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comieface530
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Name: Comieface
Location: United States
Gender: Female
Interests: arts/crafts * martial arts * music * internet * gardening * video games * photography * volleyball
Expertise: eating. sleeping. internet.
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Member Since:
7/11/2002
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| Hellooooo! Does anyone use Xanga anymore? 
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| I normally don't get passionate about featured posts, but I'm pretty pissed off about this one. Say anything you want about the war, the quality of Soldiers we've been recruiting, but you canNOT tell me that the ARMY has been sitting quietly about sexual assaults. (and you can most definately say anything about the Navy, Marines and especially Air Force...j/k)
I am a female in the ARMY. I have been a UNIT VICTIM ADVOCATE (UVA) for almost 2 years, my other peers have been a UVA for about 4 years. I'm not in the Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force, or Marines. I've only been in a few posts, and there are many out there. The posts I've been to has a strong Sexual Assault program.
People believe the media and their statistics - but ironically the one thing I learned in Statistics was that you can't believe them because they're always biased. Yet people still believe them.
CNN reported about sexual assaults in the military. They had pretty staggering numbers, but were they justified statistics? The stats don't break down male vs. female cases or military vs. civilian assaults on a Soldier. The stats also don't break down that number by branches of the military - so roughly over 2,200 vs. how many service members in the military? In that case, it's a very low percentage of sexual assault cases (not that it needs to go ignored). Additionally, the majority who actually see combat in Iraq are MEN. That's why only over 100 females died in Iraq - because we rarely are put out of the wire.
1) The Army's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program took off immediately. There is an annual training for every Soldier about 2-3 hours long. Additionally, leaders must attend extra training, also about 2 hours long. There are policies designed for VICTIMS to report this case to law enforcements or keep it confidential. The Army discovered that more than half the sexual assault cases were going unreported because the victims were afraid that they would get in trouble for their other actions (i.e. underage drinking, drinking in Iraq/Afghanistan, etc) or they feared being targeted by the perpetrator or their own fellow Soldiers. When that policy was implemented, the SARCs found more Soldiers who reached out to them for treatment. This way, the victims know they are not alone in the process and has the support they need to become the strong women that they are. (In a way, we're glad that the program is getting to some people and is working, but we are disheartened by the number of cases we receive).
Unit Victims Advocates are Soldiers and civilians. The Sexual Assault Prevention Coordinator is generally a civilian, but the ones who are in the sandbox are mainly Soldiers. It's a 40-hour course and a mandatory annual 40-hour training or we lose the certification.
Every post has a Sexual Assault Response Coordinator (SARC) who will assign a Unit Victims Advocate (2 per unit) to a victim. This program has good relations with Criminal Investigations, Military Police, and the hospital to make sure the victim gets the proper care and courtesy that he/she deserves.
Not only that, sexual assaults bring down the morale of a unit...and when a unit's morale is down, that's not good for missions, whether it be Africa, Iraq, Korea, Japan, or the States.
Sexual assault is defined in regulations and policy letters. If it's in regulation, you are most certainly subjected to UCMJ action!
2) The program, while implemented, will be a slow change for the traditional Army mindset (culture). There are still leaders who believe that females don't deserve leadership positions and that we belong in the kitchen, so they will choose their "bros" to be in charge of Soldiers than a deserving female. It still happens everyday. Drinking and driving still happens everyday. That's what the trainings are for - to change the mindset for leaders and Soldiers alike and provide awareness for Soldiers that, God forbid, if they become a victim, they WILL be protected. It's up to the LEADERS to carry on the policy.
(and a side note: if the trainers aren't taking their own class seriously, why should the rest of the unit?)
In my personal opinion, if there are Soldiers (male OR female) that are harassed, made fun of, and treated like shit because they were sexually assaulted, then their leaders need to take action or get fired and a bad rating on their evaluation reports. Sexual assault that is ignored can be a career-ender for senior leadership, so they must take this seriously! How are you an effective leader if you can't even take care of your troops?
