I’m sitting upright, perhaps a little too upright, at the conference table. When I glance around, however, I feel my spine relax a bit. After all, if a two star general can sit so casually, it must be alright if I do the same. I then have the thought that’s already crossed my mind a few times today: “How did I wind up in a meeting in the Pentagon to discuss the public health response to military sexual assault?”
The answer is simple enough. My fellow public health classmates and I were enrolled in a class on public health advocacy and we developed and implemented a plan to address the issue of military commanders holding the decision to prosecute sexual assault cases for those under their command. After seeing an article on our efforts in The Hatchet, the Air Force Sexual Assault Response Office reached out to us to have a meeting.
Minutes earlier we walked through the door to see 21 people standing before my five classmates and myself. Nearly half the office was there, though we only expected to meet with two or three people. Each person took great care in introducing themselves and we received a quick overview of the work the Air Force is doing to address sexual assault. We proceeded to discuss the urgency of the issue and how horrific it is for survivors. When we brought up the chain of command, however, we just heard the same response: “We’re focused on prevention.”
Now, as a public health student (in the department of Prevention and Community Health), talking about prevention is music to my ears. With the chain of command, however, we see a culture that is biased and has great potential for abuse of power by commanders. Prevention may very well come from an improved system of prosecution.
Everyone in the room from the general to the social scientists, and from the lawyers to the commanders themselves, however, would not budge an inch on the issue. This, however, was just one of what I hope are many conversations between the military and the greater public health community. Indeed, the military is making strides where other institutions are failing. We may have not agreed, but all were able to leave the meeting looking and shake hands over the idea of a better future for sexual assault survivors.
The efforts are not over to remove the decision to prosecute sexual assault from the military chain of command. Please consider learning more by viewing the documentary The Invisible War. To learn how to take action, you can also find more information from Protect Our Defenders.