{"id":8129,"date":"2019-09-11T23:26:33","date_gmt":"2019-09-12T06:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=8129"},"modified":"2019-09-12T03:36:22","modified_gmt":"2019-09-12T10:36:22","slug":"post3-58","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=8129","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;More than 100,000 men have been sexually assaulted in the military in recent decades&#8221;, The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"byline last-byline\"><span class=\"byline-author\" data-byline-name=\"PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARY F. CALVERT&lt;BR&gt;TEXT BY DAVE PHILIPPS\">Photographs by\u00a0Mary F. Calvert,\u00a0Text by Dave Phlipp<strong>s,\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/span><time class=\"dateline\"><time class=\"dateline\" datetime=\"2019-09-10\">Sept. 10, 2019<\/time><\/time><\/p>\n<div id=\"g-fixedslides-container-jack-williams-2-1\" class=\"g-fixedslides-text g-fixedslides-text-1 g-fixed-item scrollStoryItem inviewport\">\n<div class=\"g-fixedslides-copy\">\n<p><em>Shame and stigma kept the vast majority from coming forward to report the attacks. Six men are speaking out to break the silence.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"g-fixedslides-container-jack-williams-2-2\" class=\"g-fixedslides-text g-fixedslides-text-2 g-fixed-item scrollStoryItem inviewport active g-active\">\n<div class=\"g-fixedslides-copy\">\n<header id=\"header-duplicate\" class=\"story-header interactive-header\">\n<div class=\"story-meta\">\n<div id=\"men-military-sexual-assault\" class=\"interactive-graphic\">\n<div class=\"g-graphic g-graphic-freebird scrollStory scrollStoryActive scrollStoryActiveItem-story1-26\" data-preview-slug=\"2019-05-29-military-rape\">\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\"><strong>SEXUAL ASSAULT IN THE MILITARY<\/strong> is a problem widely recognized but poorly understood. Elected officials and Pentagon leaders have tended to focus on the thousands of women who have been preyed upon while in uniform. But over the years, more of the victims have been men.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">On average, about 10,000 men are sexually assaulted in the American military each year, according to Pentagon statistics. Overwhelmingly, the victims are young and low-ranking. Many struggle afterward, are kicked out of the military and have trouble finding their footing in civilian life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">For decades, the fallout from the vast majority of male sexual assaults in uniform was silence: Silence of victims too humiliated to report the crime, silence of authorities unequipped to pursue it, silence of commands that believed no problem existed, and silence of families too ashamed to protest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">Women face a much higher rate of sexual assault in the military \u2014 about seven times that of men. But there are so many more men than women in the ranks that the total numbers of male and female victims in recent years have been roughly similar, according to Pentagon statistics \u2014 about 10,000 a year. And before women were fully integrated into the armed services, the bulk of the victims were men.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">For generations, the military wasn\u2019t looking for male sexual assault victims, so it failed to see them, according to Nathan W. Galbreath, deputy director of the Defense Department&#8217;s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office. Only in 2006, after the office began surveying service members, he said, did the military learn that at least as many men as women were being assaulted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">\u201cThat was surprising to senior leadership,\u201d Mr. Galbreath said. \u201cEveryone was so sure the problem was a women\u2019s issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">A report published in May indicates that while the share of male victims who come forward has been rising recently, an estimated four out of five still do not report the attack.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">For tens of thousands of veterans who were assaulted in the past, the progress made in recent years offers little comfort. The damage has already been done. Many have seen their lives buckle under the weight of loathing and bitterness, and have seen decades pass before what happened to them was acknowledged by anyone \u2014 including themselves.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">Here are the stories of six of those men. The Department of Veterans Affairs has reviewed each man\u2019s case and formally recognized him as a victim of service-connected sexual assault. The military branches in which each man served were asked to comment for this article, but declined to discuss specific cases.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-person \">\n<div id=\"story1-0\" class=\"g-item-person story scrollStoryItem\">\n<div class=\"g-fullbleed\">\n<div id=\"story1-1\" class=\"g-item-image story scrollStoryItem\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"g-freebird-lazy ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/jack-williams-3-900.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pattern=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/jack-williams-3-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-mobile=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/m-jack-williams-3-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-retina=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/jack-williams-3-{{size}}_x2.jpg\" data-widths=\"[320,480,640,900,1050,1254,2000]\" data-ratio=\"0.7276223776223776\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-person-info\">\n<h3>JACK WILLIAMS, 71<\/h3>\n<div class=\"g-details\">ENLISTED IN THE AIR FORCE, ASSAULTED IN 1966<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\"><strong>\u201cIF YOU REPORT THIS, <\/strong>no one will believe you,\u201d an Air Force drill sergeant told Jack Williams in boot camp.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">It was 2 a.m. in the sergeant\u2019s office, Mr. Williams recalled. The sergeant had just choked Mr. Williams, who was 18, until he passed out, he said, and then had raped him over a desk while dozens of other recruits slept in the next room.