Native American Identity by Perry G. Horse, talks about people that were born ahead of the “baby boomers,” and how they grew up with the word American Indian. It was their label. It became the reason why people started to believe all as American Indian. Supposedly, there is a difference between American Indian and Native American. American Indians, Horse immediately thinks of people, such as himself, that are “citizens of American Indigenous nations.”

People born into the U.S are considered Native Americans. A person who was born into the U.S “can rightfully claim to be Native American,” (62). He also explains how whites approached ethnic studies and tried to understand how race and racism is in the U.S. Claimed it affected white people, but there was no study how racism affects Native Americans/American Indians. Natives do not speak their language as much as they used to. We speak more of the white people’s language instead of our own.

Native Americans also adapted to the white people’s practices, and their beliefs. Following their rules and the way they run their government including schooling. People that do not show the characteristics of their race are often questioned about what they are or who they are, and they feel left out. They get frustrated or upset.

“The National Guard welcomes and promotes women. That is, until they report a sexual assault” by Katelyn Ferral, talks about three women, and their experiences with sexual assault, how it was handled. Subjects in the article most likely got justice. The first woman was raped at a military conference by a colonel that was intoxicated while he barged into her hotel room. She struggled with PTSD, due to combat experience and her traumatic experience from the colonel. Unfortunately, there were no charges pressed against the colonel. She was told that she was not fit to serve because of her PTSD. She accepted a medical retirement in 2019 at the age of 57.

The second victim was sexually assaulted by a colleague, hesitated to report the assault because she feared that she would be retaliated by her command. She eventually reported the incident. Although she worked in the same unit as her colleague. She requested to be transferred out of the unit but her request was denied. Due to her PTSD, she was claimed to be 100% disabled and was medically discharged.

The last victim, was also sexually assaulted by a colleague. She reported the assault to the West Virginia Guard officials but no actions were taken. So, she seeked help elsewhere and received help from the state police. Her colleague was charged with first degree sexual abuse and was sued by the victim in state court. She was discharged on November 14, 2019.

“The Giant Problem of Sexual Assault in the Military,” by Kathryn Pitts, addresses cases of rape and sexual assault in the military, the years of 2012 and 2016. The changes that occurs within the cases of rape and sexual assault, how it has increased. It has increased when an anonymous survey was sent out. The outcome of the survey was that 14,900 service members were victims that experienced some kind of assault in 2016. Many survivors received dishonorable discharge, once they reported their assaults.

“Dishonorably discharging survivors of rape and sexual assault promotes victim blaming. It is not fair that individuals who experienced assault or raped should bear shame from their attacks. The discharges and attacks leave long-lasting negative effects, not only on the survivor’s mental and physical well-being, but also on their employment, access to post-military health care, and the stigma of dishonorable discharge,” states Kathryn Pitts. Lack of resources, and support affect both men and women. “About 10,800 men are sexually assaulted every year in the military,” states the U.S Department of Defense. Both male and females deal with victim blaming. Many men are afraid to come forward due to hyper masculine norms of the military. They will be seen as weak.

A video, “CBS News investigates: Sexual assault survivors say military failed to protect victims,” interviews four service members, three victims were female, and one victim was a male. The interview talks about their sexual assault experiences and how their incidents were handled. The first female victim was raped in her barracks, and reported the incident but was not taken seriously. She was sexually assaulted a second time by an officer. He lied to her, and told her that he needed to search her home. After she let him into her house, he violently raped her.

The second female victim was sexually assaulted by a solder that out ranked her. She hesitated to report it, because his rank was higher than hers. She felt that there was no point in reporting someone that is ranked higher than you. If a commander or a senior sergeant were to commit a crime such as sexual assault, and were to be reported nothing would be done. She constantly had to face retaliation, because she reported the assault and got stripped from her rank.

The third female victim, was raped way before her incident was brought to attention. She reported her assault that happened in 2010 and was not taken to the military justice system until the year of 2020. Her abuser was free from criminal charge because only 5 out of 6 said that her abuser was guilty.

The fourth victim was male. He was abused by a prevention officer. The prevention officer is supposed to prevent sexual assault. The male victim would report the assault to the prevention officer but the prevention officer was the person that abused him. Secretary of the Army, Ryan D. McCarthy quotes “If we do not have the trust of America, nothing else matters.”

