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It is quite extraordinary that there is a clinical name for unwanted sexual experiences that happen in the military.

I think it is really sad because that means there are more victims than what means the eye, and there are definitly more victims suffering in silence that "cannot" or "will not" get the treatment they so desperately deserve.

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Military Sexual Trauma - Women Veterans Health Care

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Military Women: We Got Fired for Being Raped

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Military Women: We Got Fired for Being Raped

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Nobody asks to get raped. NOBODY. The circumstances do not matter, the clothes she is wearing at the time do not matter, and if there is no consent, it is rape. Getting fired for being sexually assaulted is merely brushing a huge problem under the rug because officials think that is the safest and easiest way to deal with it.

This is especially upsetting because in the society we live in today, there are more people speaking publicly about rape and are trying to encourage girls AND boys to report the assault, but when the U.S. Military cannot even enforce a punishment on the rapist or provide support for the victim, it looks like the world is taking 1 step forward, and 100 steps backwards.

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Military women across the country are responding to an NBC Bay Area investigation highlighting the alleged sexual assault and subsequent termination of a former member of the California National Guard. They say Master Sergeant Jessica Brown, a former airman in the 129th Rescue Wing out of Moffett Field, is not alone. They contacted the Investigative Unit to tell their own stories of how they were raped and then forced out of the careers they loved, and to renew their call for greater accountability in the National Guard.

"I was one of many that had a career ended shortly because I simply reported a sexual assault," Jennifer Norris said.

Norris retired as a technical sergeant from the United States Air Force in 2010 and also served in the Maine and Massachusetts National Guards. Norris testified before Congress that during her military career, she was sexually assaulted four times between 1996 and 1998. She says after she finally reported the attacks to her supervisor, she faced retaliation.

"I went back and was blown away at how much disdain and hatred I faced as a result of standing up for what was right and protecting other women," Norris said. "That right in and of itself was the biggest betrayal I ever experienced in my life....When you have zero support and you are alone, it will push you to the place Jessica Brown has been. I have been there."

In 2012, Brown told us about her memories of retaliation after she reported a sexual assault during a training mission in 2007.

"Leadership has been told and they don't do anything about it," she said. "They throw it under the rug."

The California National Guard says it investigated Brown's allegation of sexual assault but her claims were never substantiated. The conflict did not go away and in 2013 Brown says the retaliation she faced after reporting the sexual assault became so unbearable, she tried to end her own life. Hours after that attempt, the Guard confirmed, it hired a courier to serve termination papers to Brown in the hospital.

"My heart broke when I saw her story because I have been pushed to that point," Norris said of Brown. "I have ended up in the hospital wanting to die based on how these folks treated me."

Norris was medically retired from the Air Force for post-traumatic stress disorder due to the military sexual trauma. She said she took multiple prescription medications to help her feel less angry, depressed and anxious and that she came close to ending her life.

"I wanted to die because I basically feel I got fired for being raped," Norris said.

Kate Weber, a retired Army veteran from Sonoma County and Panayiota Bertzikis, a retired Coast Guard veteran currently living in Phoenix also told the Investigative Unit about their experiences in the military. Weber says she was raped in Germany in 1993 when she was a new recruit. Bertzikis says she was raped in 2006 by a fellow shipmate in Burlington, Vermont. Both say they had their careers cut short after reporting their experiences to their supervisors.

"We have been there," Weber said referring to Brown's situation. "We have been pushed to the brink of death and it's not her fault."

Weber, Norris and Bertzikis work for the Military Rape Crisis Center, an organization that advocates for victims of military sexual trauma. Bertzikis started the organization from her barracks in 2007 several months after she was raped. She estimates that 1,900 military veterans and active duty personnel contact the organization yearly to report instances of sexual trauma.

"We definitely see a lot [from] the National Guard," Bertzikis said. "The problem we are seeing in the National Guard is the lack of support within the command."

Military sexual trauma has received a flurry of attention in recent years from members of Congress, such as Rep. Jackie Speier. In April, she reintroduced the Sexual Assault Oversight and Prevention (STOP) Act, which would take investigation of sexual assaults out of the hands of the military and place jurisdiction in an outside, independent entity.

According to Department of Defense reports, an estimated 26,000 military personnel experienced instances of unwanted sexual contact in 2012.

