Stunning Report of the Alleged Pervasive Nature of Sexual Assault Against Women Soldiers by Military Men

If one can get past the pervasive commercials endorsing dangerous drugs that merely treat symptoms and the disgusting spots which ask whether we have difficulty maintaining an erection and whether we suffer from gas, bloating, and diarrhea, there is valuable information to be gleaned from the evening network newscasts. (Heaven help us if we choose an antacid based upon the recommendation of a character like "Larry, The Cable Guy.")

On the broadcast of 6 May, ABC News broke the stunning and disturbing story of the arrest on charges of sexual battery of an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel.  The story would be alarming enough if it ended there, but that is only the beginning.  The individual charged with grabbing a woman's breast and buttocks is the military's Sexual Assault Prevention Program Officer.  If the charges against him are shown to be true, he must be booted out of the military dishonorably.

The story included the mind-numbing estimate of the Department of Veterans' Affairs that 30% of women that serve in the military have suffered sexual assault at the hands of male peers and superiors.

I wonder if the Lieutenant Colonel will use the defense du jour, that he is not responsible for his actions because he had been under the influence of alcohol  (the report indicates that he was highly intoxicated) and simply made "a mistake" (no one admits to fatal character flaws in this era; every act of beastly behavior or savagery is nothing more than "a mistake").

Those who volunteer to serve our nation as members of the military deserve every protection that can be reasonably afforded them.  Women soldiers should not have to harbor the fear that a fellow service member will engage in felony assault against them and shatter their lives.

Whether the alarming estimate of the Department of Veterans' Affairs is accurate or not, one such incident is too many.  We had better find a way to weed out the beasts from those that serve our nation with distinction and honor.  There can be no excuse for sexual assault committed by those that carry the banner of our nation's armed services, and those that engage in it should be facing prison bars for years.  Examples must be made of those that have served to humiliate our nation and our military as they brutalized women.