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">It was 1966. The military had no response and prevention program, as it does today, and there were no protections for troops who reported assaults. Homosexuality was not just forbidden in the ranks, it was seen as a national security threat.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-image \">\n<div id=\"story1-2\" class=\"g-item-image story large scrollStoryItem\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"g-freebird-lazy ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/jack-williams-2-900.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pattern=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/jack-williams-2-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-mobile=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/m-jack-williams-2-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-retina=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/jack-williams-2-{{size}}_x2.jpg\" data-widths=\"[320,480,640,900,1050,1254,2000]\" data-ratio=\"0.6654135338345865\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"g-asset-source\"><span class=\"g-caption\" style=\"font-size: 8pt;\">Sleep does not come easy to Mr. Williams. \u201cNo investigator ever called me,\u201d he said. \u201cNothing was ever done.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">\u201cIf you came forward and said you were raped, people would have thought you were a queer or a child molester \u2014 you were treated like it was your fault,\u201d said Mr. Williams, who now lives in Everett, Wash.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">After the attack, Mr. Williams said, he did all that he felt he could do. He took a shower and went back to bed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">The sergeant raped him twice more during basic training, he said. Each time, Mr. Williams stayed quiet, determined to make it through boot camp.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">But as soon as Mr. Williams graduated, he reported what had happened to Air Force authorities, expecting them to jail his attacker and start an investigation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">The anger still trembles in his voice decades later when he describes the Air Force\u2019s response.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">\u201cNo investigator ever called me,\u201d he said. \u201cNothing was ever done.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-image \">\n<div id=\"story1-3\" class=\"g-item-image story large scrollStoryItem\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"g-freebird-lazy ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/jack-williams-1-900.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pattern=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/jack-williams-1-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-mobile=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/m-jack-williams-1-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-retina=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/jack-williams-1-{{size}}_x2.jpg\" data-widths=\"[320,480,640,900,1050,1254,2000]\" data-ratio=\"0.6655104063429138\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"g-asset-source\"><span class=\"g-caption\"><span style=\"font-size: 8pt;\">Jack Williams visits the grave of a fellow veteran, with his service dog, \u201cLittle Buddy,\u201d in a carrier.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">Instead, his chain of command began to complain about his performance, he said, because the rapes had left him with damaged kidneys and a torn rectum, and because he was missing too much training in order to get treatment. He was soon forced out of the Air Force for being medically unfit, his service record shows.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">Today, veterans like Mr. Williams are coming forward in growing numbers to demand that the Department of Veterans Affairs provide treatment and compensation for the harm done to them. Some 61,000 veterans, including Mr. Williams, are now formally recognized by the department as having been sexually traumatized during their service, and the number of claims filed each year has surged by 70 percent since 2010.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">A monthly check is poor compensation, though, for decades spent in limbo.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">\u201cI had a future, I wanted to serve my country, and I was good at what I did,\u201d Mr. Williams said. \u201cThat was all taken away from me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-person \">\n<div id=\"story1-4\" class=\"g-item-person story scrollStoryItem\">\n<div class=\"g-fullbleed\">\n<div id=\"story1-5\" class=\"g-item-image story scrollStoryItem\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"g-freebird-lazy ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/paul-lloyd-4-900.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pattern=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/paul-lloyd-4-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-mobile=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/m-paul-lloyd-4-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-retina=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/paul-lloyd-4-{{size}}_x2.jpg\" data-widths=\"[320,480,640,900,1050,1254,2000]\" data-ratio=\"0.6835724888668976\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-person-info\">\n<h3>PAUL LLOYD, 30<\/h3>\n<div class=\"g-details\">ENLISTED IN THE ARMY NATIONAL GUARD, ASSAULTED IN 2007<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\"><strong>PAUL LLOYD WAS PUSHING A CART <\/strong>through the supermarket near his home in Salt Lake City, looking for light bulbs, when he stopped to sniff a variety of scented candles on a nearby shelf. Suddenly his hands were over his face, and he sank to the floor, sobbing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">One candle smelled just like the shampoo he had been using in the shower at Army basic training in 2007, when he was beaten and raped by another recruit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">\u201cSome little thing can happen, and you\u2019re back in that little 3-by-3 square shower,\u201d he said later. \u201cIt\u2019s hell, and there\u2019s no escape from it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">Mr. Lloyd joined the Army National Guard at 17. When he was assaulted in the shower one night after everyone else had gone to bed, he said, he told no one. Even when he ended up in the hospital the next day with internal bleeding and a torn rectum, and doctors asked him what had happened, Mr. Lloyd, who was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said he simply shrugged.