USA, woman soldier’s sexual nightmare in Iraq

This video from the USA is called Sexual Assault in the Military.

From Komo news (Oregon, USA):

By Tracy Vedder

EUGENE, ORE. – Another Fort Lewis soldier is refusing to go to Iraq, but this time, it’s a woman.

And she claims she was the victim of ongoing sexual assault and harassment during her first tour in the country.

Military police brought Suzanne Swift back to Fort Lewis in handcuffs Tuesday.

She’s accused of deserting her military police unit just before they were supposed to go back to Iraq.

But her attorney says she was afraid — not of the danger in Iraq, but of her fellow soldiers.

Swift joined the Army in 2002, signing up for a 5-year stint with the military police. In February of 2004, Swift and her MP brigade deployed to Karbala, Iraq.

There, her attorney and her mother both say she was repeatedly sexually harassed by five sergeants.

“Sergeants will make bets on who can make which private, female private, their private,” Swift’s mother Sara Rich says that her daughter told her.

Another sergeant allegedly forced the 21-year-old specialist into a sexual relationship.

“She was afraid for her life if she didn’t do this,” explains Swift’s attorney Larry Hildes, “because of the power that he had over her.”

Hildes says Swift didn’t believe she could say no.

“He could send her into combat,” he said.

“He could not provide support for her, he could demote her, he could demand that she be discharged.”

Hildes says Swift reported the harassment to her superiors at least five times, and the only discipline was a single letter of reprimand.

See also here.

Sexual harassment in US armed forces: here.

USA: Sexual Abuse Victim Compares Military Service to Being Trapped In ‘Domestic Violence Relationship’: here.

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