In an email to the Investigative Unit, a spokesperson for the Department of Defense wrote "the leadership of this department has no higher priority than the safety and welfare of our men and women in uniform..." and that since May, the DOD has directed 21 initiatives to enhance commander accountability, ensure appropriate command climate, improve victim support and enhance safety.

The department's preliminary data shows that it has received 5,400 reports of sexual assault in fiscal year 2013, which is a 60 percent increase from the previous fiscal year. The department says the increase in reports indicates a growing level of confidence in its response system.

The NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit contacted the DOD for comments on our latest investigation but a spokesperson said that it does not comment on pending legislation.

In a recent interview, Brown said she is now improving and that if her message is resonating with victims, then speaking out was worth it. Since her suicide attempt last spring, the California Guard terminated Brown from her fulltime status, and she no longer serves as a member of the reserve.

When asked how she reacts to the push to make the military more accountable when it comes to sexual assault, Brown said, "I think it's phenomenal because there is very little accountability."

She also said she advocates for civilian prosecution of military sex crimes.

"We need extra eyes," she said. "We need someone who is not going to be part of the chain of command."
State Legislation
Advocates say that in many cases, federal legislation addressing the reporting and prosecution of sexual crimes does not apply to state military departments.

"A lot of people just assume that because the National Guard is part of the Department of Defense, they automatically have to adhere to the laws of the DOD," Norris said. "Well they don't, because they are a state entity."

Lawmakers in Iowa are now addressing the issue. In January, state senator Steve Sodders introduced a bill requiring commanders in the Iowa National Guard to report incidents of sexual assault outside the chain of command to civilian authorities.

"The goal of the legislation is to have better reporting of sexual assault to law enforcement, but also for the legislature to understand how often this is happening so we have better track of it," Sodders said.

Currently, California has no similar law.

"I would like to California and other states following Iowa's footsteps," Bertzikis said. "The whole system needs to change; the whole National Guard."

A member of the 129th Rescue Wing who is familiar with Brown's situation-and who also asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation-echoed that sentiment.

"The current sexual assault reporting system has failed many very successful career women and there needs to be a change," the source said.

Calls to the California National Guard requesting an interview on the latest developments have not been returned.

If you have a tip for the Investigative Unit email theunit@nbcbayarea.com or call 888-996-TIPS.

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Military Women: We Got Fired for Being Raped

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Military women across the country are responding to an NBC Bay Area investigation highlighting the alleged sexual assault and subsequent termination of a former member of the California National Guard. They say Master Sergeant Jessica Brown, a former airman in the 129th Rescue Wing out of Moffett Field, is not alone.

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Female soilders raise alarm on sexual assaults

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Female soilders raise alarm on sexual assaults

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Military sexual trauma can be: sexual assault, rape, harassment, or unwanted verbal or physical contact of a sexual nature.

My heart goes out to the woman featured in this article. She had to live in fear of her attacker and that is not fair.

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It took Diane Pickel Plappert six months to tell a counselor that she had been raped while on duty in Iraq. While time passed, the former Navy nurse disconnected from her children and her life slowly unraveled.

Carolyn Schapper says she was harassed in Iraq by a fellow Army National Guard soldier to the extent that she began changing clothes in the shower for fear he'd barge into her room unannounced - as he already had on several occasions.

Even as women distinguish themselves in battle alongside men, they're fighting off sexual assault and harassment. It's not a new consequence of war. But the sheer number of women serving today - more than 190,000 so far in Iraq and Afghanistan - is forcing the military and Department of Veterans Affairs to more aggressively address it.

Data incomplete
The data that exists - incomplete and not up-to-date - offers no proof that women in the war zones are more vulnerable to sexual assault than other female service members, or American women in general. But in an era when the military relies on women for invaluable and difficult front-line duties, the threat to their morale, performance and long-term well-being is starkly clear.

Of the women veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who have walked into a VA facility, 15 percent have screened positive for military sexual trauma, The Associated Press has learned. That means they indicated that while on active duty they were sexually assaulted, raped, or were sexually harassed, receiving repeated unsolicited verbal or physical contact of a sexual nature.

In January, the VA opened its 16th inpatient ward specializing in treating victims of military sexual trauma, this one in New Jersey. In response to complaints that it is too male-focused in its care, the VA is making changes such as adding keyless entry locks on hospital room doors so women patients feel safer.

