The Invisible War Page #11

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"oh, jeez,

sorry you were raped.

Go talk to your congressman."

- If you could

say something to this guy,

What would you wanna

say to him?

- I don't know.

[crying]

I don't think

it's affected his life at all.

And people in my old squadron

that I would talk to,

Um, they-they don't see

any affect

That it's had on him.

And that hurts.

[crying]

Because it's a struggle

every day.

And it's completely changed

who I am.

[crying]

- I'm really hoping that

he falls off

A coast guard boat

and they never find him.

I'm really hoping for that.

- Yeah.

- Like, they find-

there's a poor mishap

Where he got chopped up

by the prop.

- It would be great.

- That would be great.

- That would be

an exciting day.

- It would.

I'd probably celebrate.

- Right?

- Yeah.

- I hope this reaches

them too, you know?

I hope that somewhere,

someone sees my face,

You know,

wherever it is,

And goes, "I know them.

And they're talking

about me."

Because they know

what they did, you know.

And then, all they'll have

to mutter is,

To some friend that goes,

"hey, weren't we stationed

with her?"

You know, and then they

can't be a secret anymore.

So hopefully they

have to deal with it too.

You know, some way,

shape, or form.

- Most rapists

are repetitive criminals.

They're-it's a kind of crime

That has an

obsessive quality,

So people do it again

and again.

So the tragedy of that

is that every one of these guys

Who gets off free will be

doing it to other women

Again and again, often

for years and years and years.

- The average sex offender

in their lifetime

Has about 300 victims.

And the vast majority

Of sex offenders

will never be caught.

- A lot of civilians see it

as being a military problem.

But it really isn't,

because 5% or less

Of reported offenders

are convicted.

So almost none of them

wind up

On the sex offender

registry.

- There is no military sex

offender list that I'm aware of,

But if you're convicted

in court,

A felony conviction

of sex offense-

Of a sex offense, you're gonna

go on the national list.

- For any sex offense

whatsoever?

- Correct.

- That is not the case.

It depends on what level

of conviction they got.

If they received

over a year,

Then that's considered

a felony.

But a lot of these cases

are plead down

So that they're not

felonies.

The military doesn't like

to prosecute people

And keep them

as felony convictions.

- I often ask myself

the question,

"why wouldn't-

why would they stop?"

And if there's nothing

to stop 'em,

Like incarceration

or some other major life change,

They're gonna continue.

- If you run a sexual predator

through the judicial system,

And then you give 'em

a slap on the hand,

All you've done-

is you've done the equivalent

Of the catch

and release program.

You've caught him,

you've educated him,

And now you released him

back into hometown america.

He now knows a lot more

about the law enforcement

And judicial system than

he did when he first started,

Which makes him a much more

capable criminal

And a much more

dangerous criminal.

- They go on

to literally prey

On women and men

in our neighborhoods

Across the United States.

I mean, if we don't care

about women or men

In the military,

then we hopefully

We should care about

women and men, you know,

Girls and boys in our

neighborhoods back home.

[shutter clicking]

- There you go.

- The thing that

broke my heart

More than anything

about this story

Was the young women

who went in with such idealism.

"I want to serve

my country.

I want to give back."

To see a young person's hope

and idealism

Crushed in that brutal way-

I think we owe our young people

more than that.

- Increasingly,

women are becoming

Some of the best trained

professionals

That we have

in the military.

These are great soldiers.

And we can't afford

to lose them.

- Yeah, I'm happy to never

have to wear that again.

- People deeply believe

in their hearts

To serve their country.

They should be given

that chance, with respect.

You know, it's part of,

really, our american way.

- Do you think that

we deserve purple hearts

Because we were wounded

in time of war?

- They're never gonna

give us one.

- You know, but I'm saying

maybe there should be

A ribbon for women who-

- Who served her country.

- Who have survived it,

You know?

- Survived it.

- We have a good army,

a good military,

But not a great one.

And this is the kind of issue

that-that keeps

Our military

from being great.

- We can view this

as a shared challenge.

It's not just

a woman's issue.

It's not just something that

the military has to deal with.

But as a society,

we're all in this together.

[shutter clicks]

It's our national duty.

[mary j. Blige's

need someone ]

- # from where you stand

# there's no way

to change it #

# no way to make it

make sense #

# and it's lonely there

# there in the spotlight

# but, honey,

don't I understand #

# you

# you need someone to love you

# you need someone to hold you

# tonight

# someone to love you

# someone to love you

# when you look at me

# try hard to hide it

# try hard to keep it all in

# well I found you out

# discovered your secrets

# well honey it ain't a sin

# that you

# you need someone to love you

# you need someone to tell you

# that everything is all right

# someone to love you

# someone to love you

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