The Case of Suzanne Swift — U.S. Female Soldiers Doubly at Risk

Published on

Suzanne Swift joined the military to get money for college. During her junior year of high school, Swift signed a contract to enlist with the military police for five years after she graduated high school. She was told by her military recruiter that she could avoid being deployed to Iraq by signing a longer term contract.

Swift was sent to Iraq as soon as she completed basic training. She reports that she dealt with ongoing sexual harassment and abuse from her fellow soldiers on top of dealing with the everyday trauma of being in a warzone. Swift says the harassment was led by her superior officer, who then coerced her into a sexual relationship.

When she summoned the courage to end it, her squad leader retaliated by doling out punishments to her for minor infractions. “Once he made me carry a clock around for probably about two weeks, because I was nine minutes early instead of ten minutes early…I mean, everywhere I went, to the shower, to the bathroom, outside my room…I had to have the clock,” says Swift (Democracy Now!, 9/18/06).

Swift continued to experience sexual harassment once she returned to the states. She was stationed at a military base with another officer who propositioned her multiple times. Swift says that the officer would “call me and ask me about my underwear in the middle of the night. Once he told me to report to his bed naked, that was my place of duty for the day,” (Democracy Now!, 9/18/06).

Swift says that her attempts to report the sexual harassment and abuse were not taken seriously by military personnel. Those leading the investigation into her claims told her that she needed to learn how to prevent sexual harassment in the future, “as if I had somehow invited this on myself, like it were my fault that he was sexually harassing me.”

When she was told she had to return to Iraq, Swift went AWOL. She sought treatment for depression and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. “I don’t think it’s [the PTSD] from being in combat. It’s from what other soldiers did to me. It didn’t come from the outside from the enemy,” says Swift (Democracy Now!, 9/18/06).

Five months later, police surrounded Swift’s home and arrested her. After three days in jail, she was detained in a military base under the supervision of the man that had coerced her into sex while she in Iraq. In January, she faced a court martial and was stripped of her rank and sentenced to jail for 30 days. No action was taken against her commander in Iraq, and the man who made suggestive late-night phone calls to her was given a letter of admonishment – a slap on the wrist.

Swift’s case is not unique. Sexual abuse permeates every level of the military. As many as 70.9% of women in active duty have reported being sexually harassed at some point in their military careers, (“The Sexual Harassment of Female Active-Duty Personnel: Effects on Job Satisfaction and Intentions to Remain in the Military,” Heather Antecol and Deborah A. Cobb-Clark, http://ideas.repec.org/p/clm/clmeco/2001-27.html). Nearly 20% of female cadets at the Citadel, a public military institution, were sexually assaulted, and another 68% were sexually harassed, (NOW, 9/1/06). According to a recent study, 722 Army recruiters have been accused of rape and sexual misconduct since 1996, (CBS news, 8/20/06).

Suzanne Swift has advice for women being recruited by the military, “for the women who are considering going into it, don’t.” Anti-war activists need to warn young women about the real conditions they will face in the army, along with exposing the lies recruiters tell them about the employment and educational opportunities it says it will provide. Women within the military need to organize to defend themselves and to come forward to expose the systematic cover up of endemic sexism and violence in the military.

Latest articles

MORE LIKE THIS

Congo Elections – No Shot At Stability

On December 20, nearly 40 million Congolese voters headed to the polls to cast their vote in the presidential elections. As a sign of...

Trump presiona para reabrir sin importar el costo humano, fomenta las protestas de la derecha

Debido a la crisis económica y de salud provocada por el coronavirus, más de 30 millones de estadounidenses han solicitado beneficios de desempleo en...

Lanzamiento: El sitio web de la sección Mexicana de Alternativa Socialista Internacional

¡Hoy marca el comienzo del nuevo sitio web de nuestra organización hermana en México, Alternativa Socialista! https://alternativasocialista.org/ Socialist Alternative se solidariza con Alternativa Socialista México porque...

Kamala Harris’ Real Record

Following the explosion in popularity of Bernie Sanders’ candidacy and program during the 2016 Democratic primary, the Democratic party establishment is on an all-out...