around Capitol Hill.  As our small army from SWAN, (Service Women's Action Network,) descended on the offices of our law makers to take the story, tell the significance and importance of the Ruth Moore Act, and ask each law maker for their pledge of support for this significant legislation, we snapped photos. Several of us stopped and took pictures of the post card we were given with information on the back, after setting it in a beautiful planter full of purple tulips and purple and white violas we photographed our message among the flowers. If you look carefully every flower, stem, and leaf is perfect, except for the one leaf where the left lower part of the card is setting. Also, a perfect little window opened in my shot, just flower size, and as coincidence would have it, an unknown woman appeared in that opening in a red suit.  She looks like another flower, the only red among the purple.  It was also significant to me that purple, as in the symbol of the purple heart, awarded by our military for wounds incurred on the battlefield, was the predominant color of the flowers. We discussed moving the card for a perfect shot... then decided the brown damaged leaf among the perfection was the most significant part of the impact of the photo... Sometimes you should not hide or avoid the ugly parts of something.

What Everyone Needs After a Long Period of Stress.

I have had a stressful past three weeks or so.  My husband was home on leave, and then had to return to Iraq. That is always hard for me, and we had a rent house that was vacated with the tenants leaving owing us $3,600. They had tore the house to pieces, not even being there a year, and the cockroaches were very literally unbelievable. There were thousands out on the walls in the day time. You could not bring food into the house without them swarming toward you. There was so much cleanup work to do.  It was discouraging.  Randy and I had been working on the remodel work all the time he was home on leave, but I have to finish it up. We spent a great deal of money to have a large contracting service install a tub, and do some other plumbing work and electrical. The work was done substandard, and I am still arguing with them. 

Then there were the bombings, accompanied by the sorrow and shock that so many other places in the world deal with on a daily basis. I thought of my friends in Iraq... where daily they lose friends, and must be constantly be vigilant. 

 I attended the SWAN (Service Women's Action Network,) summit on military sexual trauma, and as I heard their stories my heart reeled at the realization of failed leadership after such life altering trauma encountered by these men and women. 

 I needed tranquility today... so late in the evening as I worked in the garden, I let Rocket out of the pen. She is so gentle and loving, her behavior is always an expression of joy. She runs, she jumps, she frolics, and it is all a show of joy put on just for me. She rubs her little head on my leg as I move about the garden... sometimes she forgets and accidentally "tastes" a little bit of the garden... of course just to see if anything ready for harvest yet... She is never less than a foot away from me. She sits down when I sit down, and always wants to put her head in my lap. She always watches my face for clues as to what is up next.   She is really smart, which surprised me. She is happiest when she is following me, dancing with joy as she goes. We all should find some simple and gentle thing which restores our hearts and souls when stress comes in batches to our lives, I find those restoring things at Soldier's Heart Ranch in so many things, especially in this sweet little animal.  This beautiful little place with its pond and deep woods helps to center me, relieves all my stress, and enables me to carry on  as I am reminded, through the things of nature, of God's grace, love, and mercy. I love living at Soldier's Heart Ranch.

     

No Father of a Marine Should Ever Have to Cry Out Such Things

The following is quoted from the father of a fallen Marine, she took her own life after being brutally beaten and raped by fellow Marines.  After this incident, SHE was dishonorably discharged from the United States Marines, and those who committed the crimes against her went free.  Have you ever heard such a stinking to high heaven call for an investigation?  The collaborating evidence of a miscarriage of justice in this case is all the other such accounts of injustice toward the victims of rape in the military. Don't let anybody try to convince you that their commands try to suppress these crimes in order to protect the Marines, the Army, etc...  It is done to protect the careers of individuals.  Make your own call for justice for Carri, you have a Congressman or woman, a State Senator.  Write them, demand a congressional hearing.  It is easy to do.

"'Carri's Dad' is an organization recently started . We're trying to make public what is going on in the Armed Forces with young women and men being sexually assaulted and nothing being done. Carri reported being raped ! "I want JUSTICE FOR HER AND THE MANY LIKE HER, AND I WANT IT NOW!", -- Carri's Dad. Her rapist still serves! He threatened her several times, HER COMMAND AT PENDLETON ARE THE BIGGEST LOSERS EVER TO BE IN CHARGE OF ANYTHING!!!!!!!! TO THOSE WHO DONT KNOW, CARRI DIED FIVE DAYS AFTER BEING WRONGFULLY DISCHARGED FROM THE USMC! THE MEDICATION MIXED WITH ALCOHOL KILLED HER! THE RAPE AND BEATING KILLED HER! THE LACK OF HELP FROM COMMAND AND OTHER FELLOW MARINES KILLED HER! THEY ALL KILLED HER!"

