The Invisible War Page #9

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with anything,

It's about the fact that

I had an almost ten-year career,

Which I was very

invested in,

And I gave that up

to report a sex offender

Who was not even, uh,

put to justice,

Or put on the registry.

And he's probably doing

the same thing right now.

- I had one female lieutenant

pull me aside, um,

And tell me that,

you know,

She had heard about

my case and she thought

She could talk to me as one

female marine to another.

And she told me,

"well, what he did

"was capitalize on

an opportunity

"that you presented him.

"that's not the same thing

as rape,

And you need to know that."

I think a month

after it happened,

They made me go

on a hike with him.

And I tried having

everybody advocate for me

To not make me go,

because

I just couldn't deal

with seeing him.

So their solution to that

was just to put him

Right in front of me

so I could him the whole time.

So that way I could know

where he was

And know that he wasn't

able to do anything,

'cause he was

right in front of me.

And I remember thinking

the entire time

We were up on the hills,

up in camp hills,

And, like, if only it steeper

I woulda jumped.

- There's no way

out of it.

I mean, if you think

about it,

The only way out of it

is, like, suicide or awol.

- It's true.

- So those are your

only two options,

Suicide, awol,

or deal with it.

- Right now I'm just barely

appreciating

Learning how to appreciate

being a woman again.

That's 11 years.

And I'm trying

to have fun with it,

Not forcing myself

to have fun.

My-

I'm trying really hard

not to-to cry,

But it just pisses me off.

You know, and watching

you girls

Having to go through

what I-

It makes me

want to explode.

- Being here and, like,

knowing that

Me wanting to commit suicide,

I'm not alone.

Me being hit and raped,

I'm not alone,

Everything.

The way that

they treated me,

The way that they

made me feel,

I'm not alone.

And we have all you guys,

with all your knowledge

And everything.

You guys are gonna

stand right up, you know?

It's awesome.

That's awesome,

that's what I'm saying.

- I think the women

who are coming forward

In this lawsuit

are very courageous,

Because they're putting their

names out there

For criticism.

They're putting their names

out there

To go down in history

as they were the ones who-

Who got raped.

And that isn't anything

you wanna go through life with.

[indistinct chatter]

- Today I stand in solidarity

with the courageous

Women and men who have served

in our nation's armed forces.

The inspirational plaintiffs

you see before you

Are a small handful

of the tens of thousands

Of troops and veterans

who have been

Sexually brutalized

by their fellow service members

While defending

our nation.

It is time

to finally acknowledge

That the military

judicial system

Is broken when it comes

to these cases.

- My name is kori cioca

and in my case,

My command was unwilling

to help me.

I went for help several times

with other petty officers

And I-

I was denied help.

Even with other men saying,

"please, get her away from him."

And it was-

it was still allowed.

- My name is sarah albertson.

People were telling me,

"don't go to the public.

"don't let this get out,

because it will

Make the military look bad."

- I really feel like

my social responsibility

To speak out

about this issue,

Especially considering

my investigative experience,

And the fact, uh, that

the military justice system

Allows so many offenders

to escape justice.

[applause]

[indistinct chatter]

- She's actually starting

to play with her toys,

You know, together, you know?

- Yeah.

Imaginative playing and stuff.

- And that's so neat to see.

But it's all the stuff

that you teach them,

If you notice, like,

when they play, you know?

- Yeah.

- It's really cool.

- Yeah.

I miss my baby.

- I do too.

- Thank you

for having us.

- Sure.

Thanks for being willing

To fill me in a little bit

on some of the experiences.

- My name is regina vasquez

and I served

Honorably in

the United States marine corps

For four years.

- My name is kori cioca

and I served

In the United States

coast guard.

I was harassed

and sexually assaulted.

- I was administratively

discharged with no benefits

After nine and a half years

of service.

- Women should not

bear that burden.

That is not part of what

we should

Have to be doing

to do our jobs.

- We're talking about

criminal activity.

We're talking about

a vicious attack

That is criminal.

It is an assault.

- Almost none of the cases

made it to court-martial.

- 8%

- and out of the ones that do,

Almost none of them

result in convictions.

- It seems to me,

in all the times

That I've looked

at these things,

The command is the one

who has so much discretion.

- I think our advocates

should actually be civilians,

Not ones that work for-

in the military.

I think we should have

actual units, civilian units.

- It absolutely tears

in my inside

To think that this

has been going on

For as long

as it's been going on.

And we've never

addressed it.

- All people in the military

must know,

If you are a perpetrator

of sexual assault

Against someone else

in the military,

Woe be to you.

You're gonna

be held accountable.

- As a c.I.D. Agent,

I found it

Tremendously frustrating

when I would demonstrate

Than an offender had

committed an offense-

And taking it to a commander

and having a commander

Be the deciding authority-

You know, I don't think

commanders are capable

Of making, um,

an objective decision.

I do not think it should

be in their hands.

- So you would suggest taking

the discretion away from-

- Yes, absolutely.

- Congresswoman davis

and I are both

On the armed services

committee.

- There are a number of issues

that you've raised

That makes, you know,

me wanna go back

And particularly take

another look.

- On an emotional

and individual basis,

What happens after a crime

like that has been committed

Is a very difficult thing

to go through.

And don't think

I don't know.

I know.

- The fact that you're willing

to tell me

Your stories firsthand

makes it much easier for us

To go back and to say,

"you know, these are policies

That we have to change."

It's a big-it's a big,

big deal what you're doing.

- You rarely find people

like you

Who will stand up

for us.

And just thank you so much

For everything

that you do.

- Very nice to meet

you all.

- Nice to meet you, ma'am.

- Thank you again

For your service.

- Thank you.

- Thanks for your time.

- Thanks.

- Mr. Speaker, last year

the military received

Over 3,000 reports

of sexual assault

Involving other members

in the service.

This week, 17 veterans

are saying

That the military ignored

their cases of sexual assault

While they

were on active duty.

- Today I'm going

to talk about

Seaman kori cioca,

who served

In the coast guard from

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