Sailor Sentenced to Life for Raping Girl

UPI
May 9, 2012

A U.S. sailor left Guam in Navy custody Wednesday after being sentenced to life in prison for repeatedly raping a girl starting when she was 8 years old.

Petty Officer 1st Class Bradford Laurence Lung, 30, had pleaded guilty Monday to 20 counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in Guam Superior Court, Stars and Stripes reported. He will be eligible for parole in 15 years.

The Guam Pacific Daily News reported the military still intends to prosecute Lung on charges originating outside Guam.

To read the full story at UPI.com, click here.

Additional Reporting:

Sailor Gets Life Sentence for Rape Guilty Plea, Stars and Stripes, May 9, 2012

Guam Sailor Pleads to Molestation Charges, NavyTimes/Pacific Daily News, May 8, 2012

Navy Sailor on Guam Charged in Rape of Young Girl, MercuryNews.com, March 23, 2012

Col. Ann Wright
truthdig.com
May 8, 2012

According to Marine Corps lore, semper fidelis, a Latin phrase for “always faithful,” commands Marines to remain a “brotherhood, faithful to the mission at hand, to each other, to the Corps and to country, no matter what. Becoming a Marine is a transformation that cannot be undone and once made, a Marine will forever live by the ethics and values of the Corps.”

The Marine Barracks in Washington, D.C., is the official residence of the commandant of the Marine Corps. It is the home of the Marines who are the ceremonial guard for the president during official U.S. government functions and the security force for the White House and Camp David. The Marine Band, also located at the Barracks, is known as “The President’s Own.” The Barracks is the showplace of the Marine Corps with its Silent Drill Platoon giving weekly military precision performances for the public during the busy summer tourist season.

But the Marine Barracks has its dark and ugly side. It is also the home of officers and enlisted men of the Marine Corps who have been accused of sexually harassing, assaulting and raping female Marine officers and enlisted and civilian women who work there.

To read the full article at the truthdig.com web site, click here.

Congresswoman Jackie Speier
April 25, 2012

I rise for the 19th time to highlight the epidemic of rape and sexual assault in the military. By the military’s own figures, 19,000 sexual assaults and rapes occur each year, but only 13% of the members of the military actually report them.

Last week I met with Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, along with my colleagues to discuss DOD’s new report of data on rape and sexual assault in the military. The report shows a slight increase in reports of rape and assault, but a startling decrease in the number of charges brought against purported perpetrators. With the decrease in charges came significant decrease in prosecution, punishment, and convictions.

The numbers, frankly, are discouraging. I was only pleased about one thing, Secretary Panetta and I agree the only way to solve this problem is with an increase in prosecution. We agree on the result to be achieved but for right now we do not agree on the steps to achieve it. After our meeting, Secretary Panetta announced new initiatives, but DOD’s three major proposals will not increase prosecutions, convictions, or punishments.

Click the link to view or read Congresswoman Speier’s 19th speech on military rape.

To view Congresswoman Speier’s speeches on military rape, click this usmvaw page link.

For additional information:

Rep. Jackie Speier | Rape and Sexual Assault in the Military

Protect Our Defenders

Letter to STOP Act Co-Sponsors (call to action)

“H.R. 3435, the Sexual Assault Training Oversight and Prevention Act – or STOP Act which would take the reporting, oversight, investigation and victim care of sexual assaults out of the hands of the military’s normal chain of command and place jurisdiction in the newly created, autonomous Sexual Assault Oversight and Response Office comprised of civilian and military experts.”  (Rep. Jackie Speier)

To see the current status of “The STOP Act” click the links below:

STOP Act Summary

The Stop Act: The Sexual Assault Training Oversight and Prevention Act (H.R. 3435)

Jennifer Bendery
Huffington Post
April 25, 2012

The so-called “war on women” raged on in Congress Wednesday as female lawmakers in opposing parties clashed with each other in defense of the Violence Against Women Act, an otherwise bipartisan issue that has fallen prey to election-year fodder.

