Hi ladies I am mainly writing this for coverage as this means a big deal to me.
I joined the army in the 90s, as a young fresh faced 16 year old looking forward to a career. However the amount of us in basic training that the male instructors took off and basically told us it was have sex with them or they would end our careers. As these men were of rank a lot older than us we mainly complied.
I left training and was recalled for a court martial against one such instructor there were 60 of us all for the prosecution as he had pressured us to have sex. Somehow there were story's made to deem us ALL unreliable. For instance during this time I was meeting the demands of training at the time and my grandfather died I was grieving. This deemed me unstable under military law and my evidence was thrown out. In civilian life he would have coerced or groomed us but he got away with it all.
This week I'm sure you are all aware that a teenager 19 year old Jaysley Beck took her own life after suffering harassment and sexual assault by more than one man senior to her The amount of stories from women and men who have been sexually assaulted and rape this week in the forces is absolutely colossal so much so. I have started a petition https://chng.it/pffRggKMb9 I want to get this petition to parliament so that these perpetrators are investigated and charged if deemed enough evidence under civilian law not to forget the wives of some of these servicemen are victims/survivors of domestic abuse again under military law it seems to be swept under the carpet. They don't go on a Clare's law register. Their abuse doesn't flag on a dbs check when they leave the forces. Something needs to change. I feel so angry that after 3 decades this still goes on , service personnel are actually taking their own lives as a result. I just want to add not every soldier is guilty of this most of the men I worked with were good men but I can honestly say I've experienced some form of sexual harassment in each unit that I served in the 15 years I was in. Do you think I'm doing the right thing, I'd like to think anyone's son ,daughter,grandchild ect signed up and were aware of certain risks but they haven't signed up for that have they. Aibu to ask for some support as I don't have any in real life. Thank you for reading x