Friday, June 10, 2011

Tailhook

"The events that took place in the 1970’s to the 1990’s, at the Navy and Marine pilots convention known as Tailhook, are among the most public examples of sexual abuse in a military setting. The convention, named after the device that assists airplanes landing on short runways, began in 1956 as a low-key affair but became progressively more rowdy with each passing year. In 1962, the town of San Diego got sick of the antics and banned the event, so it was moved to Las Vegas, where breaking a waitress’s leg while attempting to toss her into a swimming pool and dropping a piano from the fifteenth story of a hotel were accepted as good-natured fun. Another custom that became a routine part of the convention was “ball walking,” which involved letting one’s scrotum hang out of one’s pants while strolling around the convention site. By 1985 the practice of ball walking had become such a popular practice that T-shirts which read, “HANG ‘EM IF YOU GOT ‘EM” were sold on site. When word of this became public, it was justified as a military “custom.” In the Civilian world a man walking around a hotel with genitals exposed is a criminal act known as exhibitionism.

"Senior officers were aware of what took place at Tailhook because they themselves were in attendance and responsible for some of the stranger acts. Vice Admiral Jack Ready was happy to demonstrate his ability to drink a beer while standing on his head. Admiral Bear Taylor showed up to the convention dressed as a Civil War general, complete with a horse, which he rode into the hotel. John Francis Lehman Jr., no less that Secretary of the Navy, liked to have a naked stripper dance over him as he lay on the floor, while other attendees cheered him on. With role models such as these, attendees began to think they were entitled to do whatever they wanted, and the citizens of America ought to fund it as well. The aviators who were not within driving distance were flown there on military transports, or flew “their” F-14s or A-6s  to the event. The military’s estimate of the cost of fuel, maintenance, and wear and tear on planes of this type is $3,00 per hour. Some pilots few government planes all the way from the East Coast to the convention. In addition to flying the taxpayers’ planes to the event, many of the officers were also drawing a per diem, so that U.S. taxpayers not only funded their partying but also paid the officers while they partied.

"Even commanders who did not personally attend the convention knew what took place, because military newspapers published yearly summaries of the events. in 1990 a base newspaper reported that none of the officers who had attended “were convicted of any crimes, felonies, that is.” The article wen on to describe the convention as “characterized by celebration, joviality, and debauchery.” In one suite alone, fifteen cases of liquor, forty kegs of beer, and 450 gallons of margaritas containing 315 gallons liters of tequila were consumed.
Most Americans had never heard of the Tailhook Association until 1991, when Las Vegas did not live up to its motto, “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” The incidents that took place at Tailhook that year were no different than those of others [sic] years, except that they became public knowledge.
As in previous years, the third floor hallway was the site of ‘the Gauntlet,’ where male officers lined both sides of the hall waiting for a woman to approach, then two male officers would get behind her to prevent her from escaping once the men began grabbing her breasts and crotch and attempting to remove her clothing/ Hotel security had learned from pas experience to protect their female security personnel by keeping them off the notorious third floor. Other women were not so fortunate. By the time this convention was over, at least eighty-three women had been sexually assaulted. Many of the women made it clear they did not welcome such treatment by screaming, kicking, and punching. Since some of the officers had their penises exposed, the women thought they were about to be gang raped. The female victims included civilians, Naval and Air Force officers, government officials, spouses of military personnel, and a teenage girl who was provided with enough liquor that she passed out. She was stripped naked, lifted into the air, and passed down the line from officer to officer to be fondled before being left on the floor in a semiconscious state. Seven men were also sexually assaulted.

"After it was all over, the President of the Tailhook Association, Captain Rick Ludwig, sent a letter to the members noting the convention was “the most successful” and senior leadership had been “thoroughly impressed and immensely enjoyed their time.” He did mention “five separate reports of young ladies, several of whom had nothing to do with Tailhook,” had been, “verbally abused, had drinks thrown on the, were physically abused, and were sexually molested.” When word of this letter became public, Naval officer Lawrence Garrett, stated, “No man who holds a commission in this Navy will ever subject a woman to the kind of abuse in evidence that Tailhook ‘91 with impunity.” Sean O’Keefe, another Naval officer, held a press conference and announced, “Sex [sic] harassment will not be tolerated, and those who don’t get the message will be driven from our ranks.” President George H. Bush invited Lieutenant Paula Coughlin, one of the women assaulted, to dinner in the white house and assured her that justice would be done. A task force was formed to investigate the matter and met twenty-one times over a five-month period.

