In the spring of 2020, as the first wave of COVID-19 spread across the United States, news of the disappearance and brutal murder of PFC Vanessa Guillen went viral in veteran communities.
1Not once but twice, Guillen had reported sexual harassment by a fellow soldier at Fort Hood, Texas, but both times, the army had failed to investigate the incidents. On April 22, specialist Aaron David Robinson bludgeoned Guillen to death with a hammer inside an armory building on base. Cecily Aguilar, Robinson’s girlfriend, helped him dismember and dispose of the body, burying Guillen underneath concrete. Her body was uncovered more than two months later. On July 1, Robinson reportedly killed himself before police could apprehend him
.2 The gruesome deaths of Vanessa Guillen and sergeant Elder Fernandes—whose body was found hanging from a tree after he reported sexual assault—caused a public outcry for justice and accountability.
3On social media, under the hashtag, #IAmVanessaGuillen, hundreds of women veterans shared similar stories of sexual trauma publicly. And a movement to reform the military justice system was reborn.
The case of Vanessa Guillen illustrates a crisis of sexual violence in the military and systemic inequality in the military justice system. Even though Guillen reported the harassment, the chain of command failed to intervene, investigate, or protect her from the abuser. But she was not alone.
Victims of military sexual trauma are twelve times more likely to experience retaliation than their rapists are to be convicted.
3 From 2004-2012, annual reports of sexual assault in the military doubled, increasing each single year from 1,700 reported in 2004 alone to 3,344 reported in 2012. But these numbers alone do not fully account for the depth of the military rape crisis nor for the systemic problems that enable it. Most survivors of sexual assault do not report it for fear of stigmas, ostracism, and retribution. Even when they do report, the perpetrators are rarely prosecuted. In 2012 alone, the Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military estimated 26,000 sexual assaults. That year, only 238 offenders were convicted. Sixty-four of the accused were acquitted.
5Time and again, survivors of rape have testified before Congress about the prevalence of sexual violence in the military.
A human rights advocacy group called Protect Our Defenders (founded in 2011) has led efforts to bring attention to sexual assault in the military and effect policy change. In 2013, a group of female and male victims of sexual assault in the military testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee, chaired by senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).Because the military chain of command retains sole decision-making authority in cases of sexual assault, few perpetrators are held accountable for their crimes, and most survivors never report it for fear of retribution.
Spurred on by this grassroots veterans’ movement to reform the UCMJ, senator Gillibrand introduced the Military Justice Improvement Act in 2013. If passed, this legislation would remove the chain of command from cases of sexual assault, offering civilian oversight to ensure equal justice to victims. Amid these reform efforts, the Pentagon misled Congress by reporting inaccurate information on military sexual assault.
6 Consequentially, the bill failed to overcome a Republican filibuster, led by the late senator John McCain (R-AZ), a former Vietnam War POW and so-called maverick. It has failed every year since then. In 2016, it did not even go to the Senate floor for a vote.
7A cultural deference to authority has enabled institutional injustices to escalate in the military justice system virtually unchecked. Since the failure of Congress to act, these problems have only worsened. Despite more sexual assault training, it remains difficult for survivors to report rape for the fear of retaliation. In practice, the Uniform Code of Military Justice practically protects perpetrators and silences victims.
8In the aftermath of Guillen’s murder, the aptly named “I Am Vanessa Guillen Act” similarly seeks to reform the military justice system by circumventing the chain of command in cases of sexual assault, establishing a process for compensation for military negligence, and reforming the SHARP program to provide civilian oversight.
In the summer of 2020, thousands of women spoke out against sexual assault in the military and their voices generated an online social media movement.
9 As a leader, advocate, and survivor, Tamekiah Aguirre spoke out for the first time publicly against military sexual violence.