By Elaine Donnelly
Extending sexual misconduct to combat units
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
More military men than women are sexually abused in the ranks each year, a Pentagon survey shows, highlighting the underreporting of male-on-male assaults.
False complaints of sexual abuse in the military are rising at a faster rate than overall reports of sexual assault, a trend that could harm combat readiness, analysts say.
Retired Air Force Col. Martha McSally, who logged more than 300 combat flying hours, today is recalling how she took part in the Pentagon's last gender revolution, as the U.S. military prepares to open a new frontier for women — direct ground combat.
A new report to Congress predicts that relatively few women will be able to perform land combat tasks on the same level as men, and it says the Pentagon's pledge to maintain "gender-neutral" physical standards has a loophole.
The Pentagon is pushing ahead with its campaign to move women closer to the battlefield, despite a series of sex scandals involving senior officers and a report showing an increase in sexual assaults among the troops.
They are images Americans had never seen before. Jubilant young men and women in military uniforms marching beneath a rainbow flag in a gay-pride parade. Soldiers and sailors returning from deployment and, in time-honored tradition, embracing their beloved — only this time with same-sex kisses.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney does not bring up President Obama's social revolution inside the armed forces, but the GOP platform does.
The Army is pushing more women closer to the front lines and in closer contact with men even as the number of sexual attacks on female soldiers has surged during the past six years.
The Obama administration is withholding medical and other benefits from same-sex spouses of military members, but Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. says he can no longer defend the law that authorizes the practice.
Three months after President Obama lifted the ban on homosexuals serving openly in the military, Pentagon officials say heterosexual troops are adjusting well to the new policy. Critics, however, say they are just following orders, and a recent survey showed many troops reporting a rise in tension.
Republican presidential front-runner Newt Gingrich is siding with social conservatives on how the U.S. armed forces should treat gays and women, according to a survey released Monday.
The Obama administration is about to make another concession to Russia on missile defense by concluding an agreement with Turkey to base a radar there that would monitor Iranian missile launches.
U.S. Department of Agriculture activists want to impose their intense brand of homosexual sensitivity training government-wide, including a discussion that compares "heterosexism" — believing marriage can only can be between one man and one woman — to racism.
"If the Pentagon considers the survey results a credible reflection of hidden reality, they must also concede that there are more men than women who are being sexually assaulted," she said.
She noted that only 2 percent of assailants are women.
