Skimming through many different news articles on CNN.com, I came across an article titled "Veteran confronts rape, suicide: 'I am angry that others are going through this'". I was intrigued by the title and was wondering what in the world were the words rape and veteran doing in the same sentence. As I began reading I was blown away by this story of an 18 year old that joined the navy and was raped by his assistant drill sergeant.
Long story short, this newly enlisted young man by the name of Jack William was lying in his bunk, in the year 1966, surrounded by 100 other bunks filled with men where he was awoken in the dead of night. After being woke up, the assistant sergeant then orders Jack to meet him in the upstairs office immediately. When he reaches the office and shuts the door the sergeant begins to strangle and rape him. After that night it occurs a couple more times but he never says anything with fear of what others would say. He eventually leaves the army because of health issues and now some 47 years later is speaking out about the incident.
The article reports from a survey taken that 26,000 service men and women were raped while serving in 2012. Reading through the article I am disgusted and saddened by how common this tragedy has become and the effect that it has on its victims. I highly recommend reading this article to be informed, if nothing else. Hopefully this article will inform men and women that they have a voice and there is always someone that will listen. Silence will never allow change to happen.
