The Voice of New Rochelle: Military Sex Abuse and Institutional Cover Up

It was nice to see Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, engaging an issue without the senior senator from New York, Charles Schumer, standing next to her. Moreover, the heretofore lightweight legislator from upstate is calling attention to the latest, and perhaps most serious of all, institutional scandal: sex abuse in the military.

Gillibrand has assumed the chair of the Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee and has made the problem of sexual abuse in the military a top priority. The issue is a compelling one and, beyond the obvious cost in moral standing and individual suffering, speaks to the power of long-standing hierarchical institutions to protect their reputations regardless of human suffering.

It has always been difficult to criticize the military in this country because it has sacrificed so much to the founding and protection of the country. It is even more difficult now, as we are engaged in two wars during which we have asked more from our soldiers than ever before. The all-volunteer force has required that we order the same soldiers back for repeated tours even after they and their families have had a chance to stand down from the footing of constant worry and dread. All of this deserves the larger part of the recognition and praise we give them. As well, every effort to care for the wounded and the families of those lost must be a priority, regardless of cost. 

On top of these very real reasons to honor our fighters is the uncomfortable mindset that only soldiers can be patriots and that any criticism is un-American.  We, as a country, need to be careful in our increasingly militaristic mindset not to place our soldiers too high up on a pedestal, a practice that has visited much tragedy and tyranny on the world throughout history.

None of this, however, should keep us from pointing out the problem of sex abuse in the armed services. As John Adams so elegantly put it, “Facts are stubborn things.”  It is being reported that one in three women in the military has been raped or sexually abused. It has also been estimated by the Pentagon that as many as 19,000 cases of sexual assault have taken place—maybe more—just in the past years. Worse still, the rules and regulations as they stand allow a commanding officer to summarily dismiss charges.

The Pentagon can take a few lessons from recent history. Even the Catholic Church, which wielded the mightiest sword of all—its presumed connection with the almighty and the revered status of its priests—to ward of criticism and accusation, could not keep its finger in the dike forever. As entrenched as the cover-up was, and despite the efforts to protect the church’s reputation through that cover-up, it will be generations, hopefully preceded by changes, before it will regain its moral authority.

Similarly, the Penn State scandal was made possible by the need to protect what had become an almost sacred football program. Hero worship of Coach Paterno and his football team, as an institution within the institution that is Penn State, created an aura that these entities must be protected at all cost.

It is noteworthy that all three of these organizations involve the wearing of uniforms, submissiveness and idolatry. And to be fair, and maybe also to shed a tiny flash of light on the causes, it is easy for even the most well-intentioned people to get caught up in protecting something they are a part of and care deeply about. Yet somehow, the welfare of male and female soldiers, Catholic children and orphans was sacrificial to the reputations of institutions and the careers of its leaders.

As the military goes, the problem may be harder to fix than one might suspect. It is essential that officers and enlisted service members obey orders and respect the chain of command virtually without question. Often, orders require people to do things that put their lives at risk, sometimes in situations in which a commander knows that a certain percentage of his team will not come back. The weight of such command authority is awesome. Thus, somehow, the rules and regulations that create such a culture of obedience needs to find within itself a way to allow redress without consequence when the issue involves sexual misconduct.

It is well and good that Gillibrand is addressing this topic. If she is successful, this fortunate lightweight may just move up in class.