 

 

 I offered this comfort to Gary and Jilene Noling, whose faith in God is seeing them through a daughter lost in the most tragic way.  This is an old hymn written by Charles P. Jones in 1916.  

I Will Make the Darkness Light

 I will make the darkness light before thee,
What is wrong I’ll make it right before thee,
All thy battles I will fight before thee,
And the high place I’ll bring down.

Refrain

When thou walkest by the way I’ll lead thee,
On the fatness of the land I’ll feed thee,
And a mansion in the sky I’ll deed thee,
And the high place I’ll bring down.

With an everlasting love I’ll love thee,
Though with trials deep and sore I’ll prove thee,
But there’s nothing that can hurt or move thee,
And the high place I’ll bring down.

Refrain

Although Satan in his rage would tear thee,
And with all his winning arts would snare thee,
Even down to thine old age I’ll bear thee,
And the high place I’ll bring down.

Refrain

I will make the darkness light before thee,
I will make the crooked straight before thee,
I will spread My wings protecting o’er thee,
And the high place I’ll bring down.

Refrain

Pray for the men and women of our military who have experienced Military Sexual Trauma, our country should not even have need of such a term.

When my own dear husband faced corruption in the military God gave us this scripture before we even knew what we were facing, the depth of the corruption, how high it reached, and how low they would go.  While what we faced cannot compare to what Carri faced, and what Gary and Jilene fight now, God was sufficient to meet our needs, and He will be sufficient to carry Carri and her parents on to overcoming the corruption that took her life.  Her memory and the actions her parents, and all those who stand behind them take, will protect others now serving, those who will serve, and help ensure that this never happens again.

 From Isaiah 50:

7	¶ For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.
8	He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me.
9	Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.
10	¶ Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.
11	Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.

I call upon the United States Marine Corp to conduct an investigation, to arrest the perpetrators, try and convict them, and punish them as all decent people everywhere in this country are going to cry out for justice for Carri.  I call upon the United States Marine Corp to conduct an investigation, to arrest all those who conspired to deny justice to this Marine, all those who participated in unjustly discharging her from the Marine Corp in an attempt to cover wrong doing, and to charge and judge all who undermined the Corp, who dishonored the Corp and all those who serve honorably, by the handling of this crime and the subsequent miscarriage of justice.  I demand as an American that they be court martialed for dereliction of duty, conspiracy, and all their other crimes, driven out of the Marines with a dishonorable discharge, and imprisoned.  It is the least that is due to the parents of Carri Leigh Goodwin.  It is not enough due to Carri Leigh Goodwin, because the opportunity to provide restitution to this Marine is forever gone.  May the shame of the guilty weigh upon them every minute of every day for the rest of their lives.  You know who you are, and every one of you were never a Marine!  You just had a unit and a rank, you were and are paid government employees, of the worst kind, completely corrupt... never a Marine...

Post Note:  Carri's father, Gary Noling, was a Marine... well, actually as every good Marine everywhere will tell you... "Once a Marine, always a Marine!"  Simper Fi Gary Noling, thank you for your service Sir.  The country and our people owe you so much.  I lift my own sword with you for Carri...  I pledge with you to see your daughter's name cleared, and the criminals who walk free punished to the fullest extent of the law.   Further,  to hold from this day forward all who answer the call to lead, responsible to protect the honor of the United States Marines, and all who answer the call to serve our country in this institution which has so long stood for valor, honor, duty, and country.  We are the citizens of this country you and I, the greatest country the world has ever known, and it is our own sacred duty to protect and defend all the ideals that has made it such.

 

 

I Too Have Been to the Mountain...

