Civilian Panel Sought to Probe Sex Abuse

Twenty women who claim they were raped or sexually harassed while serving in the military joined two congresswomen Tuesday to call for a civilian commission to investigate sexual misconduct in the nation’s armed forces.

The women formed a group in February in response to the sex scandal at the Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland and, coincidentally, conducted their Tuesday press conference shortly before a drill instructor at that base was found guilty on a variety of sexually related charges, including 18 of 19 counts of rape.

At their press conference, the women--representing all branches of the military--distributed sheets identifying each member of their group, Survivors Take Action Against Abuse by Military Personnel(STAMP) and describing in stark detail their allegations of abuse.

The women said that in each case they filed complaints, only to have them ignored because the alleged abuser was the person to whom they were required to report such violations or because they were reporting to a friend of the person they were accusing.

Their experiences, they said, demonstrate that the military’s reliance on following the chain of command makes it incapable of policing itself for sexual abuse. Given that, the women expressed their staunch support for a bill to create an independent commission to investigate reports of sexual abuse in the military.

The bill’s sponsors, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Louise McIntosh Slaughter (D-N.Y.), joined the women at the press conference.

“These women entered the military to defend our country,” Maloney said. “Too often, they had to defend themselves against their superiors. In all of these cases, there was no enforcement. They became the victims not only in the assault but in the justice system.”

Dorothy Mackey, STAMP’s executive director and a former Air Force captain, who said that she was sexually harassed for two years by superiors before retiring in 1992, said that she and the group’s other members consider sexual abuse rampant in the military.

“We’re here to assert that this is not limited to Aberdeen or the Army,” she said.

“Our members come from all five branches, from three generations--and each of us has our own experience of assault, harassment, intimidation from our commands and retaliation from our peers and superiors, Mackey said. “We’re glad some members of Congress are finally recognizing this and beginning to act.”

The women want Congress to conduct hearings that would include testimony by those alleging sexual abuse in the military. They also are calling on lawmakers to establish permanent civilian oversight of the armed forces on the issue.

“Our experience and our examination of the issue as a whole make it clear to us that a permanent check on the military’s closed system is necessary,” the group said in a statement.

Stacey Tyler, a member of the group, said she was raped at gunpoint when she was a 17-year-old cadet at West Point in 1993 but waited a year before she reported the alleged incident. Only when she saw another woman being harassed did she come forward, she said.

Her commanders, she said, called her a Satan-worshiper, delusional and a troublemaker. This response, she added, did not surprise her.

“I knew I wouldn’t be believed,” she said. “You face extreme retaliation or reprisal when you report this.”

Tyler quit West Point and is now finishing her undergraduate schooling at UC Berkeley.