With the law’s expiration looming in September, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) told reporters at a press event that the best way to ensure its reauthorization is to pass the Senate Democratic plan. The proposal has 61 cosponsors — eight Republicans signed on, which means the bill has enough votes to overcome a Senate filibuster — and has previously passed the Senate with unanimous support. Since 1994, VAWA has provided funds to fight domestic violence and sexual assault, and has increased criminal penalties against perpetrators.

“There is no reason that it should be any different this time,” Murray said of the need for all lawmakers to get behind the Democratic bill.

To read the full article on the Huffington Post, click here.

Additional Reporting:

Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act

Violence Against Women Act Cannot Be a Victim to Politics, National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women,  April 25, 2012

Why We Must Reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act Now, Huffington Post, April 26, 2012

Congress Focuses on Violence Against Women Act, The Washington Post, April 25, 2012

On Renewal of Violence Against Women Act, Senate Democrats Have Upper Hand, Christian Science Monitor, April 25, 2012

House GOP Comes Up With Election-Year Bill to Renew Violence Against Women Act, The Washington Post, April 25, 2012

The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS)

US Department of Justice – Office on Violence Against Women

Rep Speier Speaks Out Against Military Rape on CNN Presents

April 22, 2012

Congresswoman Speier was featured on the April 22, 2012 CNN Presents special “Betrayal of Trust” to talk about her efforts and legislation to end the epidemic of rape and sexual assault in the military.

The special tells the stories of two young women who were raped while serving as cadets at military service academies and then examines their barriers to justice. Congresswoman Speier explains that justice will only be served when cases of rape and sexual assault are taken out of the chain of command structure.

“If you’re not going to have your assailant prosecuted, why would you want to come forward? Because you’re basically setting yourself up to lose your career in the military,” said Speier.

For additional information:

Rep. Jackie Speier | Rape and Sexual Assault in the Military

Speier Critical Over Military’s Handling of Rape,   KGO-TV,  March 7, 2012

Betrayal of Trust? Allegations of Rape at West Point, Annapolis

Protect Our Defenders

Letter to STOP Act Co-Sponsors (call to action)

“H.R. 3435, the Sexual Assault Training Oversight and Prevention Act – or STOP Act which would take the reporting, oversight, investigation and victim care of sexual assaults out of the hands of the military’s normal chain of command and place jurisdiction in the newly created, autonomous Sexual Assault Oversight and Response Office comprised of civilian and military experts.”  (Rep. Jackie Speier)

To see the current status of “The STOP Act” click the links below:

STOP Act Summary

The Stop Act: The Sexual Assault Training Oversight and Prevention Act (H.R. 3435)

Stephanie Schroeder, Anna Moore, Jenny McClendon and Panayiota Bertzikis

Rape Victims Say Military Labels Them ‘Crazy’

David S. Martin
CNN
April 14, 2012

Stephanie Schroeder joined the U.S. Marine Corps not long after 9/11. She was a 21-year-old with an associate’s degree when she reported for boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina.

“I felt like it was the right thing to do,” Schroeder recalls.

A year and a half later, the Marines diagnosed her with a personality disorder and deemed her psychologically unfit for the Corps.

Anna Moore enlisted in the Army after 9/11 and planned to make a career of it. Moore was a Patriot missile battery operator in Germany when she was diagnosed with a personality disorder and dismissed from the Army.

Jenny McClendon was serving as a sonar operator on a Navy destroyer when she received her personality disorder diagnosis.

These women joined different branches of the military but they share a common experience:

Each received the psychiatric diagnosis and military discharge after reporting a sexual assault.

To read the full article at the CNN web site, click here.

Additional Reporting:

Is the Military Labeling Rape Survivors as “Crazy” to Get Rid of Them?  Feministing, April 16, 2012

Rape Victims in Military Given Personality Disorder Diagnosis and Discharged,  The Masculine Heart,  April 15, 2012

Military May Be Gaslighting Sexual Assault Victims, Jezebel, April 14, 2012

Kristina Davis
San Diego Union-Tribune
April 21, 2012

Clues to the killing of a young military wife may reside in a pale yellow Fallbrook Street house in need of a fresh coat of paint.

