For more than a month, the news has been blistered with allegations of sexual harassment and assault. Many of us know friends or see friends of friends in our social media posting #MeToo incidents documenting their harassment. For most men, this probably doesn’t create the impact on our souls that clearly has been left on many women. Men need to feel the impact. The U.S. Navy is not immune to sexual harassment and assault and we need to carry our share of the burden to correct the problem.
This became personal for me when one of my former shipmates posted her #MeToo story. She didn’t deserve anything that happened to her and I considered her one of the best Sailors on my ship. She had a bright future, but she left the Navy after her first enlistment. I can only imagine the attacks on her played a large role in her decision. I was at the top of the chain and I didn’t know these things happened to her. And it apparently happened twice. What could I have done to ensure it never happened? What could I have done to ensure she knew her report would be treated appropriately, that she could file a complaint in a safe environment?
She had a similar experience in her pipeline training and after filing a complaint, nothing happened to her attacker. We can’t assume that our processes in the Navy for dealing with sexual harassment and assault are perfect or that somebody coming to our command assumes the level of trust and support that we hope they assume. One of her biggest hurdles was the way her first case was treated. Because alcohol was involved, she was blamed and punished for underage drinking. This collateral misconduct often discourages victims from reporting.
We must ensure that these situations result in fairer outcomes. There may be situations where a victim must report self-incriminating behavior, but that is no excuse for the attack, or for not taking action against the perpetrator. In these cases, the best outcome for the victim treats the attack as the primary case, and treats the collateral misconduct with counseling and after-care, as required.
After digging into the Navy statistics and reports, I realized it should not surprise me that someone on my ship was assaulted by a shipmate. Statistically, more than four percent of women in the Navy experience and report sexual assaults every year (notice this is just assault statistics). During the course of a career, that’s a staggering number of victims that undoubtedly served during my watch, and yours. According to the 2016 biennial Department of Defense (DoD) report, more than 57 percent of those assaults were service member against service member. I can only conclude that there must be dozens of women who experienced assault while working for me. We should seek out those Sailors and become part of their healing process.
The national discourse provides us an opportunity to heal and to correct. A large number of women being interviewed fear most that this spate of attack news merely will appear as a blip in history. Real change requires more than listening to and believing the #MeToo stories. This national opportunity requires action from all of us, including men. What will we do to prevent this from occurring in the next generation? We must not be silent witnesses to history.
I’m determined to be part of the solution. I want every shipmate, every employee, and every friend to know that I create safe environments. I won’t harass. I won’t assault. I won’t tolerate an atmosphere where others think that they can get away with either of these. I won’t turn a blind eye to rumors and accusations. I won’t punish victims for coming forward. #IWont.
A few years ago, the U.S. Naval Academy started a program within their athletic department that the DoD highlighted as a model worthy of emulation. All athletes, coaches and their staff must sign a contract stating they will not (I Won’t) engage in behaviors that create the environment for sexual assault to occur. If that is what it takes to curb sexual assault, it seems like a small inconvenience to make a commitment in writing. In the meantime, we can all post #IWont on our social media accounts and publicly commit to our shipmates that they will live and work in an environment of zero tolerance for sexual assault or harassment.
