Wondering why Lance Cpl. Lauterbach, isn't mentioned here.

[plantwomyn]

In my outrage about this murder I searched posts and it seem that the Vet's are the only ones even mentioning her. Women in the military are in trouble! Rapes, sexual harassment, intimidation and discrimination are added to burden carried by military women. We need to contact our reps in Congress and make them understand that just because a women is raped on base, overseas or in the U.S., we expect their attackers to be prosecuted. Women with ANY connection with the military need to speak up. Do not let your sons think that it is right to turn a blind eye on this injustice. Do not let your daughters think that it is better to remain silent and accept anything less than justice from the military. Commanders of bases are responsible for the well being and protection of anyone on base and for troops in the surrounding community.
Women enter the military for much the same reasons as men. They should expect and demand the same rights and protections as men. It is no longer an all boys club. The military has had long enough to get this right! Parents and family of those in the military have the right to know that their loved ones are safe from attack from within!

[PDJane]

1. For the same reason that

so many other atrocities by the US army go unnamed and unpunished. This is the most brutal, misogynist, bigoted service the US has ever sent to war, and the damage to women and women's rights and the kind of world our children will inherit is incalculable.

Moreover, sooner or later these men will come home...and what then?

[flashl]

2. I haven't seen anyone ask why the military assigned her to work under her sexual harasser.

[plantwomyn]

3. But it been 11 days since the found her body.

And no one at this Forum thought it was noteworthy. SAD.
Th Corp. is using the administrations line of defence. "We don't comment on ongoing investigation" so what went on ccan be covered up. Her fanmily needs a good lawyer soon to make sure their daughters rape and murder is the last troop on troop violence our military covers up.

[flashl]

4. I have followed the well documented rapes at the AF Academy in CO

and if it any indicator, there will not be significant changes. Oddly, there are all these reports from the echo chambers surfacing about the Christian ministry group brainwashing Air Force Academy cadets. But, no talk about the rapes.

Early on, in the Iraq 'war' there were reports, here and there, about military women rapes. IIRC, there were hearings but the M$M never picked them up.

[plantwomyn]

5. That still doesn't answer why

this forum ignored this story. Have supporters of women's rights written off our sisters in the military? Do they think women in the military volunteer for the abuse? The vet's forum doesn't really address the story, they just report it. I would think they would be the most outraged. She was one of their own!

[flashl]

6. I realized my failure to answer your orignial question after the post ...

I have observed many 'rights' issue based posts in DU that sink like rocks. That's always been odd to me.

In the past, when too many of those types of posts were in GD, I read a comment similiar to "If I want to hear bad news, I'll read my newspaper". May be that explains it. :shrug:

[plantwomyn]

9. Not so over at GLBT!

[noamnety]

7. I've been following it in the vets forum.

And some other places as well. Sometimes when a story is controversial, it gets a lot of comments and posting it in different forums raises particular points of view.

Other times, I feel like all I can do is rage or be disgusted - which is not the same as having a reasonable discussion. I tend not to post the things where I know all I can add is "bashing my head against the wall."

If you feel like a story should be posted in this forum, please jump in and post it, though. It's your forum, too - with you holding as much responsibility as any other member here to post things you feel should be discussed here, or if you want to make sure the attention of the women here is brought to it. So if you are tempted to get pissed off at me, or anyone else here, because we didn't post something, ask yourself why you didn't post it til now either. And then - go ahead and post it. (But I'd request that you make the story the topic of discussion, not what sucky women we are because we didn't post an article you wanted to talk about here.)

I appreciated the first comment on Stan's blog in response to it:

“Military investigators have said they did not take action against Laurean before he disappeared Friday because he and Lauterbach appeared to have a friendly relationship.”

We (the military) took no actions against the suspected rapist because he appeared to be on good terms with his victim? You gotta be kidding me.

I have occasion to substitute teach in schools susceptible to military recruitment and I will tell this story to every female student in my class."

http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2008/01/13/perfect-masculinity/

[plantwomyn]

8. Don't know where you come up with the "sucky women" crap

I just think that it's sad. Since I didn't find any commentary here I went elsewhere to get info and attitudes about the story.
I don't think that warning female students is the answer either. Women need to be safe in any job they choose. In the day we used to march in "Take back the night". It's the same old story. Women have the right to walk outside any time of day or night that men do. Women have the right to expect the same protection from their Commanders as men do. We need to change the military and the society. Those women who volunteer are trying to make those changes from the inside out. The integration of the military was done that way. They worked side by side, they gained each others respect, they excelled at their mission. After the black men who served left the military they had different expectations for treatment from their fellow Americans. I'm sure that working alongside a black trooper changed a lot of white troopers minds too. There is a place for women in our military. They have a right and many times a deep desire to serve.

[noamnety]

10. That's what I felt after reading post 5

Like you were accusing women here of having "written off our sisters in the military."

It just hit me badly, because for a lot of us, that's not "our sisters" - it's us, or it's our daughters. So the implication rubbed me the wrong way.

It's alright, we can move on from that. I'm just explaining how it read to me.

I don't have a problem warning female students. I've done that myself when I do truth-in-recruitment talks. I agree, keeping women out of the military because they are women isn't the answer. However, the risks in the military are so high for women, particularly when you are combining trauma from combat with trauma from rape, that I think it's irresponsible for recruiters (and other people) NOT to talk about that. The women need to know the facts and the risks before making a decision like that - it's not a decision that should be made from a place of ignorance. And I tell them if you ARE going in, you need to consider taking self-defense courses before you enlist. All that is truth, and it exists alongside the truth that the military needs to change. The odds of that happening in their lifetime, though, are slim. Armies since the start of time have been about conquering, domination, viewing people as "the other" and dehumanizing them. There's not a whole lot of difference, mentally, in being in a spot where you can bring yourself to shoot someone because they are Iraqi, or bringing yourself to rape someone because they are female.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVBdXCKRvJI

-- from someone who spent 4 years as the only woman in her reserve unit.

[Katherine Brengle]

11. DU feminists have been talking about

rape and sexual abuse, including in the military, for a long time and most DUers don't give a shit.

[electron_blue]

12. He was *so* given a head start, it is outrageous that this it not obvious.