Sunday, May 25, 2008

Military Cover-Ups

To Whom it May Concern,
The United States Government is well known for covering things up for the safety and security of this great nation, but what happens when our government begins hiding other things? Illegal things, like rapes, murders, and various other crimes committed by those under government payroll.
I have inside information on the outbreak of rapes and assaults happening on our United States Military Installations. Would you allow your daughter to enlist into the military if you knew how frequent rape and assaults occur on a daily basis? At Fort Campbell alone, on the night of April 4th, 2008, there were at least five reported rapes, and that was just the ones Fort Campbell Sexual Response Advocate Christina Lopez handled. There's no telling how many the other Advocates handled that day.
How did I get this information you ask; from Mrs. Lopez herself while sitting at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital at Fort Campbell, Kentucky the night my friend was viscously raped but a fellow Soldier in her unit. The last time I have seen a sexual assault reported by the Government, it was too late, the Marine had already been killed. That is how the Government handles things like this, they keep everything under wraps until somebody comes up missing, than they do whatever they can to discredit the victim.
I took a vow the night my friends rape happened to not let this happen to her. I am a former United States Soldier, and as I Soldier it was my duty to stand up for the citizens of this country no matter what the adversity. As I Soldier I noticed that no matter how much I stood up, the citizens of this country continued to live their lives oblivious to what me, and my fellow Soldiers were fighting for.
Now a civilian, I have made it my duty to fight for our Soldiers rights in any way that I can to get my voice heard and our Soldiers helped. Like I said before, my friend was raped by a Soldier in her platoon, a Soldier who she was supposed to be able to trust with her life in a combat zone. Obviously, she couldn't trust him as she should have been able to . My friend's Chain of Command, from lowest Sgt, all the way up to the Fort Campbell Commanding General decided that this is a case that does not need to be made public. It will negatively affect the enlistment rate for future Soldiers.
What does the Fort Campbell Commanding General do to combat the sexual assaults you ask? He decided to lift the ban on sex in Afghanistan!!!!! A few months ago, if you were caught in any type of sexual act while deployed, you were subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), now if you want to rape somebody, the prosecution must show that without a shadow of a doubt that it was NOT consensual...which according to military law, and the Criminal Intelligence Division, is pretty much impossible. According the CID at Fort Campbell, Rape is nothing more than he said-she said.
Basically, the government is telling it's Soldiers that the sexual gratification of it's male soldier's is more important that the safety and security of their female Soldiers. I don't understand how the government can condone rape, but then again, I guess the was they look at it, they need the Soldier because we're at war...whatever.
Government cover-ups...the Iraqi Kill teams. Since when is picking up a camera considered and act of aggression? Since when is picking up a piece of candy an act of aggression? Our Soldiers are sitting in a position watching a camera, and whenever a local national gets close to it with intent to pick it up, they are allowed to shoot them. When they get bored from that, they then decide to throw candy out and shoot the innocent children as they run up to pick up the candy. Is that how our government wants to win the war' by killing innocent children?
James Burmeister, a 23-year old kid from Eugene, Oregon, who enlisted with hopes of helping people who need it. He did not expect to be sitting there on a "kill team" waiting on somebody to kill for no other reasons than picking up an item that both you and I would pick up if we seen it just lying around. Right now, Private First Class Burmeister is still at Fort Knox, Kentucky awaiting whatever the Government wants to do to him. Why? Because he refused to sit back and watch his platoon mates kill innocent children for fun. After telling his platoon that he was going to tell somebody what was going on, they had threatened his life. In his mind, and with a family to take care of, he had no other choice but to go Absent Without Leave (AWOL).
Why is he sitting at Fort Knox still? I think it's because the United States Military does not want to look bad. The prisoner abuse scandal in both Iraq, and Afghanistan, the Pat Tillman incident, the rapes, and the murdering of innocent children...everything that's happened they have done their best to cover up. Let's look at it like this;
Prisoner abuse scandal was being covered up until the pictures came out, and then they had no choice but to stop covering it up. The Pat Tillman fratricide was being covered up until somebody began looking at the facts and noticed a few misleading statements. A lone Private First Class still sits awaiting the outcome of his case while the murders of the innocent children remain unpunished. Innocent children and women, who are victims of rape and molestations are stuck with no help from the military authorities, whom the government sides with any ways just to shut them up.
We cannot allow our Government to walk all over us the way they have been doing. If you expect our Soldier's to fight for you rights, then they need somebody to fight for theirs. We have men dying over seas, it shouldn't be for nothing. Help them fight for us, by fighting for them.
Jeffrey Rodgers