While chairing her first subcommittee hearing, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand made it a priority to go after the "problem of rampant rapes, sexual assaults and sexual harassment in the military," according to the New York Daily News. The estimated number of cases would be close to 19,000 if all the subjects were to step forward, but officially 2,500 cases of sexual violence were reported in 2011.
Three victims testified on Wednesday and the Senate hearing was first of its kind in nearly a decade.
Gillibrand took particular issue with the military's system, arguing that power to determine a verdict should not rest with one person. "I am extremely disturbed based on the last round of questions and answers that each of you believes that the convening authority is what maintains discipline and order in your ranks. If that is your view, I don't know how you can say that having 19,000 sexual assaults and rapes a year is discipline and order," she charged. "It is the exact opposite of discipline and order."
Robert Taylor, the Pentagon's acting general counsel, acknowledged the pervasive sexual violence as a profound problem within the military: "Sexual assault in the military is not only an abhorrent crime that does enormous harm to the victim but it also a virulent attack on the discipline and good order on which military cohesion depends," he testified.
Senators are set to prepare legislation to address the overall sexual violence problem, "as the military struggles to reform a war-fighting culture long dominated by men. Committee members said senior officers have a professional interest in downplaying problems in their command," New York Daily News reported.
"I was verbally harassed and isolated," BriGette McCoy testified while saying she was raped twice - the first time at age 18 - while serving in the Army between 1988 and 1991, who was also sexually harassed by a superior. She also testified she struggled with depression, suffered through homelessness and attempted suicide.
Gilllibrand is one of a number of female Democratic senators, including Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen and California Senator Barbara Boxer dealing with rape cases within the military.
The 2012 documentary "The Invisible War" directed by Kirby Dick, explores the epidemic of rape within the military. The film reveals how the institutions themselves "perpetuate the crime as well as its profound personal and social consequences."
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