Improvements

     Living and Fighting Alongside Men, and Fitting In and A Peril in War Zones: Sexual Abuse by Fellow G.I.'s painted an overall positive picture of the military, though there is still clearly many negative aspects of it. I read Living and Fighting Alongside Men, and Fitting In first, and I was very pleased with the improvement in the treatment of women in the military. Then, A Peril in War Zones made me uneasy.
     A Peril in War Zones stated that, according to Jane Harman, "a woman in the military is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire in Iraq." This statement freaked me out. When I think of war, I think of how terrifying it must be to live every moment in fear of enemy attack. I would never think that female soldiers live in constant fear of rape or sexual abuse of some other kind.
     It seems to me that the reason for the sexual abuse is that there is a messed up hierarchy. Both articles discussed policies that define sexual abuse and dictate punishments for the abuser. In A Peril in War Zone, Myers reports that there are now educational programs, posters, etc. about the hierarchical culture, supposedly intended to raise awareness of the issue of sexual abuse. The problem, however, and the reason sexual abuse persists is the lack of respect of those rules by those in charge and the silencing of the victims. In A Peril in War Zone, Sgt. Phillips discusses how she was treated when she reported sexual abuse: she ended up getting kicked out of Iraq and out of the military. She was silenced by her superiors. She, along with Sgt. Ribiero, were silenced by being undermined. Phillips was said to have committed adultery, while Ribiero was threatened with punishment for leaving her post. Because this occurs, it is understandable that women do not report sexual abuse, thus allowing it to continue.
     However, it seems as though there is hope for the situation. In Living and Fighting Alongside Men, and Fitting In, it is discussed that more women are moving up in the chain of command. In the military, this chain is very important. I know many men in the military, and I know how much they respect those who are above them. With a women in a position of power, it seems that treatment of all women is better. Additionally, I would think that with more women in power, more victims of sexual abuse would come forward because the women (at least in this article) seem to understand the importance of the issue. So, I am optimistic about the future of sexual abuse in the military because there seem to be improvements already, and it seems that conditions will continue to improve due to the fact that more women are moving up in the power structure of the military.