This Op-Ed paper by Marissa Wolfe is about sexual abuse in the army. There are high suicide rates in women in the army from unreported cases of rape and from verbal abuse after reporting rape. The US government has set up a department for reporting posttraumatic stress disorder called the Department of Veterans Affairs. But it doesn't accept even half of rape cases. They make reporting a case of sexual trauma very difficult to prevent someone from lying. Women are constantly in fear that people don't believe them. And sometimes, as in the case of Aimee Sherrod, the cases are not kept confidential. Sherrod was tormented by her superior. A new bill was introduced to "relax the requirements for proving the occurrence of rape or sexual assault that make it difficult to receive benefits and coverage for medical care." There are many cases where there have been no available counseling.
Ms Wolfe believes the Department of Veterans Affairs should be doing more to assist sexually abused women after war. It is good to prevent people from falsely reporting rapes but they made it way too hard for women. They should able to report right after the assault. There should be more psychological outlets for these women. The VA should better integrate the army women into society.
I agree with Ms. Wolfe. All men and women in our army should feel safe and protected, especially in something as secure as the US army. Rape should in no way be taken lightly. Rape has been a highly debated topic like in the Steubenville rape case and stand up comedy. The army is protecting our freedom so we should protect our servicemens freedom.
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