Depression, anxiety, problem drinking, sexually transmitted diseases and domestic abuse are all problems that have been linked to sexual abuse, according to the Miles Foundation, a nonprofit group that provides support to victims of violence associated with the military. Since 2002, the foundation says it has received more than 1,000 reports of assault and rape in the U.S. Central Command areas of operation, which include Iraq and Afghanistan.

In most reports to the foundation, fellow U.S. service members have been named as the perpetrator, but contractors and local nationals also have been accused.

Iraqi men allegedly raped nurse
Plappert, 47, said she was raped by Iraqi men in 2003 at a store in Hillah, when she got separated from her group.

By the time the Navy Reserves commander returned home, she felt like she was "numb."

"I didn't feel anything," she said during an interview at her town home in south-central Pennsylvania. When her kids, now ages 10 and 12, hugged her, "I felt like I was being suffocated."

Plappert's marriage eventually fell apart. She credits treatment at the VA - as well as her artwork depicting trauma and recovery - with helping her reconnect with her children. She left the military and is studying at Drexel University to become a psychiatric nurse practitioner while continuing to work as a civilian nurse.

She said it's hard for people outside a war environment to understand how living in high-stress, primitive conditions can affect your ability to make decisions. She didn't report the attack immediately, she said, because she felt an obligation to continue the mission and not burden others. She also wondered how the report would be perceived.

"What I've got to try to think is that there's got to be some reason why this has happened," said Plappert, who first recounted the assault to a VA counselor and eventually told her story to Defense Department and VA task forces. "I try to find something positive in the event."

Schapper, 35, of Washington, served with the Virginia Army National Guard on an outpost with few other women. She worked well as part of a military intelligence team with the men around her. It was in the down time that things got uncomfortable.

Team leader cited by female soldier
She shared a house with about 20 men, some of whom posted photos of scantily clothed women on the walls. She said her team leader, who lived in the house, frequently barged into her room and stared at her. The experience was unnerving, Schapper said, and she began changing clothes in the shower. But she never filed a formal complaint.

If she complained, Schapper figured, she'd be the one moved - not the other soldier.

"In military intelligence, you work with Iraqis on a daily basis you get to know, and to move me would disrupt the team I was working with as well as disrupt the work I'd already done," Schapper said. "I didn't want to be moved, and basically I'd be punished in a sense."

Schapper said other female troops she has spoken with described similar experiences. One had her picture posted with "Slut of Bayji" written underneath. Another endured having a more senior enlisted soldier ask her favorite sexual position over a public radio, said Schapper, who has met with members of Congress on behalf of the nonpartisan advocacy group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

Since returning to the U.S. in 2006, Schapper has gotten help for post-traumatic stress disorder at the VA in Washington. Group therapy with other Iraq veterans has been helpful, she said, but she wishes there was a women-only group.

Connie Best, a clinical psychologist and professor at the Medical University of South Carolina who retired from the Navy Reserves, said people typically think of sexual harassment as someone making a comment about someone's appearance, but it goes well beyond that. In a war environment, living and working with someone exhibiting harassing behavior can potentially have long-term effects on troops' health and performance.

"There's automatically this thing that sexual harassment is not a big deal, it's not as bad as rape, and indeed it often is not as distressing as a completed sexual assault, but it still can be something that highly affects a person," Best said. Research also has found that working and living environments where unwanted sexual behaviors take place have been associated with increased odds of rape.

After high-profile attacks in Kuwait and Iraq, then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld convened a 2004 task force on the treatment and care of sexual assault victims. One change that followed was the creation of a confidential component in the military's reporting system, so a victim can come forward to get help without necessarily triggering an investigation.

In the fiscal year that ended Oct. 1, 131 rapes and assaults were reported in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Kaye Whitley, director of the Defense Department's sexual assault prevention and response office. Comparing that to previous years isn't possible because of changes in the way data was collected, she said.

The actual number is likely higher than what's reported. Among members of the military surveyed in 2006 who indicated they had experienced unwanted sexual contact, about 20 percent said they had reported it to an authority or organization.

This summer, the Pentagon is bringing experts together to come up with a more aggressive prevention strategy. It also is working with the nonprofit group Men Can Stop Rape to help teach troops how to identify warning signs of problems around them.

