ROTC arrests and MST

The man its in this photo is Colonel J.H.Watson,USMC (Ret.)

His current occupation is that of an ROTC instructor at a high school in Florida although his current address at the Duval County jail prohibits him at the moment.

His charges involve child pornography-they don’t yet say he has assaulted any children they only describe the items found on his computer. They describe the children as teenage girls-the same age as the teens he is is charge of teaching leadership to.

I only know the very brief  information that was published with this mans photograph-so I cannot stand in judgement as he has a right to defend himself in court.

What I do know is Colonel Watson is not the only retired military veteran who has been charged with a crime of this nature-and what narrows it down,the solitaire former instructor of ROTC in recent past to be arrested. One only needs to do  a quick search to learn I speak the truth.

The fact that men like this do end up in jail says something to me-it tells me that military sexual trauma (MST) has tentacle’s that reach into all ranks.

Okay-I may be a tad or two off to connect this mans arrest with MST,but I relate it to it being likely this mans misconduct is not something new and most likely was a practice of his during his career. Then I think about how many men and woman he had in his command and then I think of the 32% of woman veterans who the VA says have been victims of MST, and the 6% of the male veterans. How many men and woman in his command and through his years as he grew in the ranks could fit into those numbers?

I know-I’m talking about odds,but…they do have a place in this!  I remember the veterans advocate that I was once going to trust to carry my case forward-he made judgements about my rapes. He wondered why homosexuals needed a reason to rape each other…and the the equally troubling assumption my attackers were blacks. My advocate had to be my judge-and yet could not judge with this kind of bigotry. And then you take this guy-Colonel Watson,and you think of how many in his past that might have had a need to report a rape and wonder how many could not. It is easy to say there may have been several times if you consider the numbers of men and woman Colonel Watson had watch over during his career.

My point here needs to consider the numbers of ROTC instructors that have been jailed in the past year of 2008 for sexual misconduct-and assault on children/teenagers in their charge-all of them retired military with rank. My quick search on ‘GOOGLE’ this morning brought up 10 different individuals on the first page. I wonder how many MST victims these men had contact with during active duty?

Why would one wonder why a victim could not come forward and report that they had been raped? With just my feeble attempt with the numbers explains that well enough to me. If the odds are that the MST survivor has this kind of individual to report to and seek justice then the odds are seemingly off…and it is easy to understand why one would want to remain silent.

The veteran MST survivor remains the ‘silent wounded’ because of men like Colonel Watson. How could one come to this man as an officer and receive full understanding? How could a man like this make a reasonable judgement with his own heart carrying the guilt of sexual misconduct? It is no wonder many remain silent.

I am not a research scientist-I only comment here as an observer of my own life as an MST survivor…what it was like for me to report my rape to an officer only to be laughed at-and years later to a Florida Veterans Affairs advocate to hear him remark how amazed he was that “homosexuals had a need to rape each other”. This man was also a retired Marine. I look at the photo here of Colonel Watson and see the same kind of men-the Navy officer who laughed and the FVA officer who was to ignorant to understand.

Can you see where I’m going with this? I am showing you how hard it really is to come forward and I am showing you that MST has its hands on every level of military service-even in the ROTC program (and yes-I understand ROTC is not necessarily military,but…) and in my way I am showing you that it is a larger problem than one really knows-and that the military wants to admit. I am showing you that sexual misconduct has no barrier of rank or race or age. I hope you get my drift!

Military Sexual Trauma-exists!

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Originally uploaded by jayfherron

 

 

I remember the days when my sons were still in high school and the times they inquired about the future and college.
I can fairly say my income at any time was not going to be able to send my sons to college-but I knew enough to suggest the military,more specific-the United States Navy.
I actually encouraged my sons and several of the young men they grew up with to enlist.

My own few months in the Navy ended with me feeling ashamed about myself-all I really saw was my failure and my discharge was not offered the way that I wanted it to be…my hope was to follow the directions my ships education officer and finish school and go to one of the schools the Navy offered.
I was taken another place that many don’t hear about our service men being. A place called barracks D.

