Jamie Leigh is truly heroic for her choice to speak out so bravely. I fear however that her lone voice will not be heard widely enough to affect change and the military will continue to sweep these indefensible crimes under the rug.

In the case of Jamie Leigh, I also commend her for her strength and bravery in surviving her ordeal and carrying on with the non-profit organization. What she went through was reprehensible.

Honestly, rape is almost worse than murder in my mind. At least with murder, the victim’s suffering ends when they’re dead. With rape, the victim has to live with it for the rest of their lives, and in the majority of cases, there is no justice done. People who can commit such a heinous act don’t deserve to be a part of society. It upsets me to no end.

Here is a story from Boot Camp. I have a friend, whom I shall name Ayala. She and I had just graduated and went into Columbia to enjoy graduation. ( we were stationed in Fort Jackson ) Well I went home early cause I was sick from too much drinking and she stayed behind with a bunch of the others girls from our Company. She was gang raped by a bunch of new grads that night. She came back the next day.. she was bruised and very shaken. I, who have been raped, knew to gather evidence as fast as possible. So, I grabbed my camera and took pictures of her bruises. There were on her neck, wrists, ankles, neck, the insides of her thighs and on her buttocks.. it was a hard thing to record, but we knew we needed to do this. She was reluctant to go to the Capt with what happened, he was a old school West Point Grad, who really hated females. This is the man who on the first day of Boot told all of us females ( and it was all female at the time), that were to not complain of cramps, to make sure that we cleaned our *woman parts* cause he hated the smell of nasty crotch, and to make sure that we learn that were filling a role.( this was reported to the Base Commander, to no avail ). So very obviously he didn’t inspire much trust from us or respect. After much pleading with her I got her to go with me to the Infirmary and she told the female Doctor on duty what happened. Immediately MP’s were called and the rape kit that was done on her was turned over as evidence.. she was asked to name the Privates who did this or point them out by pictures, which she did.She underwent many hours of “investigation” to make sure that she was telling the truth, when all of the physical evidence showed she was.. Well some weeks had passed and there was no word as to what was going to happen to these boys. After five or so months and we were in AIT in San Antonio, she was called into the CO’s office and was informed that there were to be no charges filed against the boys and that no more talk of the incident was to be allowed. These boys who raped here were from affluent family in the deep south and seemed to have it *brushed* under the rug. She was told this *off the record* by another officer.

This happens EVERY single day in the military.. and it doesn’t, as sick as it is, surprise me in the least. I still have the negatives from that day.

Its a sad commentary on the military and our justice system indeed.

That being said, I am saddened by the fact that nothing will be done in this situation, and the chance of any justice coming forth is very slim to none. I don’t know what the situations are in other countries’
military, but in the US military, women are shown very little regard. We’re good enough to fight for our country, but still only considered second class citizens. Very sad indeed….

I find it easy to believe, hard to fathom, and impossible to think about it without getting upset.

Animals. When did acting like a savage become “in” again?

We truly have not progressed at all in the last 10000 years.

She’s very brave, especially the uphill fight she faces. I certainly could do that. I’m a mean vengeful bastard. If that happened to my gf, much worse would happen to the guilty party over there.

Let’s hope someone with power has decency and can see to it these people are punished, including the company for the disappearance of the rape kit!