Military Rape Is Running Rampant

“Everyone else was doing it,” is a common excuse from teenagers, but it’s being used by a man accused of raping his comrade at arms. While she was unconscious he filmed his crime on his phone and she was only aware of what happened when she stumbled across the footage.

Keith Eric Calvert was found guilty two months ago on two counts of sexual assault.

“There was a culture of reporting, of bragging, of sexual exploits, that extended to revealing one’s exploits by way of mobile phone footage,” said his barrister, David Sexton. Apparently, this kind of behaviour was simply a product of his environment. Is that really an excuse? Obviously, Calvert was well aware of his lewd activity. At one point in the video, he turns the phone to his face and gives a thumbs-up.

Maybe it was the pressure from his buddies, the pressure of being in the military, or a complete loss of sanity. But, no matter what the reasoning, it happened.

And it happens a lot. “The Pentagon estimates that 80 percent to 90 percent of sexual assaults go unreported, and it’s no wonder,” according to Time magazine. “What does it tell us that female soldiers deployed overseas stop drinking water after 7 p.m. to reduce the odds of being raped if they have to use the bathroom at night?” It tells us that we have some serious issues at hand.

Rape in the military has become more and more prominent within the past couple of years. In 2010, there were a total of 3,158 reports of sexual assault involving US service members. This is a two percent increase from the year before. And these are only the reported service member on service member assaults.

Women are willing to risk their lives to defend their country, must we ask them to risk rape too?

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