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">\u201cI felt like I couldn\u2019t say anything,\u201d he said. \u201cI would look like a total failure \u2014 to my family, to my platoon, to myself.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-image-diptych \">\n<div id=\"story1-6\" class=\"g-item-image story scrollStoryItem\">\n<div class=\"g-diptych-image\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"g-freebird-lazy ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/paul-lloyd-5-480.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pattern=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/paul-lloyd-5-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-mobile=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/m-paul-lloyd-5-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-retina=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/paul-lloyd-5-{{size}}_x2.jpg\" data-widths=\"[320,480,640,900,1050,1254,2000]\" data-ratio=\"0.6653333333333333\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"g-asset-source\"><span class=\"g-caption\" style=\"font-size: 8pt;\">Mr. Lloyd joined the Army National Guard at 17. When he was assaulted in the shower one night after everyone else had gone to bed, he told no one.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-diptych-image\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"g-freebird-lazy ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/paul-lloyd-2-480.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pattern=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/paul-lloyd-2-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-mobile=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/m-paul-lloyd-2-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-retina=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/paul-lloyd-2-{{size}}_x2.jpg\" data-widths=\"[320,480,640,900,1050,1254,2000]\" data-ratio=\"0.6654135338345865\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"g-asset-source\"><span class=\"g-caption\" style=\"font-size: 8pt;\">Mr. Lloyd stays up late cleaning the bathroom to forestall nightmares, after having a flashback of being raped.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">During the years when Mr. Lloyd was in the Army, only 3 percent of male victims reported sexual assaults, according to Defense Department estimates. The percentage has increased nearly sixfold since then, but the vast majority of men who are sexually assaulted still never report it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">Mr. Lloyd earned top scores in marksmanship and physical fitness, and wanted a career in the military, but he said a sense of betrayal and disgust at being raped started to gnaw at him. When he was given leave for Christmas, he decided not to return. He hid out at his sister\u2019s house for a month before the National Guard found him. He was taken back to boot camp and eventually discharged for misconduct. He was later able to upgrade his discharge to honorable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">At home, he told no one about the attack. He stopped going to church, he said, fell into drinking and struggled to hold a job. He questioned his own sexuality. His family wondered why he couldn\u2019t keep his act together.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-image \">\n<div id=\"story1-7\" class=\"g-item-image story large scrollStoryItem\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"g-freebird-lazy ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/paul-lloyd-3-900.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pattern=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/paul-lloyd-3-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-mobile=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/m-paul-lloyd-3-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-retina=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/paul-lloyd-3-{{size}}_x2.jpg\" data-widths=\"[320,480,640,900,1050,1254,2000]\" data-ratio=\"0.6533333333333333\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"g-asset-source\"><span class=\"g-caption\" style=\"font-size: 8pt;\">Mr. Lloyd said he had not seen a dentist regularly since the attack. \u201cIt is difficult to have someone in my personal space hovering over me,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">It took five years for him to decide to tell them what had happened.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">\u201cThey saw me as broken for a long time,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I told them I\u2019d been raped, they said, \u2018Finally, it all makes sense.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-person \">\n<div id=\"story1-8\" class=\"g-item-person story scrollStoryItem\">\n<div class=\"g-fullbleed\">\n<div id=\"story1-9\" class=\"g-item-image story scrollStoryItem\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"g-freebird-lazy ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/bill-minnix-7-900.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pattern=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/bill-minnix-7-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-mobile=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/m-bill-minnix-7-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-retina=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/bill-minnix-7-{{size}}_x2.jpg\" data-widths=\"[320,480,640,900,1050,1254,2000]\" data-ratio=\"0.6655138339920948\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-person-info\">\n<h3>BILL MINNIX, 64<\/h3>\n<div class=\"g-details\">ENLISTED IN THE AIR FORCE, ASSAULTED IN 1973<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\"><strong>BILL MINNIX WAS TOO ASHAMED <\/strong>to tell his family why he was kicked out of the Air Force in 1973, and they were too ashamed to ask. What would people at church say? What would the neighbors think?