My connection to the article is that the military does fail to protect their victims. Hearing that Armando was being abused by someone who is supposed to prevent those types of situations from happening is upsetting. I feel that most of sexual assault cases are hidden until someone does speak up, and the perpetrator is exposed. Even at that it is hard to believe that there is nothing done to them just because they are a higher rank than the victim. It is absolutely not fair, they need to be punished regardless of their rank, their popularity etc. When one person commits those crimes, they should obviously be punished. They should not get away with what they did. They do not care how their actions have affected the other person. They put a person through so much and they are not aware of that.

“A Commission Finds ‘Quite A Lot Of Tolerance' For Sexual Harassment In The Military,” by Ayesha Rascoe, talks about how the military’s commanders need more training about sexual assault and how they can prevent sexual assaults, that some junior enlisted members go through on their job. In the article it also talks about how sexual assault in the military has gotten worse and the stories that are being shared. There are concerns that President Biden addresses. “For as long as we have abhorred this scourge, the statistics and the stories have grown worse we need concrete actions that fundamentally change the way we handle military sexual assault and that make it clear that these crimes will not be minimized or dismissed,” states Biden.

Last year’s killing of Vanessa Guillen by a soldier really put a different outlook on sexual assault. It brings attention to the issue. Finally encourage congress to make a change. The Secretary of Defense wants to move sexual assault cases out of the chain of command. A rejection took place claiming that the commanders are the “key” to making the surrounding safe for those who are experiencing, or experienced some sort of assault to come forward. Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York said “the military's plan must go beyond sex related crimes and include all major crimes such as murder and manslaughter.” Senior military leaders claim that there is no tolerance for sexual assault but it is exposed that there is a bit of tolerance. You can create a positive climate by taking care of your people. Improvements are taking place within the workforce. That the victim will be supported and cared for. There is a shift with sexual assault response coordinators and victim advocates that are not apart of the command structure. The victim advocates give their input to the commander about the kind of services and support a victim needs.

“Sexual Assault, Harassment Likely to Persist in U.S Military Without Bold Action,” by Joie D. Acosta, talks about how this issue will keep on happening if the Department of Defense does not take action into hiring people that actually care about people’s issues. The article addresses that there needs to be actions taken towards hiring people that are dedicated and well trained prevention staff that will do something about sexual assault. There has not been much improvement towards sexual assault. The roles of sexual assault are going up, especially for the female service members. 1 in 16 women have experienced and sexual assault in the military and ¼ experienced sexual harassment. Men in the military, 1 in 143 experienced sexual assault and 1 in 16 experienced sexual harassment.

Incidents that are not reported are due to procedural issues, such as the commanders fearing retaliation. There is also LGBTQ services members that experience sexual abuse. There can be research done to prevent that and research can also give them a better understanding.

“Sexual Assault in the U.S Military,” by Gabriella Sierra talks about how women are important in the military. This focuses on women specifically, and how they make up most of the military. A survey is taken that the Congress gives within the military. The data from those surveys add up to 20,000 sexual assaults a year. Not a lot of those incidents were taken seriously. It mentions that this issue does affect the life of the survivor. The American Military does not meet the requirements if women do not serve. Colonels, generals, and admirals are assaulted as well. There are certain things women can do in the military that the men can’t. They are used to approach people in different countries. The women win the hearts and minds of the people in these communities. They are kind and understanding. They learn what the people need and what the women’s needs are considering that in Muslim communities the women aren’t allowed to conversate with other men. This eliminates talking to male soldiers. Ashley White lost her life in combat in Afghanistan while she served in the Army. You destroy the combat effectiveness and credibility of the unit once a woman does not feel safe in that environment. Women have been able to serve since World War II.

There was a point in time where women could not partake in direct combat roles that included no artillery or infantry. Regardless of those restrictions women were still in combat. They were being shot at and blown as well, like the men. Women in service were made to feel less and it made it easier for their peers to assault and sexually harass them. In the military there are two reports one is the restricted report where there is no investigation but are just data collection purposes.

The second report is unrestricted reports where the report is actually investigated. The commanders are in charge of the incidents that take place and there are times when the commanders have to choose the side of the victim or the perpetrator if the assault happens between the people they are in charge of. There is a decision being made that they might remove that role from the commanders because they don’t handle those situations very well. A victim’s commander gets to see the evidence, and the victim’s private life is basically being ripped open. The commander is able to see the victims photographs of their rape kit if there were any photographs taken. The commander is also able to view pictures of the victim if there were pictures taken of the victim.