"Over one million dollars was spent to question more than 1,500 officers of the 5,000 who had attended the convention. However, the Secretary of the Navy, Lawrence Garrett, Vice Admiral Richard Dunleavy, the Chief of Naval Aviation, and the seventy-one admirals who attended the convention were not interviewed. The Inspector General, George Davis, attempted to interview these high-ranking personnel but was told by higher-ups that such questioning would not be useful to the investigation. A several-hundred-page report was released indicating was there enough evidence to file charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice for crimes that included conduct unbecoming an [sic] officer,  indecent exposure, indecent assaults, making false statements to investigators (lying), a obstruction of justice. Naval Judge Captain William Vest Jr. noted the Admiral Frank Delso had lied under oath and manipulated the investigations so as to “shield his own personal involvement in Tailhook ‘91.” The Admiral’s punishment was to retire two months earlier than he had planned. Despite having enough evidence to charge over 300 officers with crimes, the only seventy were recommended for disciplinary action. All but one were junior officers. No high-ranking personnel were held accountable. Higher-ups insisted that, even though Captain Rick Ludwif, the President of the Tailhook Association, who had written the letter after the convention, was not the senior officer in attendance, he ought to be held accountable for any misbehavior that took place. He was so distressd by the way his comrades ostracized him that he eneded up in a psychiatric hospital.
After two years, the Navy and the Department of Defense and completed a total of seen investigations that cost U.S. taxpayers three million dollars . The Marines who had been charged with crimes were cleared or given nonjudicial punishments. Of the 120 Naval personnel charged, 50 percent of the cases were thrown out for lack of evidence, and most of the rest resulted in a letter of caution and forfeiture of pay. Despite the lack of any meaningful action taken, Admiral Frank Kelso went to far as to claim, “Something like Tailhook is not going to happen again. Tailhook also brought to light the fact that we had an institutional problem in how we treated women.” He spoke in the past tense, as if change had taken place. He was being far too optimistic. Institutional change had not taken place and sexual abuse would continue in the Navy and the rest of the armed forces."

- Dr. Mic Hunter, Sexual Abuse in America's Military

Thursday, May 5, 2011

The definition of a "good" Military Wife

Disclaimer: I thought it was obvious, but I’ll explain. This is not what I think is a good military wife. It was the ideal I was told to strive for, and I wholeheartedly disagree.

Warning: Harsh Language

The definition of a “good” military wife is pretty much the same as the definition of a “good” wife. Someone who does whatever her husband says. She is someone who is quite and does not bother her husband. She is someone who is pretty, graceful, skinny, and doesn’t speak her mind so her husband can take her to parties without being afraid of repercussion. She is sexy, but not sexual.

She is agreeable, doesn’t complain no matter what happens to her, and is all about her husband’s career. She always puts aside her wants and needs for her husbands career. If something bad happens to her she always thinks of her husband’s career first, and doesn’t do anything about it if it could in anyway make the military or her husband look bad.

If her husband hits her she is quiet because she wouldn’t want anything to happen to her husbands rank or what his superiors think of him. If her husband starts abusing drugs and/or alcohol she will say nothing, because his career comes before her and everyone’s safety.

If the military does something wrong to her and her husband she mustn’t say a word. She must bend over and let the big fat cock of the military fuck her in the ass in a last futile act to save her husbands career. And when that’s over she must remain quiet because it’s not like anyone would believe what the military did to her and her husband anyway.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011


Rape victims in military doubly abused, lawsuit alleges

Officers punishing plaintiffs, group argues in lawsuit  02:54 AM By Kimberly Hefling ASSOCIATED PRESS
CLIFF OWEN | ASSOCIATED PRESS Veterans Kori Cioca, 25, of Wilmington, Ohio, left, and Panayiota Bertzikis, 29, of Somerville, Mass., both say they were assaulted and raped while serving in the Coast Guard.
WASHINGTON - A group of U.S. veterans who say they were raped and abused by their comrades want to force the Pentagon to change how it handles such cases.
More than a dozen women and two men who are current or former service members said servicemen get away with rape and other sexual abuse, and victims too often are ordered to continue to serve alongside those who they say attacked them.
In a federal class-action lawsuit filed yesterday that names Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his predecessor, Donald H. Rumsfeld, they say they want an objective third party to handle such complaints because individual commanders have too much say in how allegations are handled.
The accused include an Army criminal investigator and an Army National Guard commander. The abuse alleged ranges from obscene verbal abuse to gang rape.
In one incident, an Army reservist said two male colleagues raped her in Iraq and videotaped the attack. She complained to authorities after the men circulated the video to colleagues.
She said charges weren’t filed because the commander determined that she “did not act like a rape victim” and “did not struggle enough” and because authorities said they didn’t want to delay the return of the accused to the United States.
“The problem of rape in the military is not only service members getting raped, but it’s the entire way that the military as a whole is dealing with it,” said Panayiota Bertzikis, one of the plaintiffs, who said she was raped in 2006. “From survivors having to be involuntarily discharged from service, the constant verbal abuse, once a survivor does come forward, your entire unit is known to turn their back on you. The entire culture needs to be changed.”
Although the Associated Press usually does not identify sexual-assault victims, the suit’s plaintiffs have publicly discussed their cases.
Bertzikis, 29, of Somerville, Mass., now is executive director of the Military Rape Crisis Center. She said she was raped by a Coast Guard shipmate while hiking with him in Vermont. Bertzikis said she complained to her commanding officer, but authorities did not take steps to investigate the matter. Instead, she said, they made her live on the same floor as her attacker and let others call her a liar and whore.
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said in a statement that sexual assault is a wider societal problem and Gates has worked to ensure that the military is doing all it can to prevent and respond to it.
The military already was planning in April to roll out a hot line that victims can call, said Pentagon spokeswoman Cynthia Smith. It has another initiative that encourages service members to help those who are assaulted. In 2005, the military created an office with the aim of preventing sexual assault.
Sarah Albertson, a former Marine corporal and one of the plaintiffs, said one of the hurdles in getting improvements in the system is that commanders do not want marks on their record such as a rape in their unit.