I'm going to use Mothers Against Drunk Driving as an example. MADD is an organization that's been around as long as I can remember. Does that mean we, if America is an organization, are a failed organization because there are still high numbers of DUI's and citizens killed by drunk drivers? People will do what they want to do - but we provide the education necessary to decrease the number of incidents and provide awareness that this is a systemic problem.
I'm not saying to ignore it. But the Army DOES have policies in place, educational awareness, training for commanders and leaders, and the personnel necessary for whatever incidents happen. We aren't happy about sexual assaults, DUI's, domestic violence (that the majority of the sexual assault cases are), and gender role issues. But we have come a long way from 0 programs in place to an entire agency on every post. Find me a General who wants to explain why he has no Sexual Assault program on his post.
Policies and regulations are always changing as we learn more and more about cases, prosecution, and awareness between sexual HARASSMENT and ASSAULT.
We also have a lot of victims who "cry rape." But that's up to law enforcements to investigate. Imagine if that came out, now Soldiers think every victim who cries rape is just faking it.
Oh, off the topic here: it doesn't matter whether the woman slept with 100 men or walked down the street wearing fishnet stockings, a short skirt with no panties, and a see-through top --- she did NOT ask to be assaulted. That is the mindset this program is trying to change! Disagree as you may, but it's not just the military that needs sexual assault training. If you were a juror in a sexual assault case involving a prostitute, would you find her attacker guilty? It's also up to the victim -- have a battle buddy and knowing how to be less of a target. MALE OR FEMALE.
Thank you for reading this long post, but I had to put it out there. There are people, programs and policies in place for the Army. Leaders must enforce this, and trainers must take their training seriously, and people (civilian AND military) must be smart about becoming less of a target.
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| On teaching adding/subtracting binary numbers:
"You've been taught that 10-1=9. Well, it's not. It's 255."
When one student still didn't understand:
"Just accept it as a reality."
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| http://www.kpopmusic.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=142:tony-ahn-enters-the-military&catid=1:entertainment-
WHY is he NOW entering the Korean military when *I* am NOT stationed in Korea??!?!?! Didn't he know that his future wifey was in Korea?!??! I must get stationed back in Korea for the sole purpose of being his supervisor...provided that he signs up to be a KATUSA (Korean Augmentee To the United States Army) and ends up serving his 2 years in an American unit. I would DIE for that opportunity. Contrary to popular belief, he outranked Kang Ta in hotness <3 *sigh*
Tony Ahn enters the military
Written by Dave
Tuesday, 04 November 2008 21:10
Tony Ahn (former H.O.T. group member) enters the military
As his required duty, singer Tony Ahn (from kpop legend group H.O.T) joined the Korean military this week on November 4th. He will be receiving 5 weeks of formal training before his initial assignment. At age 30, he has had many years of success in the entertainment industry. Best wishes to Tony Ahn from all his fans! | | |
| I had my hopes & dreams dashed.
I've been getting evaluated for PRK for the past 3 weeks, and at the final evaluation, the doc said that my eyes are still unstable. It was a close call, but he said he wanted to be safe than sorry and come back next year (I won't be here next year!!)
It didn't dawn on me until I arrived here in OK how dependent we blind folks are with glasses/contacts. At the ranges, the dust blows into my eyes so often that I have to wear glasses, but then I need inserts for the ballistic eye-wear that's mandatory for EVERY training event (which happens from Week 3-8 of every Basic Training cycle).
Let's say someone steals my ballistic eye-protection (which isn't cheap, btw) WITH my prescription inserts. Because I have to physically go to Optometry, reorder them, and physically pick them up, I'd have to wear my regular glasses (that are so thick they might as well be ballistic eye-wear) for 1-2 weeks until the inserts are ready. I'm glad we made great advances in technology that the military is still processing things manually. Or maybe it's just Oklahoma. I'm not sure yet.
Oh the horror that I'm not wearing ballistic eye-protection during training that requires all top leadership presence!
I can't imagine the day when I'm not dependent on my glasses/contacts! How free I will be! I can sleep without worrying if my contacts will stick to my eyes! I can swim and actually see the other side of the pool! I can drive and wear non-prescription sunglasses when the sun is shining brightly outside!
So...I'm still waiting for that day...
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