The Battle Within:Sexual Violence in America’s Military
photo by Mary Calvert (Zuma Press)
US Army Spc. Natasha Schuette, 21, was pressured not to report being assaulted by her drill sergeant during basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Though she was hazed by her assailant’s fellow drill instructors, she refused to back down and Staff Sgt. Louis Corral is now serving four years in prison for assaulting her and four other female trainees. The US Army rewarded Natasha for her courage to report her assault and the Sexual Harassment/ Assault Response & Prevention office distributed a training video featuring her story. She is now stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Dr. Nancy Lutwak, Veteran’s Administration emergency room physician in New York City, opened up a room just for female vets so they could have a safe place to share their experience of being raped in the military and the health problems they face because of the assaults.
Brittany Fintel served in the US Navy, she was grabbed and pinned down on a bed by her Lead Petty Officer while she was stationed in Bahrain on the USS Gridley. Another sailor witnessed the attack but turned and left as she screamed and fought off her attacker. She reported the attack and was told she had an “adjustment disorder”, taken off the ship and eventually was separated from the navy due to PTSD. She joined the military to see the world and get her college paid for, but her experience in the Navy shattered all her sense of trust. “They kick the victim out. The victim is more fucked up in the head than apparently the rapist,” she said, weeping on her couch at home in San Diego. Her PTSD service dog “Indiana” is never far from her side.
Gary Noling holds his daughter Carrie’s journal on the anniversary of her suicide in Alliance, Ohio. Carrie Goodwin suffered severe retaliation after reporting her rape to her US Marine commanders. Five days after she was went home with a bad conduct discharge, she drank herself to death. “it destroyed my family. When Carrie died i lost all three of my kids and my grandkids. I lost two thirds of me. Two thirds of me is in that box of ashes.” He did not know she had been raped until after her death.
Gary Noling stands in his daughter Carrie’s bedroom on the anniversary of her suicide in Alliance, Ohio. Carrie Goodwin suffered severe retaliation after reporting her rape to her US Marine commanders. Five days after she was went home with a bad conduct discharge, she drank herself to death. “it destroyed my family. When Carrie died i lost all three of my kids and my grandkids. I lost two thirds of me. Two thirds of me is in that box of ashes.”
US Army Pfc. (Private First Class) Natasha Schuette, 21, was sexually assaulted by her drill sergeant during basic training and subsequently suffered harassment by other drill sergeants after reporting the assault at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. While Staff Sgt. Louis Corral is serving just four years in prison for assaulting her and four other female trainees, Natasha suffers daily from PTSD because of the attack. She is now stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. A loner since her assault, she sets up a survival green house in her back yard.
Connie Sue Foss was raped while in the US Army and hasn’t been able to hold down a job to care for herself and her daughter. She bears scars from punching a window during a PTSD episode and holds a molar she lost from grinding her teeth at night.
Connie Sue Foss was raped while in the US Army. She has found it difficult to hold down a job to care for herself and her daughter.
Elisha Morrow and Tiffany Berkland were sexually harassed by the same company commander when they were in basic training after joining the Coast Guard. Elisha thought about faking a suicide attempt to get away from him; “he haunts your person by day and your dreams at night.”They did not report the harassment for fear of being kicked out but came forward when they met a third victim. When their case went to trial, they met a fourth young woman who had been raped recently by the same company commander. Berkland and Morrow are guilt ridden for not coming forward sooner. They sit in their hotel room after attending the Truth and Justice Summit on MST in Washington, D.C.
Melissa Bania, holds her banner, before hanging it on the foot bridge across from the entrance to Naval Station San Diego. US Navy Military Sexual Trauma survivors got together at Brittany Fintel’s San Diego, California home to make banners inscribed with their sexual assault experiences in the US Navy. That evening, under cover of darkness, they hung them on a foot bridge in front of the entrance to Naval Station San Diego.
TSgt Jennifer Norris was drugged and raped by her recruiter after joining the US Air Force when she was 21 years old. In tech school, she fought off the sexual assault of her instructor and later evaded the advances of her commanders. “It’s like being in a domestic violence marriage that you can’t get divorced from,” she said. Norris reported the assaults, rape and harassment and saw her attackers punished but then suffered a sustained campaign of retaliation by her peers at work. Now she suffers with PTSD brought on by MST and is unable to work. Norris has become an advocate and is the Maine Coordinator for the Military Rape Crisis Center, counseling MST survivors from her home in Rumford, Maine. She sits with her PTSD service dog “Onyx” at a fellow military rape survivor’s home in Biloxi, Mississippi.
Military rape survivors Jennifer Norris and Jessica Hinves, smoke and discuss their assaults late into the night at Jessica’s home in Biloxi, Mississippi. Jennifer Norris was drugged and raped by her recruiter after joining the US Air Force when she was 21 years old. In tech school, she fought off the sexual assault of her instructor and later evaded the advances of her commanders. “It’s like being in a domestic violence marriage that you can’t get divorced from,” she said. Norris reported the assaults, rape and harassment and saw her attackers punished but then suffered a sustained campaign of retaliation by her peers at work. Jessica Hinves, was an Air Force fighter jet mechanic when she was raped by a member of her squadron at Nellis Air Force Base. The case against her rapist was thrown out the day before the trial was to begin by a commander who said “Though he didn’t act like a gentleman, there was no reason to prosecute.”
TSgt Jennifer Norris was drugged and raped by her recruiter after joining the US Air Force when she was 21 years old. She testified on Capitol Hill before the sparsely attended House Armed Services Committee hearing to discuss sexual misconduct by basic training instructors at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.
TSgt Jennifer Norris was drugged and raped by her recruiter after joining the US Air Force when she was 21 years old. Nancy Parrish, President, Protect Our Defenders, comforts her as she breaks down after testifying before the sparsely attended House Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, to discuss sexual misconduct by basic training instructors at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.
Suzie Champoux mourns the death of her daughter, Army Sgt. Sophie Champoux who committed suicide under suspicious circumstances after being repeatedly raped while in the US Army. She visits her daughter’s grave in Clermont, Florida.