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">He didn\u2019t speak a word to anyone about having been raped, he said \u2014 not for the next 40 years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">He had enlisted at 17, and was a few weeks into radar technician school when a group of older enlisted men and officers took some new recruits to an off-base resort. In a private bungalow, after a round of drinking, Mr. Minnix said, the older men told the recruits it was time for their initiation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">\u201cAt first there was laughing and nervous joking, and then there was silence,\u201d Mr. Minnix said. \u201cI was scared to death. And we got forced into sex acts none of us wanted.\u201d He said the teenagers were made to perform oral sex or were sodomized. \u201cWhat an awful thing, when you go back to the base the next day and you are facing these people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-image \">\n<div id=\"story1-10\" class=\"g-item-image story large scrollStoryItem\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"g-freebird-lazy ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/bill-minnix-6-900.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pattern=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/bill-minnix-6-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-mobile=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/m-bill-minnix-6-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-retina=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/bill-minnix-6-{{size}}_x2.jpg\" data-widths=\"[320,480,640,900,1050,1254,2000]\" data-ratio=\"0.6654929577464789\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"g-asset-source\"><span class=\"g-caption\" style=\"font-size: 8pt;\">\u201cI went into the Air Force one person and came out a different person. I feel that my manhood was taken away,\u201d Mr. Minnix said.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">Mr. Minnix struggled to make sense of what had happened in the bungalow. Real men don\u2019t get raped, he told himself, they fight back. He found he was unable to concentrate on his work, and started to do poorly in radar school. He was desperate to get out of the Air Force.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">\u201cI couldn\u2019t stand being there,\u201d said Mr. Minnix, who lives in Bend, Ore. \u201cI didn\u2019t feel I could report it to anyone. The best thing to do was run.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">He sighed and added, \u201cI\u2019ve essentially been running for most of my life since then.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">Mr. Minnix deserted, was caught a week later, and then deserted again. The Air Force put him in jail and threatened to prosecute him if he didn\u2019t agree to leave the service voluntarily with a less-than-honorable discharge. He took the discharge.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-image-diptych \">\n<div id=\"story1-11\" class=\"g-item-image story scrollStoryItem\">\n<div class=\"g-diptych-image\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"g-freebird-lazy ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/bill-minnix-4-480.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pattern=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/bill-minnix-4-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-mobile=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/m-bill-minnix-4-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-retina=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/bill-minnix-4-{{size}}_x2.jpg\" data-widths=\"[320,480,640,900,1050,1254,2000]\" data-ratio=\"0.6653333333333333\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"g-asset-source\"><span class=\"g-caption\" style=\"font-size: 8pt;\">Mr. Minnix joined the Oregon Band of Brothers, a veterans\u2019 organization, and participated in his first Veterans Day parade in 2018.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-diptych-image\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"g-freebird-lazy ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/bill-minnix-9-480.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pattern=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/bill-minnix-9-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-mobile=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/m-bill-minnix-9-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-retina=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/bill-minnix-9-{{size}}_x2.jpg\" data-widths=\"[320,480,640,900,1050,1254,2000]\" data-ratio=\"0.6653333333333333\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"g-asset-source\"><span class=\"g-caption\" style=\"font-size: 8pt;\">Mr. Minnix with his wife, Georgie, right, and his mother-in-law, Verla Holton, at Ms. Holton\u2019s home in Pacific City, Ore. He didn\u2019t tell anyone for 40 years that he had been raped.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">Once he was out, he spent most of his adult life in what he calls \u201ca black box,\u201d shut off from the world by anger and shame. He burned through jobs and two marriages, drinking to numb his own loathing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">His parents never spoke to him again. They died not knowing the truth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">In recent years, through counseling provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Mr. Minnix has been able to come to terms with what happened. He has remarried and has joined a local veterans\u2019 group called the Oregon Band of Brothers. He drove his Jeep in the local Veterans Day parade in 2018.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">\u201cThat filled a big void for me,\u201d he said. \u201cI had military service taken away from me. For years, when I heard the anthem or saw the parades, I would cry. I can feel like a veteran now.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-person \">\n<div id=\"story1-12\" class=\"g-item-person story scrollStoryItem\">\n<div class=\"g-fullbleed\">\n<div id=\"story1-13\" class=\"g-item-image story scrollStoryItem\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"g-freebird-lazy ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/billy-joe-capshow-7-900.