The Secret Military War

In class we read an article for Times Magazine by Nancy Gibbs. It tells about women being raped and how they are afraid. "Military applies to chaplains" for these woman to talk to because "Not nearly enough mental-health professionals in the system" I think that this is insane and shocking. Nancy has many statistics that back her up and those also are terrifying. "3,000 women were sexually assaulted in fiscal year 2008" this statistic is for just women that are in OUR military. I have had so many friends that were, are, or are going to be in the military. All the statistics and words this woman has shown are remarkable. I knew that it happened just not that much "8% of cases that are investigated end in prosecution." Reading this made me think and it scared me.
Firstly, I think that there need to be many many more mental-health professionals for military people. If you look in the Yellow Pages you can find usually three or more pages of mental-health professionals that you can go to. There are so many places where civilians can go for help, but definitely not enough for our military woman and even men. Nancy said "Commanding officers in the field are not understanding how important this is" and I agree with her. I know that Commanding Officers do their best but still. In this article Nancy talks about a woman who went out for a cigarette without her firearm and got raped; she was afraid of being demoted if she told. It makes me think that woman are "Don’t Ask don’t tell" a little too much. Nancy also said "Some signs that both congress and the Pentagon are getting serious" and I hope that she is right but I wish it would speed up; I know that it is not only the government that must change but the women need to be able to stand up; but how can they when they know the statistics? I think overall that there need to be more places for rape victims in the military to be able to go to, men and women.
At the end of Nancy's essay she said "What does it say if the military can’t or won’t protect the people we ask to protect us?" and i definitely agree.