Victims hope military will hold sexual abusers within their ranks accountable
TAMPA, Fla. - The military needs to hold its own people accountable for sexual harassment and assault, says a Tampa attorney, who represents service members and has testified in a congressional hearing.
In a subcommittee hearing on sexual assault and harassment in the military, Congressmembers wanted to hear where the military comes up short and invited survivors and advocates to share solutions.
"There’s an epidemic of sexual assault in the military," said U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, (D-New York). "The Department of Defense’s most recent survey estimated that almost 21,000 service members were sexually assaulted in 2018. That makes them more likely to be raped by their fellow service members than shot by the enemy in war."
One military spouse shared how the system failed her.
"The Air Force promising survivors maximum support after reporting an assault, but that is not what I felt following my decision coming forward," said Amy Marsh, a sexual assault survivor.
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Tampa attorney Natalie Khawam of Whistleblower Law Firm represents service members who are survivors, and she said there’s no independent way to report what happened.
"The need to take sexual assault out of the chain of command is a necessary and important step to give some kind of assurance to our victims, to our soldiers," said Khawam.
One of Khawam’s cases involves Fort Hood Specialist Vanessa Guillen. Her family, whom Khawam represents, said Guillen planned to file a sexual harassment complaint against her harasser who was also a soldier. But then she was brutally murdered last year.
"The DOD has to take care of this issue because otherwise, it’s going to continue to happen in our military," said Khawam.
The U.S. Army recently released a report finding systemic failures around sexual harassment and assault at Fort Hood, and Wednesday’s hearing aims to help find solutions to fix problems at all military bases.
"You’re still having the same system at MacDill as they have at Fort Hood and Fort Bragg and everywhere else. So what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to find justice for all," said Khawam.
Advocates hope for action. One senator plans to introduce a bill called the "I Am Vanessa Guillen Act" that would change how the military handles sexual harassment and assault claims.