I have been in the military and I have observed the effects of male superiority indoctrination(I am a 63 yr old male)in the military. It is not a surprise that these are the statistics, regardless of how accurate they may seem to some. This is fact. You may reference Col. Ann Wright(ret) if you doubt their validity. The entire system is set up to dehumanize and marginalize those that do not fit in. Women, generally, do not fit the profile of "fighters" in the sense of violence-prone personalities. I also believe that violence in men/boys is not a natural phenomenon, but is taught by the society. What is needed is a new perspective on problem-solving/conflict resolution. Also, a progressive perspective of all peoples, regardless of ethnicity, race, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, gender or other surface signs of difference is needed. We will not change the statistics until we change the deep, underlying causes of them.

It takes great courage to speak the truth and ask for a change. It is time to show that courage and make the changes, within.

I am committed to Oneness through Justice and Transformation.

peace,

st john

women just shouldn't join an organization devoted to violence.

That might help.

At one time I planned to be a military officer. I certainly didn't plan to tolerate rape or sexual harassment. I thought a lot about how it could be prevented. I tried out numerous scenarios, including a sexist old platoon sergeant and a popular young Spec-4/harasser who was otherwise the best trooper in the platoon, real-life stuff.

I never came up with an answer.

Ms. Price, I assume that since you say that it should be prevented, you have come up with better answers based on your own military experience. Fantastic! This is desperately needed. Any ethical officer will thank you for any help you can give him or her in fulfilling his or her highest priority: looking out for his or her troops. Any officer who is not interested in that ought never to have been commissioned. Please, for the sake of our nation and for the good of all our fighting women and men in uniform, announce the method you have developed.

1. Yes it's a terrible illness. Yes we should prevent it. Yes rape is bad. So is harassment.

2. What about the science? The science of PTSD is interesting. But you don't care about that. You only care about the politics.

SO you want some politics?

There's lot of politics hiding in the science.

The politics behind the science says -- this country does not WANT an effective treatment for PTSD.

That's why we kick people out of the military for using cannabis.

The science say PTSD is most likely caused by damage to the CB1 cannabinoid receptor, which regulates most of the neurobiological systems that become dysfunctional in a person with PTSD.

Why do so many women end up traumatized in the military?

If we think of PTSD as a PHYSICAL BRAIN INJURY -- to the area of the hippocampus where most of the brain's CB1 receptors live -- then it could be that trauma can accumulate in the brain throughout a person's life.

Perhaps the hippocampus can only take so many assaults by stress chemicals before it gets fried enough to create chronic PTSD.

So all of the previous exposure women have had to sexual violence and harassment could make them more vulnerable to PTSD when they join the military.

That's my guess, from looking at the science you guys don't think is credible enough to ever mention in Salon articles on PTSD.

...and regular duty army and guard since 1994, i've got to say the efforts by army command to set a tone and provide support are pretty good. our local vet counseling center, where i go for help with post traumatic stress disorder, added a female counselor three months ago and my wife is very glad to be able to see a female.

briefings regarding sexual harassment and the hotline for reporting crimes like rape and assault are required twice a year i think.

but, you'll find everything stupid in the army. so X amount of sexual crime is there along with X amount of any bad behavior. there's all kinds of risky behavior, criminal behavior, etc.

there's some very tough female soldiers on the front lines. many times i've seen females pulling duty as gunners as well as other combat patrol duties. it's not that they're in a combat unit, but in Iraq there's no safe area outside the wire so every mission is a combat mission.

thank you to female veterans!

I thought at least a quarter of female college students report being raped or sexually assaulted. What is the percentage of women in the rest of society who report being raped or sexually assaulted while working? Is it higher or lower than in the military? By how much?

As other letters pointed out, anything you find in society you will find in the military. A number (ha!) like "nearly a third" is useless without context.

Historically, rape has been considered as one of the "spoils of war." Even in peacetime, accurate statistics aren't available because of the stigma of rape and women's refusal to report it. At least 60% of sexual assaults aren't reported to the police and 73% of rape victims know their assailants. Statistics from RAINN (anti-sexual assault organization), http://www.rainn.org/statistics.

So do you think that female soldiers are going to report this abuse by their fellow troops? And what would happen if women soldiers began to report this regularly? How long would it take for the military establishment to fully support and punish the offenders? Do you see this happening any time soon?

For further reference, please read Dorothy Q Thomas' and Regan E. Ralph's article: Rape in War: Challenging the Tradition of Impunity: http://www.hrw.org/women/docs/rapeinwar.htm

Today we have swung to the other assinine extreme and call them heroes.

When will we understand they are only human beings, like the rest of us. Not until then will we give them the care they need, including psychological treatment.