“Canada Turns Over Military Sexual Assault Cases to Civilian Courts,” by Ian Austeen and Jennifer Steinhauser talks about how the Canadian military wants to hand sexual misconduct cases to civilian police and courts temporarily. Anita Anand, former law professor that was appointed as a defense minister takes action as a part of the government to deal with sexual assault in the military. With that taking place Canada’s Military decided to look over how how it was being handled and they also decided to review sexual misconduct cases. About 11 of their leaders that are positioned at a high rank were put under investigation due to their involvement with sexual assault. They were either forced to retire or have been pushed out of their roles.

Some military senior officers that failed to handle sexual misconduct cases were put on leave. Former and current servicewomen agreed that military culture helps senior officers cover up inappropriate behavior. Many of the current and former service members support Anand’s decision. There was pressure put on Anand to take action quickly. Survivor groups became impatient with the pace at which the change had been moving. A negotiation between the government and the provinces will have to be required in order to fall through with the decision to hand over sexual misconduct cases to civilian police. There is a feeling sensed by Professor Van Hlatky that civilian police won’t be able to effectively deal with investigations that involve the armed forces due to their lack of “military literacy.” It also mentions the U.S and Biden wanting to remove commanders from handling investigations, and prosecutions involving sexual assault. U.S Defense Secretary, Lloyd J. Austin feels that the roles that commanders currently play should be taken over by independent judge advocates. Some commanders are resistant to this change.

“Across the world, militaries have a sexual violence problem,” by Quratulian Fatima talks about how the military is male dominated. Rape and sexual harassment, has been used as a weapon of war by armies back then and is still happening today. Not many countries published data of sexual crimes taking place in the military. Information that is shared publicly does not represent true problems. 893 sexual assault cases involving both men and women in the military were reported in Israel. In the U.S approximately 15,000 military members were sexually assaulted. Four in ten women were victims of sexual assault in the British military. Back in 2016, a survey had taken place the estimated results were 27% of women in the Canadian military experienced sexual abuse during their time in the armed forces. It mentions that it's hard to recognize sexual violence in other countries.

In Pakistan, no reports were exposed by the military about sexual committed crimes. Media reports on sexual assault troops committed were published in the following countries, Syria, Eritrea, North Korea, India and Peru. It is hard for women around the world that are serving in the military to address sexual violence .They tend to get blamed, the reason why sexual abuse takes place because of the victims behavior and the way they dress is distracting to others. Victims get labeled if they were to report sexual assault or harassment. They would be called liars. Reporting sexual violence puts pressure on women so much they fear losing the chance of getting married or are afraid to let their families down.

Women try not to make a big deal out of sexual harassment just to fit into the masculine setting that is set in the military. The downfall of this is that it discourages others to not report what is happening to them. The laws and procedures are different between the military and civilian ways which also makes it harder to address sexual violence. Pakistan follows a policy where the men and women’s interaction between each other is minimized while Norway did the opposite by putting the men and women in dorms together somehow this has been effective by lowering the sexual assault rate. Efforts have been made in the countries of the U.S, Canada, France, Israel, and the U.K. Some of those efforts were being able to provide protection for victims and a higher chance of the perpetrator being held accountable/punished. Although it was not enough.

“Gravitas: Women in British Army battle rape, and sexual assault” by Palki Sharma. This video talks about how sexual assault is a world problem. To be able to solve a problem is to recognize it. There are more than 112,000 people that are active/reserve soldiers in the British Army but about 16,500 are female service members. Women have been able to serve in the British Army since 100 years ago. Rape. emotional bullying, physical assault, casual sexism is what women have been dealing with. The results of women having to deal with sexual assault is some of them have turned to alcohol, they feel alone and have become depressed.

Women did not feel comfortable reporting their incidents right away, because they feared that they would have to deal with some sort of consequence. Women still had to work with their rapist. They felt more comfortable/safe being in an overseas warzone rather than their own military accommodation. Some military court reports were mentioned. With sexual assault, 57 cases were noticed but only 17 were actually convicted. While rape cases there were 15 recognized but 3 were convicted. Women did not have faith in the complaint system anymore.