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pattern=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/billy-joe-capshow-7-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-mobile=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/m-billy-joe-capshow-7-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-retina=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/billy-joe-capshow-7-{{size}}_x2.jpg\" data-widths=\"[320,480,640,900,1050,1254,2000]\" data-ratio=\"0.6654135338345865\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-person-info\">\n<h3>BILLY JOE CAPSHAW, 56<\/h3>\n<div class=\"g-details\">ENLISTED IN THE ARMY, ASSAULTED IN 1980<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\"><strong>THE FEW YEARS BILLY JOE CAPSHAW SPENT<\/strong> in the Army were the worst years of his life, he said, but to this day he wears an Army veteran baseball cap. He said it deflects unwanted questions from strangers about the marks on his face.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">\u201cIt explains the scars,\u201d he said. \u201cThey don\u2019t ask.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">In 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested and confessed to raping and killing 17 young men and boys, some of whom he then dismembered and ate. The news media soon learned that Mr. Capshaw had been Mr. Dahmer\u2019s roommate in the Army, and descended on Hot Springs, Ark., where Mr. Capshaw lives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">At a news conference before a bank of reporters, Mr. Capshaw described the heavy-metal posters Mr. Dahmer decorated their room with, and the W.C. Fields jokes Mr. Dahmer liked to tell.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">But he did not mention the vials of lorazepam and ketamine that he said Mr. Dahmer often used to sedate him. Or the metal bar he said Mr. Dahmer used to beat him, or the motor-pool rope to tie him down, or the scars, still visible on Mr. Capshaw\u2019s cheeks after nearly 40 years, from Mr. Dahmer trying to muffle his screams with a clenched hand.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-image-diptych \">\n<div id=\"story1-14\" class=\"g-item-image story scrollStoryItem\">\n<div class=\"g-diptych-image\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"g-freebird-lazy ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/billy-joe-capshow-3-480.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pattern=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/billy-joe-capshow-3-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-mobile=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/m-billy-joe-capshow-3-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-retina=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/billy-joe-capshow-3-{{size}}_x2.jpg\" data-widths=\"[320,480,640,900,1050,1254,2000]\" data-ratio=\"0.6666666666666666\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"g-asset-source\"><span class=\"g-caption\" style=\"font-size: 8pt;\">Mr. Capshaw, right, at a bar with his best friend, Billy Runyon. Mr. Capshaw was drugged and sexually assaulted by his Army roommate, Jeffrey Dahmer, in 1980.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-diptych-image\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"g-freebird-lazy ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/billy-joe-capshow-4-480.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pattern=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/billy-joe-capshow-4-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-mobile=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/m-billy-joe-capshow-4-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-retina=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/billy-joe-capshow-4-{{size}}_x2.jpg\" data-widths=\"[320,480,640,900,1050,1254,2000]\" data-ratio=\"0.6653333333333333\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"g-asset-source\"><span class=\"g-caption\" style=\"font-size: 8pt;\">A photo of Mr. Capshaw and fellow soldiers with a letter about his sexual trauma. Mr. Dahmer is standing in the back in the photograph.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">\u201cI couldn\u2019t,\u201d Mr. Capshaw recalled, shaking his head, in an interview this spring. \u201cYou say you\u2019ve been raped by another man, people blame you, they shame you. They just don\u2019t get how something like this can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">Mr. Capshaw joined the Army at 17 and was stationed at Baumholder Army Garrison in Germany in 1980 when he was assigned to share a room with Mr. Dahmer, who was then an Army medic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">Within days, he said, Mr. Dahmer was beating him, drugging him and keeping him locked in their room. At one point, Mr. Capshaw jumped from the second-story window to escape, and ended up in the hospital with a cracked pelvis. But he never said a word about what was going on, even to the doctor who examined him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">\u201cIt developed into a Stockholm syndrome-type situation,\u201d Mr. Capshaw said. \u201cHe totally controlled me. He didn\u2019t let me leave the room. He would beat me and rape me. But we would also play chess, he would buy me books and suture up my wounds. I don\u2019t know how to explain it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">Mr. Dahmer was discharged from the military in 1981 for alcohol abuse. Mr. Capshaw was discharged a few months later, his military record shows.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-image \">\n<div id=\"story1-15\" class=\"g-item-image story large scrollStoryItem\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"g-freebird-lazy ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/billy-joe-capshow-8-900.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pattern=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/billy-joe-capshow-8-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-mobile=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/m-billy-joe-capshow-8-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-retina=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/billy-joe-capshow-8-{{size}}_x2.jpg\" data-widths=\"[320,480,640,900,1050,1254,2000]\" data-ratio=\"0.6653333333333333\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"g-asset-source\"><span class=\"g-caption\" style=\"font-size: 8pt;\">Mr. Capshaw has scars from the daily beatings and sexual assaults that he said Mr. Dahmer inflicted on him.