(Documentary, 2012)
Military service is something that would never appeal to me. I hate hierarchy and patriarchal structures and dislike being told what to do. Besides that, however, is the more disturbing issue that once you are in the military, you are no longer a part of the civilian world. You are no longer free to choose where you live or what work you do or what opinions you have. On a more sinister level, if any harm comes to you while serving in the military, your case is not subject to civilian criminal laws but comes under court martial so you rely on your military supervisors to have your best interests at heart in a case of bullying, assault or theft - or rape. In US law, this is known as the Feres Doctrine but it applies to the military in any state I'm familiar with. If you burn to death while staying in Army barracks that were shoddily wired: tough. Dying, no matter how, is a hazard of the job. I doubt that many eager recruits to the military are aware of that reality and it's not in the military's interest to make them aware of it.
'The Invisible War' is more forthcoming about the realities of military service conditions and would be a good counterpoint to the Army recruitment campaigns targeted at young people. It features a group of women who were raped and often also violently assaulted while serving in the military who take a case against the military to be compensated for the ongoing trauma and physical health problems they are suffering. Their case hinges on challenging the Feres doctrine in the hope that it will make the military realize that they can no longer tolerate rape in their ranks and manage victims out through the court martial system.
'The Invisible War' is more forthcoming about the realities of military service conditions and would be a good counterpoint to the Army recruitment campaigns targeted at young people. It features a group of women who were raped and often also violently assaulted while serving in the military who take a case against the military to be compensated for the ongoing trauma and physical health problems they are suffering. Their case hinges on challenging the Feres doctrine in the hope that it will make the military realize that they can no longer tolerate rape in their ranks and manage victims out through the court martial system.
We see in the course of the documentary that their case was dismissed on the grounds that rape is an occupational hazard of military service. I hope they are adding that in to the new recruits' employment contracts this year so everyone knows where they stand.
This documentary thus brings a very complex moral issue to light. The military exists as a state within a state, effectively, as they seem to be under no obligation to pass information on to the regular civilian police about criminals such as rapists in their ranks. What if a soldier witnessed another soldier committing sexual assaults on children e.g. in a war zone? This would presumably be handled under the court martial system as well, which means that it could result in a pedophile walking away without any conviction if it didn't suit his superiors to pursue the matter. This puts the military on a par with the Catholic Church, another powerful, male-dominated institution in which criminal behavior was covered up in order to save face.
Like the Catholic Church, the issue might be made worse by the fact that serial rapists and criminals will target the military as an employer because they know that they can get away with murder - quite literally, during combat. The documentary does in fact mention that military recruits already are twice as likely to be rapists than the average equivalent civilian population. This confirms the popular idea that a lot of people who join the army, especially the lower ranks, are violent people who want to have a 'safe space' to act out their violence, people who essentially would be criminals if they didn't have the safety valve of military life. The military has always thrived on marketing itself as the dumping ground for unruly youths who need to be knocked into shape.
It was heartening to see at the end of the documentary that Leon Panetta, Secretary of Defense until recently, did actually change the law so that supervising officers would no longer have the power to adjudicate over rape cases in their ranks so at least some progress is being made. This is not just about rape though. There is the broader moral issue of the military as the 'dumping ground' for misfits and semi-criminals and the incorrigibly violent. This is part of the military's function in a civilized society but by channeling unruly youths into the military the violence doesn't go away, it just becomes concentrated among the ranks of the military and those serving alongside the trouble-makers suffer. There is a fundamental problem in having an organization placed at the heart of a country, defending its values, that normalizes violence and murder. By giving the 'unruly' an outlet for their behavior, we're saying that even at the heart of our civilized society, there is a place for rape or murder or brutal beatings. That is the real moral issue that needs to be reviewed, not just the military's terrible treatment of their own staff.
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