Where is Vanessa Guillen?
Women in the military go missing or die under suspicious circumstances more often than you’d think.
Vanessa Guillen, Latina woman and soldier, told her family that she felt unsafe at Fort Hood and that an unidentified sergeant had been sexually harassing her.
She has been missing for two months.
All her belongings, including her car keys, room key, and identification remained on base. It seems unlikely she ran away.
More likely, she was a casualty of a war within our military. One that makes it dangerous to be a woman and even more dangerous to be a woman of color.
The statistics are truly harrowing.
One in three women who join the US military will be sexually assaulted or raped by men in the military. For some, this occurs even before service starts, while they are being recruited.
Reports of sexual violence in the military continue to rise each year. (Though I should note that an increase in reporting may actually be a good thing. It indicates people believe that they will be taken seriously.)
While more people are reporting, 80% of convicted perpetrators are still honorably discharged.
