I have mixed feelings about the military. While I never served, I did come close and I have family that has and does serve currently. I have great respect for men and women that feel strongly about doing what they call "fighting for their country." That said, the military is still filled with people. Regular folks, just like you and me. They do good jobs and bad, make mistakes and make things right. They both mean well and don't--the military is a microcosm of civilization. In that sense, it should be no surprise that there is crime. One of those crimes is rape.



Sadly, women have been pretty much second class citizens until just the past couple of decades and even now, it's more like the 1800s for them--sometimes they get hazed (of course, so do men) and sometimes, they get raped (almost as frighteningly, so do men). And like the civilian world, in the military, rape often goes unreported--of course, as I said, it's more like the 1800s for rape victims.



It's MUCH harder to report a rape if you actually like the military. Just Google "Suzanne Swift" if you don't believe me. She reported being raped by a superior and eventually ended up with him in charge of her. Check out SuzanneSwift.org to read her story.



You can also check out the DemocracyNow.org story that first informed me of the website http://StopMilitaryRape.org/ by going here: http://www.democracynow.org/…n_soldiers



That DN article talks about a conference that took place on International Women's Day, back in March of this year, that featured military women talking about rape and sexual abuse they've experienced or witnessed. Listening to their stories in the audio version of the article was pretty much gut-wrenching (here's the MP3 of the episode if you've got a strong stomach: http://www.archive.org/…1_64kb.mp3 ).



So, if you know anyone who is dealing with rape, please help them get help. If you know anyone who is in the military dealing with rape, point them to http://stopmilitaryrape.org/



Rape, in the military or out, isn't about sex, or even lust. It's about power and control. The people who commit such acts should not get away with it and the people who fall victim need all the help they can get to move on with their lives.

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