This is pretty horrifying stuff. An investigation done by the Associated Press found that “more than 80 military recruiters were disciplined last year for sexual misconduct with potential enlistees.� Over 100 women who wanted to join the military this year were abused by recruiters--raped, assaulted, and groped.
...The cases occurred across all branches of the military and in all regions of the country."This should never be allowed to happen," said one 18-year-old victim. "The recruiter had all the power. He had the uniform. He had my future. I trusted him."
Check out these stats:
The Army, which accounts for almost half of the military, has had 722 recruiters accused of rape and sexual misconduct since 1996.At least 35 Army recruiters, 18 Marine Corps recruiters, 18 Navy recruiters and 12 Air Force recruiters were disciplined for sexual misconduct or other inappropriate behavior with potential enlistees in 2005.
Some of the recruiters say that the misconduct was nothing more than consensual romantic relationships--not assault. But the power differential--not to mention the ages of the women (most were between 16-18 years old)--makes that kind of a lame-ass excuse.
...Recruiters insist the victims were interested in them, and sometimes the victims agree. Sometimes they even dated."I was persuaded into doing something that I didn't necessarily want to do, but I did it willingly," said Kelly Chase, now a Marine Corps combat photographer, whose testimony helped convict a recruiter of sexual misconduct last year.
Anita Sanchez, director of communications at the Miles Foundation, a national advocacy group for victims of violence in the military, bristles at the idea that the enlistees, even if they flirt or ask to date recruiters, are willingly having sex with them.
"You have a recruiter who can enable you to join the service or not join the service. That has life-changing implications for you as a high school student or college student," she said. "If she does not do this her life will be seriously impacted. Instead of getting training and an education, she might end up a dishwasher."
..."Any recruiter that would try to claim that, 'Oh, it's consensual,' they are lying, they are lying through their teeth," said former Marine Corps recruiter Ethan Walker. "The recruiter has all the power in these situations."
After an Indiana National Guard recruiter was charged with 31 counts of rape and misconduct charges, military officials in the state actually implemented a "No One Alone" policy. Male recruiters can’t be alone with any female enlistee--anywhere. It remains to be seen if other states will follow suit.
I don't know what the answer is here, but there has to be something better than just attempting to keep recruiters away from teen girls. Cause I'm guessing if they really want to, they'll figure out a way to get these girls alone.
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The answer is called zero tolerance. Ethics classes teach principles that make this one an easy call. The military institutes a rule, similar to the one about fraternizing between officers and enlisted personel, that says that no recruiter under any circumstances may engage in any form of fraternizing with recruitees.
Period.
Start with that rule and work your way out from there. "No one alone" is a good rule to add on as well. There are no 100% answers but there are rules and procedures that can correct what is clearly a broken and un-supervised situation (those numbers are outrageous!) to the point where it is only the most extreme of cases that remain.
Peace,
Andrew
Wouldn't it be nice if we lived in a world where men refrained from raping women not because there was a rule or law against it but because it's a despicable, hurtful and immoral thing to do to another human being?
*sigh*
You mean a crimeless utopia? It could be nice, I suppose...
Yes. And a pony for everyone. Seriously, there's not already a non-fraternization rule? Hell, most colleges have those, and in that case the students in question are all over 18, most over 21, and the faculty have a lot less control over their students than a recruiter does.
Ah, you're right. Expecting humans to treat each other humanely is clearly a radical notion borne of sheer fantasy.
And sarcasm is difficult to recognize in written text.
If I may take that on a bit of a tangent, it's a bit of chicken and egg problem. How and why do we expect people to treat others humanely? Much of it does, indeed, have to be taught (as everyone who has interacted with toddlers knows - saying "mine" and hitting the other person over the head is not ok). A lot of it comes from social norms as to what constitutes humane treatment, and that is usually codified and reinforced in regulations. So, having rules to fall back on helps to train the new generation of people as to what is and isn't acceptable. Yes, I'd like it if people routinely treated others well, but I'd also like for there to be penalties in place for when they don't, to formalize what is and isn't ok.
Ah, you're right. Expecting humans to treat each other humanely is clearly a radical notion borne of sheer fantasy.
Expecting all humans to treat each other humanely is in fact utopian. Whenever you talk about "not raping women," you should remember that depending on the stats you use, 82-88% of American men aren't rapists, and if the current rape rate remains what it is, this number will increase to 94% eventually. Anti-rape laws exist for the other 6%.
And sarcasm is difficult to recognize in written text.
Sarcastic or not, there are people who really believe that - who really believe in things like the 24-hour truce.
I am new here, was just searching through some stats on instances of sexual misconduct by Army Recruiters. It is sickening to hear how much this goes on. I am the ex-wife of an Army recruiter. This seems to happen on a continual basis with the justification that the contacts are consensual. I am angred to know how much this goes on and that alot of these predators get away with it. I have become friends with a young potential female recruit --that was "dating" my husband while we were married with 3 children.Apparently it didn't end there. Letters were found from another female recruit written while she was in basic--hoping for a romantic relationship and thanking him for being discrete about their "affair". I believe this "man" will continue to abuse his power whenever the opportunity arrises. Mothers---be watchful of letting your daughters travel on extended "trips" with male recruiters. He wasn't the only one in the staion "dating" possible recruits. I'd like to know who I could contact to maybe get this recruiting station looked at for possible misconduct.