The Waiting Game

By Sara Rich
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Thursday 10 August 2006

It has now been 60 traumatic days since my daughter - who signed up with the Army as an MP, and after bravely serving one tour in Iraq, chose to go AWOL rather than engage in the two more tours to Iraq that awaited her - was forcibly taken from our home in handcuffs. Like many soldiers, she was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. What we didn't know, what she couldn't tell us, is that she was also suffering Military Sexual Trauma. Late the evening of Sunday June 11, 2006, PFC Suzanne Swift was taken to the county jail, where she was strip-searched and orifice-checked. She was denied medical care for an abscessed tooth until the following day. She sat in that cell for two and a half days, a veteran of Iraq combat, terrified that she may be sent back. Outside, supporters of Suzanne's plight lined the sidewalks. The mother bear in me rose up - and I swung into action. I am trying to save my daughter's life.

It has been a long 60 days. While Suzanne is still wearing her jail bracelet, she does so now at Fort Lewis, where she is awaiting her fate. She will continue to do so until she is free. Suzanne's mental health is starting to deteriorate as the Army continues to keep her without charging her. She is with a unit that is not her own. Shockingly, she still is subjected to nasty remarks and public humiliation by other soldiers and sergeants. Each time this happens she calls me in a panic crying her eyes out. One time she was sitting in the common area in the barracks. The other soldiers started taking about how much they despised Lt. Watada, the first officer to refuse deployment to Iraq on the grounds that it is an illegal occupation, and the nasty things they wanted to do to him. Suzanne has great respect for Lt. Watada, and listening to this conversation scared her so much she left the room panicked. She called me and I had to talk her down. It is saddening to Suzanne that the new unit, where she thought she was among honorable soldiers, is itself a place filled with men and women who speak with and act with dishonorable intentions.

Over and over again it is shown to us that being in the Army is no longer a safe place for Suzanne to be. Perhaps I was naive to think it ever was. My grandpa, who was a colonel in the Army, spent his life in the military. I grew up trusting that the military was a safe and fair place for people to work and be a part of. In this Army, men and women live with the threat and reality of sexual abuse and harassment - not from their enemies, but from their own. This is no longer my grandpa's Army.

Women and men have been sending us their stories of sexual abuse and harassment. Jessica was raped multiple times in South Korea and treated like a liar when she tried to report it. Lawanda was raped by a colleague in Afghanistan. When she asked for medical care, she was told she could not receive care until she filed a formal complaint. When she did file her complaint, she was transported to care on the same plane as her attacker. Each of them were humiliated by command and treated with disrespect. Now both women are fighting to come home. Why is it we are not protecting these women? I was speaking at the Oregon Country Fair and a young Iraq vet came up and spoke to me about his ruined mental health after being sexually abused by one of his sergeants. He said, "I would wake up with the sergeant's cock in my mouth." This type of abuse has got to stop.

It's bad enough we are sending our young people to an illegal occupation. But we must draw the line at our military having to defend themselves from sexual predators. Somehow, these criminals have gotten the green light to to prey upon young privates. There must be major reformation in the way these NCO's are supervised and a way for these young privates to be protected. Zero tolerance for sexual harassment and abuse has to be implemented for all levels of the military, especially when deployed to a foreign country. When victims come forward they need to be believed and taken care of appropriately. The abusers need to be court-martialled and dishonorably discharged from the military.

One of the things that keeps us going is the hope that we can effect some change in the military regarding the way they are treating sexual misconduct. We have been researching the treatment of victims of Military Sexual Trauma (MST) and what is available for these people. Since so many have been swept under the carpet, not many have received the healing they deserve. The VA has two in-patient programs in the United States that deal specifically with MST, one in Florida and another in California, each with approximately 8 beds. We are having difficulty gathering adequate data on numbers of victims of MST, but there are indications that hundreds of young men and women are victimized each year. Clearly, resources are severely limited. Who decides who gets help?

In the meantime, we wait. We wait for the Army to decide what to do with my daughter. Perhaps they are waiting for us to break down emotionally, mentally and financially so that we will give up. They wait for our support to dwindle so they can do something unethical to Suzanne and get rid of her. I trusted the Army once before and was severely let down. But I wholeheartedly want to believe that the Army will do the right thing.

But we are NOT going to give up. We shall overcome. We are strong and have faith that we are doing the right thing - not only for Suzanne, but for untold numbers of others who have been sexually abused while the military turns a blind eye.

Our petition to support Suzanne has gone across the country. We reached over 5,000 signatures on Suzanne's petition. (To sign the petition, go to www.suzanneswift.org. Petition signers have added comments; on almost every page there are heartbreaking stories of people who have been sexually abused while doing their best to serve in the military. While abhorrent, it is these testimonies that keep us going, and we thank people for signing on. We are printing out the first 5,000 and sending them to Congress and the Senate. Now we need to shoot for 10,000. We need to show the Army that we are not going away and we not stop fighting for justice. Our web site has new updates and information.

As we move from frantic waiting to active hope, we appreciate all the letters and support we have gotten from all over the world. Suzanne and I read them all, frequently with tears in our eyes. Please spread the word and keep the support coming in for Suzanne. Write to your senators and congressmen. Write letters to the editor. Show the mainstream press that we are paying attention to the this small yet critically significant case in the midst of the chaos of our world today. She needs all the strength and financial support we can gather. We will not settle for anything less than Suzanne deserves. She has suffered enough and it is time for some action. We need to get that red jail bracelet off her arm and into the trash where it belongs.

Do something every day to create peace in the world. Don't wait!

Peace - Sara