I am beginning a series of articles of great importance to every American, to every citizen of the world, to every person who values peace, and to every person who strives to live an honorable life.  I will be speaking about a specific miscarriage of justice within the United States Military, which is not the only place where it is found, but where as a nation and a people, we can least tolerate it.  It isn't a new problem, it is as old as mankind, and while all crimes committed by one human being against another are despicable, as any victim of sexual trauma can tell you, this particular crime stands above others because, "all others occur without the body," while this crime is literally an invasion of the human body, and thereby the human soul becomes the most wounded part of the individual.  Where and how can a person be more wounded than by the forced invasion of their body by another?  Always, the perpetrator is of such an evil intent, of such an abusive a nature, that they can violently and forcibly cross the most sacred of lines, which every person instinctively knows to be wrong.  These perpetrators should know the wrath of all the world, lest we encourage others.  Fear of the consequences of being convicted of such an act should be the leading cause of prevention.  Within the military, not enough fear exists, as too many have observed perpetrators who are never called to accountability.
 

All that plagues humankind by means of one or more against one or more individuals, finds its roots in the same soil that this crime grows.  When we as societies and cultures around the world, when we as human beings, look at the problems of war, terrorist threat, oppression by tyrants and dictators, regimes that starve a nation in order to build aggressive military forces, even hunger, every such problem, every such agenda, finds their roots in this common soil.  When we examine our history for tragedy dealt from the hand of evil human beings, such as the shameful days of slavery in America, the tragedy of the American Indian, who had their homeland invaded and stolen, their people murdered and herded into captivity, Adolf Hitler's Germany, Russia's invasion of Afghanistan, the cruel reign of Saddam Hessian who left mass graves in the desert of his own countrymen, Stalin's genocide of twenty million Jews, the overrunning of the Ukraine, the genocides of South Africa, the murders of the Ambassador and his staff in Bengazi, the tragedy in Boston where lives were cut short, and other lives forever changed, and on and on... the soil from which these acts were harvested is the same.  When mankind, whether an individual, or a group of individuals, purposely, whether for greed or power, deliberately harms another individual or group, the enabling soil is the same.  These behaviors, when stripped down to their root causes, always are found to have yielded their crops from the same nourishment source.

 

The first component of the soil is always a self serving disregard of another, or a group of others.   That idea that one has value and privilege over others, which is coupled with the desire to obtain whatever is valued without regard as to who is harmed, is a fundamental component of the soil.  Nourishment which enables actions which harm or kill others comes from what is really in essence the embracing of an individual that their own thinking is above everything else.  Basically, this thinking is their true god, and they follow and serve it as such.  The thinking that they will do as they please, circumventing the true God given rights of others, while embracing the harming of others as a legitimate, and even sometimes personally satisfying means to their own private ends, is what they live by.  There are those among them of such a nature that the torture, pain, and suffering of another brings them pleasure.  Some individuals may regret that they must resort to despicable acts to get what they want.  In the end, when faced with the personal sacrifice of their own desires as part of doing the right thing, they will do the wrong thing, but usually try to hide it.  They do this because they still hold regard for how others view them.  By their choices they prove their true character is really no better than the blatant power-monger, who has no apparent conscious.  Often these persons who truly do not care who is harmed, or how others view them when they harm others, are referred to by professional health care workers and those in law enforcement, by the clinical term of sociopath.  

 

In order for an individual or a group to have their rights disregarded, there must be another component to the soil which yields such fruit.  Collectively, what mankind permits to flourish, is what will flourish.  If we as the American people, whether we believed slavery to be right or wrong, had sat back and allowed those in the Southern States, who because they personally benefited from the enslavement of other human beings, and insisted on participating in the slavery of others, then slavery would have continued.  What a great cost was paid to right that wrong which seemed so large and accepted as to be beyond remedy.  Often the most important concepts of honor are overcome and abolished or held hostage by corrupt leadership and power, and the cost is great to redeem and rescue them.  Never is their rescue imminent among those who ignore injustice because its redemption is too costly and time consuming.  Just knowing something to be wrong, never participating in it personally, does not prevent wrong doing by others.  In fact knowledge of wrong doing coupled with failure to act by an individual, constitutes negligence, and participation in the wrong doing.  If you physically watch a rape in progress, do nothing when weapons are clearly at your disposal to end the violence and crime, you are partially guilty of the crime itself.  In order to do the right thing, not only must an individual, an organization, a nation, or an alliance never participate in the wrong itself, it must stand offensively, and defensively against the wrong.  

