Yesterday, a deeply poignant Senate subcommittee hearing took place on Capitol Hill. The focus of this session lay on the unsettling revelations of sexual harassment and assault within the Coast Guard. Numerous victims, brave women from different epochs of service, gave profoundly impactful testimonies of their harrowing experiences, which had caused incredible uproar among lawmakers toward the Coast Guard for their alleged long-standing mishandling and cover-up of these abuses.
The testimonies seem to have unveiled a disturbing pattern of sexual violations within the Coast Guard. Not only did the victims report instances of rape and other forms of sexual assault, they also painted a picture of a system that was systematically unfavorable to those who came forward to report these heinous acts.
One of the key narratives emerging from these appalling recollections noted that the victims often found themselves having to work alongside their perpetrators, their safety compromised and their trauma overlooked. The victims also seemed to bear the brunt of any punishment dished out. In numerous instances, they revealed that their assailants would be promoted, while they faced punishment if the assault involved alcohol.
Indeed, the ordeal was far from over after the assault. A current cadet who testified before the committee shared her ongoing experience with depression and alienation from her peers after making an unrestricted report about her sexual assault by a fellow cadet on campus. She believes the system currently in place to address such violations is gravely flawed, causing further trauma for victims.
Heartbreakingly, one former servicemember spoke about the devastating impacts of this traumatizing culture within the Coast Guard. Painfully she shared, “When the abuse becomes so unrelenting, so omnipresent and so insufferable, we seek relief in suicide. I survived my attempt. Tragically, many, many of my shipmates did not.”
The eyes are now on the Coast Guard and lawmakers to see what sweeping changes will be made as evident historical failures to hold perpetrators accountable leave many survivors skeptical. The Coast Guard recently vowed to implement changes going forward, drawing upon results of a critical 90-day review, as well as the courageous contributions and reflections offered by survivors, deemed 'essential to our efforts to continuously improve our prevention and response policies'.