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">For five years after his discharge, Mr. Capshaw said, he didn\u2019t leave his mother\u2019s house. He stayed awake for days at a time trying to stave off nightmares, so tense that he could barely swallow solid food. He didn\u2019t tell his family what had happened. In a small town, he worried, he\u2019d never be able to get out from under the whisperings if word got out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">\u201cFor a long time, the only person I ever told was my best friend, and his response was, \u2018I\u2019ll never tell anybody,\u2019\u201d Mr. Capshaw said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t, neither. That\u2019s a pretty good friend \u2014 he knew it would hurt me, it would get around.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">After years of therapy, Mr. Capshaw decided in 2010 that hiding what happened would not help him. With the assistance of his psychiatrist, he created a website <a href=\"http:\/\/www.survivingjeffreydahmer.org\/\">to tell the story<\/a> of what he had gone through and how he had begun to heal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-image \">\n<div id=\"story1-16\" class=\"g-item-image story large scrollStoryItem\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"g-freebird-lazy ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/billy-joe-capshow-2-900.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pattern=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/billy-joe-capshow-2-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-mobile=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/m-billy-joe-capshow-2-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-retina=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/billy-joe-capshow-2-{{size}}_x2.jpg\" data-widths=\"[320,480,640,900,1050,1254,2000]\" data-ratio=\"0.6973333333333334\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"g-asset-source\"><span class=\"g-caption\" style=\"font-size: 8pt;\">Mr. Capshaw sleeps on his living room couch with the kitchen light on. He says he cannot sleep in a dark room or in a bed because he was raped in a bed.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-person \">\n<div id=\"story1-17\" class=\"g-item-person story scrollStoryItem\">\n<div class=\"g-fullbleed\">\n<div id=\"story1-18\" class=\"g-item-image story scrollStoryItem\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"g-freebird-lazy ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/ethan-hanson-1-900.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pattern=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/ethan-hanson-1-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-mobile=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/m-ethan-hanson-1-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-retina=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/ethan-hanson-1-{{size}}_x2.jpg\" data-widths=\"[320,480,640,900,1050,1254,2000]\" data-ratio=\"0.6653333333333333\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-person-info\">\n<h3>ETHAN HANSON, 29<\/h3>\n<div class=\"g-details\">ENLISTED IN THE MARINE CORPS, ASSAULTED IN 2014<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\"><strong>ETHAN HANSON HAS AVOIDED TAKING<\/strong> <strong>SHOWERS<\/strong> since he left the Marine Corps in 2014. Instead, he runs an inch and a half of warm water in a bathtub, then rinses quickly with a plastic cup, with each splash evoking a painful moan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-image \">\n<div id=\"story1-19\" class=\"g-item-image story large scrollStoryItem\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"g-freebird-lazy ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/ethan-hanson-4-900.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pattern=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/ethan-hanson-4-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-mobile=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/m-ethan-hanson-4-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-retina=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/ethan-hanson-4-{{size}}_x2.jpg\" data-widths=\"[320,480,640,900,1050,1254,2000]\" data-ratio=\"0.6634041537359752\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"g-asset-source\"><span class=\"g-caption\" style=\"font-size: 8pt;\">Mr. Hanson at home in Austin, Minn. He takes baths because showers remind him of being sexually assaulted when he was in the Marine Corps.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">\u201cWhen I do come into contact with steam, hot water, anything that makes my skin slippery,\u201d he said as he looked around the bathroom in his house in Austin, Minn., \u201chonestly, it makes me want to vomit.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">Mr. Hanson was one of a group of Marine recruits who were sexually assaulted in the showers during boot camp at Camp Pendleton, Calif. Like many of the sexual assaults on servicemen, it was a hazing exercise, meant to humiliate and intimidate young troops.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">According to a RAND Corporation study, one in three men who are sexually assaulted in the military describe the offense as hazing or bullying \u2014 twice the rate reported by women who are sexually assaulted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">It happened to Mr. Hanson after an exhausting morning running the obstacle course. The platoon was showering when a drill instructor marched into the steamy room, angry that he had heard talking. He ordered the 60 naked recruits to pack themselves into a tight line against the wall, genitals pressed up against backsides. After holding them in that position for several minutes, he ordered them to run to the other side of the room and line up again, then back to the first side.