 

 Who among good people anywhere would stand by in the physical presence of another committing a rape and fail to act?  There is no difference in standing by in the physical presence of the act, and standing by in the aftermath and failing to act.  As individuals we have less power to act whether in the physical presence, or in the aftermath, but as a group, such as SWAN, as an organization or institution, such as the Army, or other branch of service, or as a nation, we have great power to act.  Certainly, as a member of the governing institution of the greatest nation the world has ever known, our Congressional men and women, and our Senators have great power to act.  I visited the offices and spoke with the representatives working for some of these leaders to whom we have entrusted our country's best interest, on Thursday.  As I spoke with whomever was sent to receive our delegation, I watched their eyes...  What person representing the American people, I thought to myself, could hear the stories of these victims, who have been betrayed by their own, then had the crime suppressed, and watched the criminal go free, could fail to prioritize passing the legislation needed to ensure the medical and mental health services needed by these victims?  What person, serving in our government, could be trusted to serve our common needs as citizens, who would fail to give their urgent support and vote to such legislation such as the Ruth Moore Act? 

 

As an individual, as the grand-daughter of a Soldier who served and was wounded by mustard gas on the battlefield as he fought in France during WWI, as the daughter of a Soldier who contracted malaria, and from that hepatitis, when he was a member of the occupation forces of WWII, and as the wife of a Soldier who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, as the mother-in-law of two Soldiers who have served in the same places, one receiving a purple heart, and as the mother of a Soldier who served 8 years, I know I must act.  In every way I can I must stand against those self-serving individuals, possessed of an evil and a rational I cannot comprehend, who perpetrate these crimes, and those who tolerate these crimes in order to serve their own wants and desires. 

 

The same soil that nourishes these crimes, nourishes all types of wrong doing.  Theft, abuse of power, negligent monitoring of the precious resources of this country and our people, fraud, waste, dishonorable behavior leading to scandal, sending our troops into harms way without true need, ignoring the needs of veterans who would not have the needs, had they not went into service to stand in protection of the liberty of us all... all these things which not only harm and destroy the lives of individuals, but harm and destroy our nation, find nourishment in the same soil.

 

As I have so proudly written and stated many times, my husband graduated in the top five percent of his class at West Point.  I have had the privilege of visiting many places around the world, viewing famous buildings, many of them ancient, including Washington D.C., and I have even been to the war room in the basement of the Pentagon, and sat in the chair which Condoleezza Rice sat, but none impressed me as West Point did.  The architecture certainly is grand, the setting certainly magnificent, but that is not the true grandeur of the campus.  To see young men and women studying to stand as leaders for our country, to understand from my husband what is taught, and how it is taught, I stood in awe of what power lies within the walls of that great institution.  That power is only as great as the soil is strong upon which its foundations sit.  If the ground gives way, those great buildings will fall.  I offer to you from the first chapter of The Cadet Honor Code, the synopsis of the honor code taught each cadet from their first day at West Point:  

 

 "A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do."

 

The following is a link to the publication from which a Cadet at West Point is taught the meaning of honor:

  http://www.west-point.org/publications/honorsys/chap1.html

 

Honor flourishes in a very different soil than does rape which goes ignored and unpunished, and whose victims are denied justice and needed services.  I have a responsibility, and so do you if your citizenship is that of the United States of America.  

 

I am asking all other Americans to join the cause to which I am so dedicated, for just as I feel no person serving in the leadership of our military, or serving in our government, can in good conscious deny the urgent need and sacred duty of each of us to support the legislation known as the Ruth Moore Act, neither can any citizen of our great nation fail to act in support.  In the postings I make I will be giving specific stories of the injustices already having happened, and the needed actions to help right these wrongs.  Also I will give specific parts of the Uniform Code of Military Justice which enable the miscarriage of justice in the case of rape, and in fact allow abuse by corrupt leadership in granting individuals power outside the protections of our constitution for many crimes.  Never were these powers intended to be used to manipulate in order to promote, protect, or enhance the careers of individuals.  That is happening on a wide, almost virulent scale, because the wolf who is fed is the wolf who prevails.   

 

              Ruth Moore, whom I had the honor and privilege of meeting in person.                    

There are among us true giants, we are blessed country.