Barracks D was a detention barracks.
My crime? I really make no sense out it it when I try to explain it…there was no crime.

In barracks D-really only hours after I arrived,I was attacked and raped and left unconscious in a urinal trough.
The following morning an intelligence officer inquired as to why I was so bloodied up and bruised-and when I thought this man was going to help me,instead he chuckled and told me to get used to it.
I was 18,weighed about 120.

I thought this was because of where I was. There wrongly-I had done nothing to deserve being locked in with these men…it was my sense of redemption to assist my sons to enlist,to ensure that my failure was mended through my sons. I did not fear the same things happening to them because in my mind I was a the bad one and that is why I was sent to barracks D.
Yet,I had done nothing wrong.

It is hard to believe the rapes took place nearly 40 years ago. I am amazed at how the memory of the days of my Navy life have never gone away. It is almost as if it happened just the other day. I believe sometimes it is because I am locked in a time zone that was stuck in place for the time that I really missed-being a good military man.

To be honest-I thought my situation was an isolated thing-circumstance made it happen,and…it was not really anything to do with the military. I thought that for years-never really considering that my safety was never cared about while I spent my time in barracks D. I just thought it was the way it was…just like the man said “get used to it”.
After answering a few questions at the VA several years ago the interest in barracks D grew from just being a time that will always haunt me to the interest of the Military Sexual Trauma team at the Gainesville (Fla) VA ,where I met and spent nearly three years with Charlotte-my therapist.

I never once considered that rape and assault’s of personal violation took place in the military….I always thought my incidents were only because of where I was.
I was just 18…a life of normal sexual exploration had never been mine to try-to experience. What some deem as ‘sexual’ is not exactly of the way the nature of sexual intimacy is made,having someone force themselves on your person and rip your anus to a place it is often sore and always a reminder of what was once happening (which mentally happens each morning on my toilet)….that is not sexual intimacy,nor any other kind of gentle contact.
I never really got to explore that in the true sense of how it is supposed to be.
To this day-it affects me.

It was only at these meetings at the VA that the size of the problem was understood-this happened to others and in various situations to active duty military persons. Enough so that there are two full time VA facilities that treat only MST -military sexual trauma. One is here in south Florida.
During my meetings with Charlotte it was suggested that I file for a claim against the Navy for the wrongs that were done.
That process was like re-opening a big wound so that it will never heal.
The veterans advocate who was to be in charge of taking me to the hearings to attempt to earn me something of a compensation (how it will replace what has taken is not sure in my head) had such a bigoted mind he thought because I lay there and allow several men penetrate me-with force….that this was somehow homosexual conduct,and actually expressed such thoughts.

It was then that my attitude changed and that I needed to say more-to speak up and fight this. Hey….my case was as I said-nearly 40 years ago….and stayed in me alone,in silence. It might have been better to keep it in silence,but when the veterans advocate made jokes at my expense it pissed me off as much as it made me sick.
I began writing-and writing and as I wrote and had to research for my topics I learned that my case is not isolated at all…MST is a serious problem and it is growing.

Just the other day I wrote about Demetrius Busby-an ROTC instructor that had been assaulting a teenage male in his charge. In my research just to learn about Demetrius Busby I was stunned to see the numbers of ROTC so called leaders who had been arrested just in the last six months,for sexual violations against students.
That worsened the feelings in me-even at the high school level,military sexual trauma exists.
It is trauma…the sexual indicator deceives us.

www.airforcetimes.com/news/06/army_sexualassault_060308w/

 

The above article is among the most recent numbers to come feely to the people-I’m not sure I can say “to the public” as not many folks in civilian life are going to be reading Air Force Times or Army Times or Military times….so the information is not really published to edify the community in general…we in civilian life are not too observant to the whole of the problem. Me? I too had no idea until I started writing about how large this is.
I don’t want you to take my word-I suggest doing research of your own….seek out the truth,and then join me in my campaign to change as much as we can for the survivor and earn as much help for the victim as we can,because they are not recieving the proper care-only a number…that is all,only a number.

