One man and three women who were sexually assaulted and harassed in the military shared their personal experiences with a Senate subcommittee Wednesday morning–the first hearing on sexual assault in the military in 10 years.
Former Army Sgt. Rebekah Havrilla, who was raped by a fellow service member while serving in Afghanistan, recounted how she sought guidance from an Army chaplain after she unexpectedly encountered her assailant a year after the assault, and the chaplain told her it was “God’s will” that she was raped.
“I was so re-traumatized from the unexpectedness of seeing him that I removed myself from training and immediately sought out assistance from an Army chaplain who told me, among other things, that the rape was God’s will, and that God was trying to get my attention so that I would go back to church,” Havrilla told the subcommittee on personnel for the Senate Committee on Armed Services Wednesday.
Havrilla’s statement about the military chaplain prompted Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., to request she supply the name of the army chaplain at a later time, and Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said she was “furious” about the incident.
Six months after she re-encountered her rapist, Havrilla was informed by a friend that the perpetrator had taken pictures of her during the rape and posted them on pornographic websites. This prompted Havrilla, who previously had only filed a restricted report on the assault, to file an unrestricted report and a full investigation was conducted, during which Havrilla had to describe in detail to a male Criminal Investigation Division agent what was happening in the photographs – a question and answer period that lasted four hours.
Havrilla’s assailant later admitted to what he described as “consensual” sex while he was married, but the chain of command opted not to charge him with the assault or adultery and closed the case.
“The military criminal justice system is broken,” Havrilla said.
Read more here and view the Video:
Categories: Americas, United States