Tanzina: This spring, US Army Specialist Vanessa Guillén was killed at the Ft. Hood army post in Texas. Guillén's death shed light on a pattern of abuse and lethal violence at Ft. Hood.
Kyle Rempfer: There have been eight deaths at Ft. Hood this year so far. Five of those deaths have been publicly linked to foul play.
Tanzina: That's Kyle Rempfer, a senior reporter at the Army Times.
Kyle: The army secretary has acknowledged that the crime rate at Ft. Hood, including murders, sexual assault, sexual harassment are higher in those cases than other army posts in the Department of the Army's portfolio. The army has recognized that there's a problem and Vanessa's case is really just one of those cases that encompassed this problem.
Tanzina: The US Army says it's now investigating Ft. Hood to see if leadership failures are contributing to the violence.
Kyle: There is a general perception, I think, in the military that there are higher crime rates surrounding, especially large military basis. How much Ft. Hood is different from the norm, I think is yet to be seen. The army certainly acknowledged that there's something different going on here. I actually pulled some numbers from Killeen, Texas, which is the city that surrounds Ft. Hood. Killeen does have a higher, violent crime rate than the statewide average in Texas. That's pretty consistent going back years now. It's something that the civilian community there has also recognized and the police department has been trying to go after as well.
Tanzina: Before her death, Guillén confided in her family about being sexually harassed. They said she did not report it at the time for fear of retaliation. A survey conducted at Ft. Hood shows that about 35% of women there say they too were sexually harassed. Sexual harassment is not just an issue at Ft. Hood. It's been a widespread problem in the armed forces for years. Guillén's death sparked many former and current members of the armed forces to share their experiences of sexual assault and harassment, under the #IAmVanessaGuillén. Some even took their stories to Congress to demand action at a hearing last month. I'm joined now by one of the veterans who testified at that hearing. Lucy Del Gaudio is a US Army veteran and a women veteran advocate. Lucy, thanks for being with us.
Lucy Del Gaudio: Thank you.
Tanzina: When did you join the military?
Lucy: I joined in 1990 and I joined because I was seeking to make improvements in my life that at the time my father passed away and my mother couldn't afford two daughters in the military. Like a lot of Latinas and a lot of folks of color, we look for opportunities in the military as one of the ways that we seek to better ourselves.
Tanzina: In your experience, you also experienced assault. Tell us about what happened if you could, and the process you experienced in trying to report that incident.
Lucy: My assault took place in '92. It was by someone in my chain of command. The person was someone that I trusted within my unit and it just turned ugly. After it took place, I did what I was supposed to do. I reported it to my further chain of command and nothing took place. Nothing that I know of was reported. I became the problematic soldier to them. Once assault takes place in your life, you change. They did not assist me the way they should have assisted me. It just turned into getting her out of there. I was actually brought stateside. It took place in Germany and I was brought stateside.
Tanzina: Vanessa Guillén's family says she didn't report her assault because she was afraid of retaliation. Are you saying that retaliation, when it comes to reporting, these types of assaults is something that you consider relatively common in the armed forces?
Lucy: I definitely would say it's common. I would say that a lot of us have experienced what Vanessa was feeling is that you know that something is going to change within your structure and you know that the retaliation is going to take place. Does it happen all the time? No. There has been cases where women have reported and their chain of command took it very seriously and they have gotten their due justice. In some cases, it just doesn't happen. I don't know if it's the attributing it to toxic leadership or leadership that's just part of the good old boys club. It does take place where you fear that retaliation is going to take place.
Tanzina: What's the culture like in the military around sexual assault?
Lucy: I want to say that harassment is like a scare tactic. From the minute I walked into basic training, I experienced racial slurs, I experienced sexual innuendos and was told by someone that I created a trust with, "It's basically what they do. They're trying to break you down." I would say that it's part of the culture in some respects.
Tanzina: Both you and Vanessa Guillén are Latinas. I wonder if there's a different experience of harassment when it's towards Black and Brown service members.
Lucy: They say, "We don't have those demographics," Why? "because the DOD doesn't report what ethnicity the person is." That's something that we're pushing for. The way they report assault really needs to change the structure. Rank, age, and gender should not be the three factors that they should report. You should know what ethnicity it's happening to. You should know what sexuality you are because those are also drivers and also location. They don't tell us by location how many people have reported assault. That would make a huge difference too. Yes, I think there is a large number of Latinas, a large number of our Black and Brown population that get targeted.
Tanzina: You testified at the House Armed Services Committee hearing a couple of weeks ago on sexual harassment and retaliation in the Department of Defense and at Ft. Hood. In addition to better reporting and data, were there other systemic changes that you were demanding?
Lucy: Yes, we're demanding the congressional hearing into the death of Vanessa Guillén. We are demanding that a third party reporting structure be built for anybody who has harassed, anybody who has experienced sexual assault could feel safe in their reporting mechanism. We're asking that they develop Military Sexual Registry so when you're said to be a predator, it moves with you from the military to the civilian world. We're also asking for justice for any other wohman that has experienced sexual harassment, sexual assault. Especially, there's other women that have perished from these type of issues, and we want to see justice for their family as well.
Tanzina: Lucy, I'm just curious about your thoughts on what the reporter at the top of the segment said regarding the criminality. Is there a suggestion there that if bases are surrounded by towns that have higher rates of crime, does that essentially mean that the Army of the Armed Forces are saying, "You know, it's not us. It's happening outside," but at the end of the day at Ft. Hood, there's still 35% of women that say they're experiencing harassment on the base, and the numbers of the dead have increased. Is it something that has to do with crime outside of the base that's coming into the base, or is it really home-grown, or do we not know yet?
Lucy: I think honestly, I hear that and I get frustrated because again, if it would have happened outside of Hood, like in Killeen, in Temple, then it's one thing, but it takes place on the base. You can't blame it on the surrounding areas. If you are a predator, if you are someone that is going to harass someone, that's home-grown, that's not Killeen, that's not a Temple issue. That's an issue with the person, and that's an issue with the military. For me, I don't agree with that statement that the Army Times made.
Tanzina: Lucy Del Gaudio is a US Army veteran and a women's veteran advocate. Lucy, thank you for sharing your story and for being with us.
Lucy: Thanks.
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