As with my sons and the many many others who walked into the recruiters office-they do so with a feeling of honor and a sense of doing the right thing-standing up for our country. We send our sons and daughters into the military with the thinking that this is a place of great leadership and disipline and do not expect to learn that the criminal element is even filtered into the troops….rape and sexual violation no matter where you are is a crime.

www.newsweek.com/id/78159
I am perplexed at the problem that exists and that not only are the crimes commited-they are often shoved aside.
That is so wrong.

ROTC arrests!

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Originally uploaded by jayfherron

 

I usually begin my mornings early enough to beat the daylight-drinking my coffee and reading up on the local paper,which takes longer to get on line than to read…mostly to check the obituaries,but sometimes we manage to get the news.
This morning was an article about a former ROTC instructor from our area currently instructing in Sarasota-who now is in custody in Sarasota Florida where he was cooling his heels while awaiting first appearance before a judge. Demetrius Busby was arrested for sexual violation on a male student in his ROTC program at a high school there.
At first my mind was in a precoffee mode and it did not click that the ROTC is a form of military training at the high school levels-I believe it also enters college era as well….this is not something I am well versed on,however-I believe it has much to do with training students for a potential non-commissioned officers place in line when the student reaches active duty. I do know it connects with future military service.
That thought revived me and I wanted to re-read the news about this,so I did a search for the story…and what turned up was a surprise.

Demetrius Busby was arrested yesterday in Sarasota Florida-a ROTC instructor…sexual violation on a male student.

Victor Denson was arrested in Macon Georgia in February 2008-a ROTC instructor…sexual molestation on a student.

Sgt.Major Kevin Johnson was arrested in Portersville Pennsylvania in February 2008-a ROTC instructor…58 counts of deviate sexual assault on two juvenile males.

In January 2008-Sgt.Maxie Carroll Miller was arrest in Rolling Springs SC-a ROTC instructor…sexual assault on a 10th grade girl

In November 2007 Eugene Payton was arrested in N.Charleston SC-a ROTC instructor….was arrested for what he thought was consensual sex with a minor. It seems the age where he could have truthfully claimed it was consensual is 16 in South Carolina,go figger…

I sigh a sound of utter disbelief…more like a groan of disgust.
It seems to me that the ROTC program is a place where the young students who desire to stand up for freedom and what is right in a democracy go to learn the disciplines of military service-to become leaders.
What is it that makes those who are leaders already fail these young people…and treat them with absolute disregard and degraded intentions.
How can these young people respect that which is violated by a direct superior-the flag of the United States and defense of our freedom?
It is bad enough that the military services are realizing the numbers of sexual assaults are on the rise.

      www.foxreno.com/news/15597668/detail.html

    What does this do to those teens who are doing the decent thing by showing an interest in their country and their flag and only to be demeaned by those who are supposed to be someone a youth are supposed to be able to look up to?

Who takes care of them in the years to come? When their lives reflect the indecent manipulations that took place during their innocent times-who takes care of them? Certainly they are not under the wings and care of the Veterans Administration!

Can they claim PTSD as any enlisted person might if the sexual violations happened while in active duty?
Does any body even care?

The truth is-I was startled by what I found. I was merely trying to research more on Demetrius Busby’s case because his sexual violations were directed to a male student….it is my expressed need to alert that males ARE violated sexually too.
I was overwhelmed to see the numbers of ROTC instructors arrested for these crimes…so frequently,so close together-it was too much to take in,too many to write down.
I am saddened by these things.
The need to teach honor and respect are deeper then we’ve ever understood. And how can we do that when the very ones who are entrusted with our youth-and the very youth that have stepped up to do the right thing…serving the country they call home,these instructors have stolen these young peoples futures-damaged their innocence.
A very sad state of affairs. And , the military has had to reinstate the second chance program to enlist convicted felons because not enough true patriots are stepping forward…no wonder.