Sexual violence and sexual harassment have reached epidemic levels within all branches of the United States Military. The numbers are simply staggering. The Department of Defense estimates that in 2011, there were 19,000 violent sexual crimes committed within the military. But due to a severe lack of institutional support, the overwhelming majority of these never got reported. Many survivors, both women and men, are all too aware that reporting will likely never lead to justice against their attacker and that they themselves will be punished with backlash, often ending with their involuntary discharge. The system keeps victims silent by design.
The Invisible War is an Oscar nominated documentary feature made in 2012 by director Kirby Dick and producer Amy Ziering. By interspersing the powerful stories of survivors from all branches of the military with interviews of retired Generals and high level Department of Defense representatives, the film paints a complex and disturbing picture of what victims of sexual assault in the military are faced with. One of the more prominent stories is that of Seaman Kori Cioca of the U.S. Coast Guard. After being raped by her commanding officer, she was left with a broken jaw. She was refused treatment at the time because officials didn’t want “to cause trouble”. Years later, she was still fighting to get the VA to cover the treatment for insufferable pain in her jaw. Each of the other women shares a similarly heartbreaking story of violence followed by gross mistreatment.
This provocative film has brought light to an inconceivable state of affairs, making the plight of these survivors just a little less invisible. It launched the #NotInvisible twitter campaign where survivors and their supporters can find information and share their experiences. Two days after viewing the film, former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta issued a directive that sexual assault cases must be handled by senior officers of the rank of Colonel or higher. The directive ended the conflict of interest caused by unit commanders deciding whether or not to prosecute cases within their own units. In November 2013, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand introduced the Military Justice Improvement Act, a bill that would take the investigation and prosecution processes out of the hands of the military almost completely. In March of 2014, the bill failed to break a filibuster, and died.
In an annual report released by the Pentagon in May 2014, it was revealed that more than 5,000 reports of sexual assault were made in 2013. This is a 50 percent increase over the previous year. Many people credit the film for helping to create an environment where victims feel more comfortable going forward. But there is still much work to be done. Of those 5,000 assaults, court-martial proceedings were only brought against 838 alleged offenders. Of those 838, only 370 convictions were made.
On Thursday, May 7, the Democratic Women of Tioga County will present a screening of The Invisible War. The event will take place at the Treadway Inn in Owego beginning at 6 p.m. At the end of the screening, there will be guided discussion of the film and the issues facing our brave men and women in the military. Light refreshments will be served.
Tickets are available for a $10 donation through the Democratic Women of Tioga County Facebook page. This is a great opportunity to gain insight into this unthinkable problem and to discuss the changes necessary to protect our brave young men and women in uniform.