When victims do complain, too often the perpetrator is not moved out or punished, said Colleen Mussolino, national commander of the Women Veterans of America.

"You have to be able to trust fellow soldiers and if you can't do that, you're basically on your own. So it's really rough, really rough for them," said Mussolino, of Bushkill, Pa.

A vast majority of women at war feel safe with their comrades in arms, "but for the ones who feel unsafe, it's hell," said Lory Manning, a retired Navy captain who directs the Women in Military Project at the Washington-based Women's Research and Education Institution.

'Watch out for date rape'
At a recent women veteran's conference in Washington, Leanne Weldin, of Pittsburgh, who deployed in Iraq with the Arizona National Guard in 2003 as a 1st lieutenant, described arriving in the Kuwait staging area and seeing signs warning of rapes. She said she endured some minor sexual harassment while deployed and was groped by an Iraqi teen while sitting in a Humvee.

When her own daughter wanted to join the Army, Weldin said later in an interview, she didn't discourage her. But she offered some sobering advice.

"Watch out for yourself. Don't party with the soldiers in the barracks. You've got to watch out for date rape. Watch out for yourself. It's still a male culture. Don't let yourself get taken advantage of. Don't let yourself get sucked in. Don't let your guard down," Weldin said.

"But at the same time, go in there and show them what you're made of."

The VA now provides free care to any veteran from any era who has experienced military sexual trauma. That's a change from the 1991 Persian Gulf War and earlier wars. Since 2002, about 20 percent of female veterans from all eras and 1 percent of male veterans have screened positive for military sexual trauma.

"We believe that identifying people early and providing care early is going to be important and really make a difference in people's lifetime trajectory, but that story remains to be followed and told," said Antonette Zeiss, a psychologist who is the deputy chief consultant in the VA's Office of Mental Health Services.

It's unknown whether incidents of rape and assault are higher in the military population than the civilian population. One study, however, of 1991 Persian Gulf War veterans found incidents of assault, rape and harassment were higher at war than in peacetime military samples, according to the VA's PTSD center.

It's only in recent years that the military and VA have kept comprehensive statistics, and even the two agencies define military sexual trauma differently.

What is known is that the effects of a military sexual trauma can be long lasting - particularly for those who don't seek early help.

The VA still sees veterans who experienced sexual attacks in Vietnam - and even World War II.

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Female soldiers raise alarm on sexual assaults

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It took Diane Pickel Plappert six months to tell a counselor that she had been raped while on duty in Iraq. While time passed, the former Navy nurse disconnected from her children and her life slowly unraveled.

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THE OTHER PTSD - SEXUAL ABUSE OF WOMEN IN THE MILITARY

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THE OTHER PTSD - SEXUAL ABUSE OF WOMEN IN THE MILITARY

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For those who cannot fathom or comprehend the number of sexual abuses that take place while serving in the military... well, there are chat-rooms. For some women, this is the only way they can be open about it, or get closure.

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THE OTHER PTSD - SEXUAL ABUSE OF WOMEN IN THE MILITARY

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( http://www.vawatchdog.org/ ) From NBC Nightly News, Friday, May 4, 2007.

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'Invisible War' Shines Light on Rape in the Military

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'Invisible War' Shines Light on Rape in the Military

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More men are assaulted in the military than women.

Any woman who reports a sexual assault leaves the military.

You are more likely to get raped in the military than injured.

Those are the main statistics that stood out to me in the video. I watched the video more than once, and I do not think "unbelieable" is the correct word for how I feel.

But what gets me the most: if the military wants to enforce a strict "NO RAPE" rule, then why are the cases that go to trial dismissed so easily? This makes women NOT want to report it, (and in my opinion) especially men. There is such a bad stigma associated with rape. What is it going to take for officials and courts associated with Canadian and American militaries to punish the predators?

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'Invisible War' Shines Light on Rape in the Military

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Oscar-nominated documentary reveals a hidden crisis among American servicemen and women.

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The fight against military women and sexual abuse

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The fight against military women and sexual abuse

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I cannot even imagine how hard it must be to report a rape in the military. Clearly the issue is very prevalent, but looking at the number of girls who do not report it outside of the military is severely high too. There are many contributing factors.

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The fight against military women and sexual abuse

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One organization is fighting to put an end to the disturbing trend.