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">\u201cIt was back and forth for more than an hour,\u201d Mr. Hanson said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-image \">\n<div id=\"story1-20\" class=\"g-item-image story large scrollStoryItem\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"g-freebird-lazy ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/ethan-hanson-5-900.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pattern=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/ethan-hanson-5-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-mobile=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/m-ethan-hanson-5-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-retina=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/ethan-hanson-5-{{size}}_x2.jpg\" data-widths=\"[320,480,640,900,1050,1254,2000]\" data-ratio=\"0.6654135338345865\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"g-asset-source\"><span class=\"g-caption\" style=\"font-size: 8pt;\">Mr. Hanson hugs his wife, Katie, in their kitchen. \u201cWhen he came home, we didn\u2019t really know what to expect,\u201d Ms. Hanson said. \u201cHe felt out of place and not sure what to do, and everything was just not normal for him.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">In the following days, several of the recruits reported the episode to their chain of command, and the drill instructor was prosecuted. Mr. Hanson has a copy of the Marine Corps investigative report confirming that the episode took place.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">Mr. Hanson graduated from basic training and tried to move on, but soon afterward he saw a Marine dressed like the drill instructor, and had a panic attack.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">He told his superiors that he was suicidal, and was sent to a Navy hospital. But when his mental health did not improve after four weeks, the Marine Corps forced him out of the service, noting on his discharge papers that it was for \u201cfailure to adapt to military life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">\u201cIt\u2019s their way of saying, it\u2019s my fault, not theirs,\u201d Mr. Hanson said of the discharge. \u201cIf I was injured in training, they would have to treat me and compensate me. But they said this was a pre-existing condition.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">The Department of Veterans Affairs has since formally recognized his case as one of service-connected sexual trauma.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-image-diptych \">\n<div id=\"story1-21\" class=\"g-item-image story scrollStoryItem\">\n<div class=\"g-diptych-image\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"g-freebird-lazy ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/ethan-hanson-3-480.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pattern=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/ethan-hanson-3-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-mobile=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/m-ethan-hanson-3-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-retina=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/ethan-hanson-3-{{size}}_x2.jpg\" data-widths=\"[320,480,640,900,1050,1254,2000]\" data-ratio=\"0.6580076263107721\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"g-asset-source\"><span class=\"g-caption\" style=\"font-size: 8pt;\">Mr. Hanson sleeps with several weapons next to the bed that he shares with his wife.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-diptych-image\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"g-freebird-lazy ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/ethan-hanson-2-480.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pattern=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/ethan-hanson-2-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-mobile=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/m-ethan-hanson-2-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-retina=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/ethan-hanson-2-{{size}}_x2.jpg\" data-widths=\"[320,480,640,900,1050,1254,2000]\" data-ratio=\"0.6654135338345865\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"g-asset-source\"><span class=\"g-caption\" style=\"font-size: 8pt;\">Mr. Hanson was discharged for \u201cfailure to adapt to military life.\u201d It was \u201ctheir way of saying, it\u2019s my fault, not theirs,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-person \">\n<div id=\"story1-22\" class=\"g-item-person story scrollStoryItem\">\n<div class=\"g-fullbleed\">\n<div id=\"story1-23\" class=\"g-item-image story scrollStoryItem\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"g-freebird-lazy ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/heath-phillips-1-900.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pattern=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/heath-phillips-1-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-mobile=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/m-heath-phillips-1-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-retina=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/heath-phillips-1-{{size}}_x2.jpg\" data-widths=\"[320,480,640,900,1050,1254,2000]\" data-ratio=\"0.6654135338345865\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-person-info\">\n<h3>HEATH PHILLIPS, 48<\/h3>\n<div class=\"g-details\">ENLISTED IN THE NAVY, ASSAULTED IN 1988<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\"><strong>HEATH PHILLIPS STEPPED IN<\/strong> <strong>FRONT<\/strong> of a crowd of hundreds of soldiers at Fort Hood in central Texas. He took a breath, and then shared a secret that had gnawed at him for 25 years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">\u201cMy name is Heath Phillips,\u201d he said, \u201cand I was sexually assaulted when I was in the United States Navy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-image \">\n<div id=\"story1-24\" class=\"g-item-image story scrollStoryItem\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"g-freebird-lazy ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/heath-phillips-2-480.