Battling BARE's Teal Star: The #PTSD Magazine Volume 2 | Page 15

The answer to that is easy: there is this fear of being kicked or forced in some way out of the military for reporting the assault, and the fact is, this sort of retribution is all too common.

President Obama promised the Nation that officials would come down hard on future accusations, but the problem is the non-reporting—without assured safety in reporting these incidents, we will not be able to stop the epidemic of sexual assault in the military. I do believe that men and women who experience sexual assault need to come forward so the perpetrators can be held responsible, but we need to assure their safety in doing so.

To this day I still feel the guilt about not hearing Jenny’s attempts to get my attention the night she was raped. I feel I have saved her and possibly prevented this rape from ever taking place.

Jenny is now in therapy to heal deal with her PTSD, anxiety and triggers. At one point in her life she turned to drugs to cope with this internal pain. Today she is clean and making great progress in her therapy. This is the best we can hope for at this time.

Military Sexual Assault and Post Traumatic Stress is a support group that helps Veterans cope with MST and PTSD. I invite anyone looking for support to join. www.facebook.com/posttraumaticstresssupportgroup

Shhh!

-Carman Trost