Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
CBS
October 28, 2008
CBS Evening News, 6:30 PM
KATIE COURIC: For a soldier, the wounds of war can be felt long after a tour of duty ends and not all of them are inflicted by the enemy. Today, researchers reported that an alarming number of female soldiers have sought treatment for sexual assault committed by fellow soldiers.
Here’s David Martin.
DAVID MARTIN: The study found that one in seven female veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan seeking medical care from the VA suffered sexual trauma – everything from harassment to rape.
Medical records of 125,000 war veterans showed 15 percent of the women reported sexual trauma. That works out to more than 2,600. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, since the study covered only a fraction of the 870,000 war veterans, and none still on active duty.
WANDA STORY [United Female Veterans of America, Inc.]: I do feel that it is much higher than that, and if they could get the records of all the women that have returned that have been sexually assaulted, those that are afraid to come in, they would find that it’s a lot higher.
MARTIN: Wanda Story, who was raped twice during her military service 20 years ago, now heads the United Female Veterans of America. She says the military has done a lot to improve the climate for women, but war makes it worse.
STORY: They’re out there, they’re away from their families, they’re away from their girlfriends, you know, their wives. They see an opportunity.
MARTIN: A recent survey by the Government Accountability Office of just 14 military bases found 103 service members who said they’ve been sexually assaulted in the previous 12 months. Numbers like that produced this jaw-dropping statement by Congresswoman Jane Harman.
REP. JANE HARMAN (D-CA): Women serving in the U.S. military today are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire in Iraq.
MARTIN: And women who suffer sexual trauma are more likely to develop other medical and mental problems. Studies show it ranks as high or higher than combat as a cause of post-traumatic stress disorder.
David Martin, CBS News, the Pentagon.
COURIC: Really disturbing.
October 28, 2008
CBS Evening News, 6:30 PM
KATIE COURIC: For a soldier, the wounds of war can be felt long after a tour of duty ends and not all of them are inflicted by the enemy. Today, researchers reported that an alarming number of female soldiers have sought treatment for sexual assault committed by fellow soldiers.
Here’s David Martin.
DAVID MARTIN: The study found that one in seven female veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan seeking medical care from the VA suffered sexual trauma – everything from harassment to rape.
Medical records of 125,000 war veterans showed 15 percent of the women reported sexual trauma. That works out to more than 2,600. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, since the study covered only a fraction of the 870,000 war veterans, and none still on active duty.
WANDA STORY [United Female Veterans of America, Inc.]: I do feel that it is much higher than that, and if they could get the records of all the women that have returned that have been sexually assaulted, those that are afraid to come in, they would find that it’s a lot higher.
MARTIN: Wanda Story, who was raped twice during her military service 20 years ago, now heads the United Female Veterans of America. She says the military has done a lot to improve the climate for women, but war makes it worse.
STORY: They’re out there, they’re away from their families, they’re away from their girlfriends, you know, their wives. They see an opportunity.
MARTIN: A recent survey by the Government Accountability Office of just 14 military bases found 103 service members who said they’ve been sexually assaulted in the previous 12 months. Numbers like that produced this jaw-dropping statement by Congresswoman Jane Harman.
REP. JANE HARMAN (D-CA): Women serving in the U.S. military today are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire in Iraq.
MARTIN: And women who suffer sexual trauma are more likely to develop other medical and mental problems. Studies show it ranks as high or higher than combat as a cause of post-traumatic stress disorder.
David Martin, CBS News, the Pentagon.
COURIC: Really disturbing.