Unless I misunderstand what Defense Secretary Carter is reporting, homosexual assaults in the military are way up and basically out of control! What utter foolishness to have opened our armed services to behavior that we now find destroying the confidence and cohesiveness of fighting units, a phenomena widely and repeatedly predicted. Political correctness won -- as usual. We are reaping the results.
The Family Research Council summarizes:
In a talk to ROTC cadets Wednesday, Secretary Carter -- who inherited this mess after almost seven years of Obama's social engineering -- admitted that the military has a long way to go in cleaning up its act. Last year, he explained, thousands more men (10,400) were sexually assaulted than women (8,500) -- proving once again how misguided the crusade for open homosexuality was. "...[A]ltogether, that's 18,900 too many," Carter said. "No man or woman who serves in the United States military should ever be sexually assaulted."
A little over four years ago, Congress ignored the warnings of several leaders and charged ahead with its repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" against the military's advice. Under pressure from the White House, the Pentagon downplayed the effects of open homosexuality when it was implemented in 2011 -- something it's having a tough time doing now, with the rate of male-on-male abuse. And even Carter believes that's a low estimate -- in part because men are so reluctant to report abuse, especially from other men.
Here is a CNS News summary of Secretary Carter's address:
"But, last year, we estimated that at least 18,900 servicemembers -- 10,400 men and 8,500 women -- experienced unwanted sexual contact."
Carter added that "too few" men reported the incidents as sexual assault.
"So, altogether that's 18,900 too many. No man or woman who serves in the United States military should ever be sexually assaulted."
Carter said the U.S. military can't allow sexual assault to make the all-volunteer force unattractive to the next generation of fighters that it needs.
"One reason the military is among the most admired institutions in the United States is because of our code of honor and our code of trust, and also because we're known as a learning organization. We strive to understand and to correct our flaws.
"And as we spend more time and more resources to better understand sexual assault in the ranks, we've learned some lessons. And here are a few of them:
"We've learned that prevention is the most important way to eradicate sexual assault. And we've learned the prevention requires us not just to stop assaults, but also to stamp out permissive behaviors like tolerance for degrading language, inappropriate behavior and sexual harassment that too often contribute to and lead to sexual assaults."
Carter also mentioned retaliation against those who report, try to prevent or respond to sexual assault.
Eliminating sexual assault requires "leaders in the ranks with the courage to stand up to the behaviors that contribute to sexual assault, the courage to step up, step in and stop assaults, and the courage to act when others try to retaliate against those reporting, responding to, or preventing an assault."
He told the cadets they have to be part of the solution.
"We have serious work to do, and I need you to say 'enough' -- enough to dirty jokes, to excessive drinking, to hazing, to sexual advances, and to any suggestion that coercion is appropriate.
"I need you to intervene when you think an assault may occur. And if, for some reason, you're concerned about taking action, I need you to get help from a friend, from law enforcement, from a chaplain, or for a more -- from a more senior officer."
Carter said the nation is looking to the Defense Department to "lead boldly on sexual assault," and he promised that "stopping sexual assault will be a focus of my time as secretary of defense."
One of the female cadets asked Carter how opening combat positions to women squares with the military's effort to end sexual assault.
"Obviously, as we get women into more unaccustomed positions, maybe dangerous, isolated positions, maybe positions where they are fewer, in relation to the number of men, it opens up opportunities for predators," Carter replied.
"So on the one hand, it can lead in that direction. On the other hand, I think it kind of signifies to -- everyone will get used to working, men and women together, to defend the country and do these things.
"And I can't help but believe for many people, they'll learn better how to conduct themselves, how to interact across gender lines and so forth. And that will contribute to prevention and eventually eradication of sexual assaults."
Carter told another cadet he thinks "most" and "maybe all" positions in the military soon will be open to women:
"I don't know. And the reason I don't know is that the services that are working through the practicality of some of the most difficult MOSs (Military Occupation Specialties) and the most difficult -- most difficult from the point of view of reconciling traditional, at least, gender roles with combat effectiveness, unit cohesion and those kinds of things.
"Those are the things that people are grappling with."
I think they're grappling with them in good faith. I'm certainly grappling with them with an intention to do the maximum practical, because I think, for way too long, we have -- I think we've underestimated how well we can do. And I talked about us being a learning organization. We can learn this, too. So I'm pretty optimistic."