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pattern=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/heath-phillips-2-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-mobile=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/m-heath-phillips-2-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-retina=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/heath-phillips-2-{{size}}_x2.jpg\" data-widths=\"[320,480,640,900,1050,1254,2000]\" data-ratio=\"0.6653333333333333\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"g-asset-source\"><span class=\"g-caption\" style=\"font-size: 8pt;\">Mr. Phillips spoke on a panel at a veterans\u2019 conference in St. Paul with women who were sexually assaulted in the military.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">In 1988, when Mr. Phillips was 17, he arrived at his first ship, and a group of sailors offered to take him out for a night on the town. They traveled to Manhattan, he said, and he woke up on the floor of a hotel room to see one of the men ejaculating on his face while others were trying to pull off his pants. Mr. Phillips writhed out of their grip and locked himself in a bathroom.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">He reported the attack to the ship\u2019s master at arms the next day, he said, but the master at arms just looked at him skeptically. \u201cWere you drinking?\u201d Mr. Phillips recalls him saying. \u201cDo you know that you can get in trouble for underage drinking?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">Mr. Phillips said he was sent back to his bunk in the bowels of the ship, where he slept just a few feet from the attackers. For months, he said, they beat and raped him repeatedly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-image \">\n<div id=\"story1-25\" class=\"g-item-image story large scrollStoryItem\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"g-freebird-lazy ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/heath-phillips-3-900.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pattern=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/heath-phillips-3-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-mobile=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/m-heath-phillips-3-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-retina=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/heath-phillips-3-{{size}}_x2.jpg\" data-widths=\"[320,480,640,900,1050,1254,2000]\" data-ratio=\"0.6654135338345865\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"g-asset-source\"><span class=\"g-caption\" style=\"font-size: 8pt;\">Mr. Phillips, right, and Brian Lewis, another Navy veteran who said he was sexually assaulted in the service, shared their experiences in 2016 with staff members working for Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">Mr. Phillips said he went to the master at arms again and again, often with black eyes and split lips, to complain about the abuse.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">\u201cHe always accused me of lying,\u201d Mr. Phillips recalled. \u201cHe would say I had no proof. I think he just didn\u2019t want to deal with it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">Mr. Phillips deserted, was arrested and sent back to the ship, and deserted again, and again. Eventually he was forced out of the Navy with an other-than-honorable discharge for running away so many times.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-image \">\n<div id=\"story1-26\" class=\"g-item-image story scrollStoryItem active\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"g-freebird-lazy ll-init ll-loadstarted ll-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/heath-phillips-4-480.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-pattern=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/heath-phillips-4-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-mobile=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/m-heath-phillips-4-{{size}}.jpg\" data-pattern-retina=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2019\/05\/29\/military-rape\/assets\/images\/heath-phillips-4-{{size}}_x2.jpg\" data-widths=\"[320,480,640,900,1050,1254,2000]\" data-ratio=\"0.6654135338345865\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"g-asset-source\"><span class=\"g-caption\" style=\"font-size: 8pt;\">A video about Mr. Phillips and the sexual assaults he endured while serving in the Navy was shown to troops at a U.S. Coast Guard station in Novato, Calif., in 2018. Mr. Phillips appeared at the base as part of the Coast Guard\u2019s Sexual Assault Prevention, Response and Recovery Program.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">For decades, he said, he told no one else what had happened to him. But in 2009, he received counseling at a veterans\u2019 hospital, and came to realize that silence might only allow assaults in the military to go on unchecked.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">He became a vocal member of advocacy groups and met with lawmakers. A congressional investigation supported his account. And he started telling his story at military bases \u2014 something that petrified him at first, but that he now sees as a vital part of healing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-text \">\n<p class=\"g-body\">\u201cI got my military career cut short, and that\u2019s not right,\u201d he said after addressing the soldiers at Fort Hood. \u201cBut I still love the military. By speaking out, I am serving in a different way.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-item g-aftermath \">\n<p class=\"g-body g-smalltext\">Produced by Adriana Ramic and Beth Flynn.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-body g-smalltext\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2019\/09\/10\/us\/men-military-sexual-assault.html?action=click&amp;module=News&amp;pgtype=Homepage\">The New York Times<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photographs by\u00a0Mary F. Calvert,\u00a0Text by Dave Phlipps,\u00a0Sept. 10, 2019 Shame and stigma kept the vast majority from coming forward to report the attacks. Six men are speaking out to break the silence. SEXUAL ASSAULT IN THE MILITARY is a problem widely recognized but poorly understood. Elected officials and Pentagon leaders have tended to focus on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8129"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8129"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8134,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8129\/revisions\/8134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}