In many of the cases, no charges were filed. In others, those accused faced lesser charges and were allowed to remain in the military, the lawsuit says.
Kori Cioca, 25, of Wilmington, Ohio, described being hit in the face by a superior in 2005 and being raped by the same man soon afterward while serving in the Coast Guard in Bay City, Mich.
Even though the man admitted having sex with her, Cioca said in the lawsuit, she was told that if she went ahead with reporting the sex as a rape, she would be court-martialed for lying.
She said the man pleaded guilty only to hitting her, and his punishment was a minor loss of pay and confinement to the base for 30 days.
She said she was discharged from the military for a “history of inappropriate relationships.”
 - The Columbus Dispatch.




Tips for Resolving Problems with the Military When You Have a Loved One in the Military

As you may already know if you complain to someone higher up in the military your loved one may suffer the repercussions of your complaint. If there is an officer that you trust you can tell them, but to be honest if it’s about something major I don’t suggest going to someone in the military.

Your best option is contacting a senator. Unfortunately it may take a while to get a response. Some people suggest making an appointment with a senator. Make sure you clearly state your situation in your letter or in your notes for your appointment. Bring or send copies of any proof that you have concerning your situation.
I suggest keeping all documents from the military that your loved one receives and know how you can receive copies of documents you may need i.e. hospital records, documentation of on going illnesses, etc. Keep records of your complaints and dates on which incidents happened.

Remain composed whenever you are speaking to anyone who could influence the outcome of the situation. Getting information from or about the military can be very frustrating. Especially the things they don’t want you to hear about. Their websites aren’t updated often and some of the numbers they list are not current. The best military information site I’ve been is www.militaryonesource.com, though I have found no articles that cover this sort of thing.

To be continued.

A List of Military Confinement Facilities

US Disciplinary Barracks Ft Leavenworth KS
(The only Maximum Security Military Prison)

The following are all Medium Security:

Air Force:

AF Regional Confinement Facility, Edwards AFB, CA
AF Regional Confinement Facility, Kirtland AFB, NM
AF Regional Confinement Facility, Lackland AFB, TX

Army:

Army Regional Confinement Facility, Ft. Carson, CO
Army Regional Confinement Facility, Ft. Lewis, WA
Army Regional Confinement Facility Europe, Germany or Mannheim
Army Regional Confinement Facility, Ft. Knox, KY
Army Regional Confinement Facility, Ft. Sill, OK

Navy/Marine Corps:

U.S. Navy Consolidated Confinement Facility, Charleston, SC
U.S. Navy Consolidated Confinement Facility, Miramar, CA

Waterfront Brigs/CCUs (Level I)

Brig/CCU Naval Air Station Jacksonville
U.S. Navy Brig Pearl Harbor, HI
U.S. Navy Brig Puget Sound, WA

Pre-Trial Confinement Facilities (PCFs)

PCF, Great Lakes, IL
PCF, Submarine Base New London, CN
PCF/CCU, Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka
PCF, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

Detention Facilites

Naval Station Roosevelt Roads, PR
Naval Air Station Keflavik, Iceland
Submarine Base Kings Bay, GA
Naval Station San Diego, CA
Naval Station Anacostia, DC
Naval Air Station North Island, CA
Naval Air Station Lemoore, CA
Naval Air Station Meridian, MS
Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, TX
Commander Fleet Activities Sasebo, Japan
Commander Naval Activities Marianas Guam
Naval Support Activity Naples
Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia

Afloat Brigs

USS ENTERPRISE (CVN 65)
USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV 67)
USS NIMITZ (CVN 68)
USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN 69)
USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN 71)
USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73)
USS HARRY S. TRUMAN (CVN 75)
USS KITTY HAWK (CV 63)
USS CONSTELLATION (CV 64)
USS CARL VINSON (CVN 70)
USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72)
USS JOHN C. STENNIS (CVN 74)
USS WASP (LHD 1)
USS KEARSARGE (LHD 3)
USS BATAAN (LHD 5)
USS ESSEX (LHD 2)
USS BOXER (LHD 4)
USS BON HOMME RICHARD (LHD 6)
USS NASSAU (LHA 4)
USS TARAWA (LHA 1)
USS PELELIU (LHA 5)
USS SIMON LAKE (AS 33) (see Note)
USS EMERY S. LAND (AS 39)

USMC

U.S. Marine Corps Brig, Camp Pendleton, CA
U.S. Marine Corps Brig, Camp Hanson, Okinawa
U.S. Marine Corps Brig, Quantico
U.S. Marine Corps Brig, Camp Lejeune, NC
This is definitely not a complete list as I know of a few that are not listed and there are probably many that are kept secret. For a good reason? Who knows. If there is anyone good at keeping secrets it’s the US Military.