Thank you for bringing this information to me. I will be writing my letter and love that maybe my story and all those stories that got dismissed or ignored will see the light of day!

I have lived as a military dependent my entire life. Both my mother, step-father and ex-husband were/are Marines. I also did two internships in mental health counseling on Air Force and Naval bases. The abuse of women in the military is rampant. Women who are raped are rarely treated with anything more than suspicion, from my experience, and are often re-vicitimized. For example, I had a patient who was raped. She was an Air Force pilot and was raped by a co-worker. As Air Force policy, I was ordered/required to send her to an Alcohol abuse class because she had consumed alcohol (not necessarily drunk, just had consumed it). She was raped and was now required to sit with mostly male, lower enlisted people to talk about their alcohol issues-wow! I decided then and their to not join the military but help on the civilian side. In addition, my ex-husband, stationed at Goodfellow AFB, had multiple affairs with his students (he was course chief). He was never punished. The victims (all who admitted to me they’d had affairs and my then husband admitted to me he’d had affairs) were fearful their careers would be effected by admitting their relationship with their instructor/course chief. There were no-contact orders issued, he was removed from his position and reassigned, and investigated. No punishment and he is about to retire with a celebration over his honor and service. These women were victims, he committed a crime, but he seems like such a good Marine…..For the record, the investigation was conducted by the 1MHG command at Camp Pendleton, not Goodfellow.