Male Sexual Assault in the Military

Abstract

This chapter explores the research on male military sexual trauma. The chapter defines the phenomenon of rape myth and how victim blaming stereotypes contribute to the silent epidemic of male sexual trauma during military service. The chapter concludes exploring the resulting mental health consequences of male military sexual assault and the limited research on clinical applications to this stigmatized group of service members.

While stationed in South Korea for the Army in September 2011, Jeremy was assaulted by a man with higher rank. Scared and confused, particularly because the perpetrator was his CO and threatened him at the time of the assault that if Jeremy reported, he knew where to find him as he watched him work out and run every day, Jeremy did not tell anyone about his assault until he returned to the United States in May 2012. He said the reason for this delay was fear that if he reported the MST while in South Korea, he would end up in the Brigg (military prison) or a psychiatric unit in Asia, and as his friend told his mother, he could have also been killed.

When transferred from South Korea to Fort Carson, Colorado, he felt safe enough to report his assault to a SARC advocate. Jeremy had no history of sexual assault that anyone knew of prior to this sexual trauma, but when he reported, he did disclose to the therapist that he was sexually abused at age 11, a year after his father had drowned. Jeremy had never overdosed or been suicidal in the years before his sexual assault, but had either overdosed or attempted suicide eight times following his sexual victimization during military service.

Over the course of the next few years before his death, various diagnoses appeared in Jeremy’s 1,102-page VA chart that included psychosis, depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, dysthymia, avoidant personality disorder, and schizotypal personality disorder. Jeremy’s VA records show continued attempts to diagnose and treat various conditions and providers who did not agree on a single diagnosis. With the help of his parents, Jeremy attempted multiple times to seek treatment for sexual trauma but was repeatedly turned away by veteran treatment facilities, stating they did not have the resources to treat men or that other symptoms took precedence over the MST therapy. On Friday, October 9, 2015, Jeremy did not show for his counseling appointment. He was already on a ‘suicide flag,’ which meant that a ‘no show’ required a welfare check, but that did not happen. On Sunday, October 11, 2015, Jeremy died alone in his apartment from an overdose on opiates that were not prescribed to him. Per Jeremy’s VA records and biographical details provided by his mother, Jeremy was never formally treated for MST by any of his VA providers

(C. Rollo-Carlson, personal communication, July 19, 2017).