No justice, no enlistment.
That’s the call from a group of female veterans in the wake
of the slaying of Fort Hood soldier Spc. Vanessa Guillen, whose remains were
found mutilated and buried at the hands of another soldier miles from the
central Texas base where she served.
Guillen, 20, was killed April 22 during the workday in an
arms room at the base. Her body was moved in a plastic box from the base and
hidden near a river more than 20 miles away, according to federal court
documents. One suspect, a fellow soldier, is dead, and another is in federal
custody. Her remains were found June 30 and confirmed as hers by the Army on
Monday.
“We are all angry and we all want to see change,” said
Stephanie Gattas, a Navy veteran in San Antonio.
Gattas joined a group of 20 female veterans to write a
letter outlining demands to improve the “systemic failures” that they claim led
to a military in which victims of sexual harassment are afraid to report other
service members and an Army in which a soldier can be murdered on base and it
takes more than two months to solve the crime.
“It is our job as women veterans to support our sister in
arms at this time. Although her death was tragic, it’s leading to change,”
Gattas said. “This is in the name of all those men and women who have not been
able to come forward and detail their sexual assault. This is for the women of
the past who have been murdered and raped who have not been able to tell their
story. For all those women and men who are still not accounted for.”
The women want an enlistment boycott until their demands are
met. They are calling “for young Americans to refuse to enlist or accept a
commission into any branch of the armed forces until these demands are met and
the systemic problems with sexual assault and sexual harassment in military
culture are effectively addressed,” according to the letter.
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