The documentary, which was released this year, makes the claim that about half-a-million servicemen and servicewomen are victims of military sexual assaults, and that the military successfully prosecutes only about 2 percent of the incidents reported.
“It was well orchestrated,” former Marine Meredith Barnett told News Center 7’s Yuna Lee about the documentary. “I didn’t report mine because I was afraid of the backlash,” the Beavercreek resident said.
What happened to her during boot camp remained a secret — until now.
“When I saw ‘The Invisible War’ it was the first time I have ever forgiven myself,” Barnett said.
Kori Cioca, a former seaman in the Coast Guard now living in Oregonia, said she now carries a knife wherever she goes — for protection.
“It escalated and it kept escalating and escalated to the point he ended up raping me,” Cioca said of her former direct commander, who continues to serve in the Coast Guard.
She also was beaten by that officer, suffering a dislocated jaw. Cioca still takes nerve injections every three weeks.
Barnett and Cioca hope the documentary will inspire women in the military to tell their stories and to report incidents.
The hope is that the community discussion planned this fall will help as well.
Col. Dan Semsel, a vice commander who oversees sexual assault awareness programs on base, said, “we have systems and in my opinion, we failed some of these survivors.”
The base has in the last year implemented a new program to prevent sexual assaults, Semsel said.
“If we can learn lessons from it on what went wrong, so we don’t make those mistakes that we remember there is a person we need to take care of,” Semsel said of the documentary.
Details about the September showing of the documentary and the October community meeting are still being developed.
Visit www.wpafb.af.mil/units/sarc/ for more details about the documentary and the director.
Visit www.militaryrapecrisiscenter.org/2011/11/16/the-sexual-assault-training-oversight-and-prevention-act-the-stop-act/ for more about what the military branches are doing to eradicate sexual assaults.