That’s where 25-year-old Jessica Lynn Lopez, a caretaker for the elderly, and 45-year-old Louis Ray Perez, a Camp Pendleton Marine with a self-described appetite for sadomasochism and bondage, have both lived, along with Perez’s “sex slave,” who owns the Fallbrook home.

And that’s where homicide investigators have scoured for evidence during two middle-of-the night searches, hunting for answers as to how and why Brittany Dawn Killgore ended up in a roadside ditch in Riverside County last week.

To read the full story at the San Diego Union-Tribune web site, click here.

Additional Reporting on this story can be found at the links below:

Brittany Kilgore Suspect’s Suicide Note Led Investigators to Her Body

Marine Connected to Missing Brittany Kilgore

Last Person Seen With Brittany Kilgore Found With Stolen Assault Rifle

Annie-Rose Strasser
Think Progress
April 3, 2012

A federal district court judge ruled yesterday that the military has been too slow to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request for its sexual violence data. There are an estimated 19,000 reports (PDF) of sexual assault in the military each year — a number that is rapidly rising — and both the Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are seeking more information on the problem, arguing that the only way to begin to solve it is to know all the facts.

To read the article at the Think Progress web site, click here.

Additional Information:

ACLU Press Release  April 2, 2012

SWAN and ACLU File Lawsuit Seeking Military Sexual Trauma Records Withheld by Federal Government,  December 13, 2010

Lawsuit Seeks Military Records On Sexual Trauma, The Public Record, December 18, 2010

Image courtesy Friends of Morganne McBeth

Stepmother of Slain Female Soldier Asks Court to Show Leniency

John Lasker
TruthDig
March 25, 2012

Spc. Nicholas Bailey, the second and final suspect charged in the 2010 stabbing death of Army paramedic Morganne McBeth, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter March 9 and later that day was sentenced to nine months in military prison and given a bad-conduct discharge.

Bailey, in a court-martial proceeding at Fort Bragg, N.C., admitted his guilt “as part of a plea deal,” a website of News 14 Carolina reported. He had faced a more severe charge of negligent homicide.

McBeth, a popular 19-year-old from Virginia, was in a tent on a military base in Iraq with Bailey and Spc. Tyler Cain when she was stabbed near the heart.

The case was detailed in a Truthdig article posted last Sept. 20. In that article, McBeth family members described the slain paratrooper as a vivacious young woman who loved to leap from military airplanes and who, as a display of patriotism, occasionally decorated her hair with strands of red, white and blue. They strongly criticized the way the Army investigated and prosecuted the case.

To continue reading this article at TruthDig.com, click here.

“The South Korean Government is constructing a naval base on Jeju Island. Officially named the “Island of World Peace” by the late President Roh Moo Hyun, Jeju was the site of a 1948 massacre in which more than 30,000 civilians were estimated to have been slaughtered during a democratic uprising.

Located strategically in the Korea Strait, the island’s potential to become a military target in the event of an armed conflict in this tense region would increase exponentially with the addition of a naval base. The threat this poses to the men, women and children of Jeju Island is unconscionable, and it can be avoided through halting the base construction.” [Save JeJu Island]

Environment Newswire Service
February 24, 2012

The South Korean Navy is building a military base on Jeju Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site just 300 miles from the Chinese mainland. The base will become a port for U.S. Navy Aegis destroyers outfitted with the missile defense systems that are key to Pentagon planning for this strategic location, surrounded by China, North Korea, Russia and Japan.But the 400-year old Gangjeong fishing and farming village on Jeju Island is being destroyed to build the base. The base site has the cleanest water on the island and the world’s finest lava tube cave system. Endangered soft-coral reefs offshore will be destroyed when the seabed is dredged to get U.S. warships into the port.Today, to demonstrate their opposition to the Gangjeong Naval Base, 150 peace groups from across Korea and around the world are gathering on Jeju. They are attending the 20th annual organizing conference of the nonprofit Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, which is headquartered in Brunswick, Maine.Each year the Global Network holds its conference in a different part of the world. The theme for this year’s conference is “Jeju for Island of Peace.” …

To read the full article at the Environment News Service, click here.

 

 

Additional information about the struggle at Jeju Island can be found here:

Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space