"The problem is, the chain of command is the Holy Grail for the military and it's something they don't want to tinker with," Speier told ABC7 News. An Air Force Times article describes the scandal that's rocked Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.
Speier is calling on Congress to investigate. She has written a letter to the House Armed Services Committee chairman. "There have been 35 instructors that have been implicated in a scandal in which their trainees, upon graduating, have been forced to have sex with them," she wrote.
Speier has spoken on the floor of the house nearly two dozen times about the epidemic of rape in the military. She authored the STOP Act last year to protect victims of MST or Military Sexual Trauma. Congress has still not passed it. "The STOP Act would require that a separate office within the military be established where complaints can be filed and be evaluated, investigated, and prosecuted."
Her office is investigating several bay area MST cases including that of military vet Katie Weber, one of many women and men who tell their horrifying stories in a powerful new documentary called the "Invisible War" by Docurama Films. "Very young into the military, wanted to make a career out of it and was raped viciously. Afterwards, when she tried to complain about it, she was discharged from the military. And the reason she was discharged, on her papers, states she had a weight problem, which was not the case," Speier said.
Speier will attend the Invisible War screening Friday evening at 7 p.m. at the San Francisco Metreon and will appear with Katie Weber to answer questions from the audience.
