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The Battleground at Home

By Elayne Clift, Womens Feature Service

Two years ago, Sergeant Carlos Renteria, recently returned from his first tour in Iraq, began drinking heavily and arguing with his wife, Adriana. Then he became abusive, choking, beating and smothering her with a pillow. Arrested and charged with assault, Sgt. Renteria has yet to face any consequences. Instead he has been redeployed to Iraq twice.

About the same time, Army Special Forces trainee Richard Corcoran, who had served in Afghanistan, got mad at his estranged wife, Michele, and went to her home, gun in hand. Michele survived the wounds inflicted by Corcoran. He committed suicide. It was the sixth time he had created a "domestic disturbance," the local sheriff's office said. The military had taken no action.

Shalamar Franceschi died at the hands of her husband Damien at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in 2002. He had already been accused of raping and kidnapping her. Prior to the 2002 murder, Francheschi's commanding officer had been notified of Damien's crimes against his wife but did nothing to restrict or punish him.

In fact, the Franceschi and Corcoran cases are among several involving Fort Bragg. This year, three female soldiers were killed at the base. One woman was seven months pregnant. Another had been dismembered. In all three cases, the victim's boyfriend or husband was charged. Each suspect had served time in Iraq.

The overall statistics are sobering. In 2001, there were 18,000 reported cases of spouse abuse involving military personnel; 11,000 were substantiated. Eighty-five per cent of the abuse was physical. According to a written response from the Department of Defense Family Advocacy Program (DoD FAP), domestic violence or "domestic abuse," as the military often calls it, has been steadily declining since then. The FAP figures reflect that 15,000 cases were reported in 2007, with 7,000 cases being substantiated.

However, that data includes only those incidents involving married individuals. Another 602 cases were reported in 2007 involving intimate partners. A significant caveat suggests that these numbers are low: In order to be counted by the FAP, an incident must involve "a person of the opposite sex with whom the victim shares a child in common" or with whom the victim has shared a common domicile. Further, "the data only reflects domestic abuse reported to the DoD FAP. It is not an estimate of the total amount of domestic abuse that occurred in the military."

Women most likely to be abused are civilians married to someone in the military for two years or less. On an average, they are under 25 years and more than 50 per cent of them live off base. Fewer than seven per cent of spouse abuse cases are adjudicated by court martial. "Court martial is the most severe disciplinary action available," says Army Lt. Col. Lesh Melnyk of DoD's Public Affairs office. "... Policy states that 'allegations of offenses should be disposed of in a timely manner at the lowest appropriate level of disposition listed.'"

Often, cultural and institutional barriers prevent individuals and families from getting help. Constant relocation serves to isolate victims from their support systems. Further, the only military personnel granted complete confidentiality in their communications with service people are chaplains. Victim advocates, social workers, therapists and health providers are generally required to report suspected domestic violence, usually to the perpetrator's boss. Victims are, therefore, reluctant to report abuse for fear of retaliation or negative career consequences for spouses.

The DoD says it offers "limited confidentiality" when a victim makes a restricted report seeking support, counselling and assistance. This policy is "intended to encourage victims to come forward and seek help..." However, "once the victim seeks to make an unrestricted report and potentially engage the judicial system in an effort to hold the offender criminally accountable, the military rules of evidence regarding privileged communication apply."

The DoD divides the severity of physical abuse into three categories: severe, moderate and mild. In order for the physical abuse associated with domestic violence to be considered severe it must involve major physical injury that requires inpatient medical treatment or that causes disability or disfigurement. So, Sgt. Renteria's attempts to strangle his wife could only be defined as mild or moderate abuse.

In a 2004 article, 'Post Traumatic Shock: Violence in Military Families Goes Untreated', psychologist Stephanie Mines pointed out that the rate of domestic violence in America's Armed Forces is more than double that of the civilian population - 3.1 incidents per 1,000 civilians compared to 6.5 incidents per 1,000 military people, with military incidents considered under-reported. The DoD claims these figures are spurious since they don't take into account the "differences in military and civilian contexts" and don't reflect similar research methodologies.

Mines suggests that "agitated and traumatised soldiers become violent because, paradoxically, this provides their halcyon moment. Battle is the environment that gives them identity, so they create a battleground at home." But the DoD says it has no data that shows a documented correlation between active duty service personnel returning from Iraq or Afghanistan and an increase in domestic violence in the military.

Still, the military began to realise the severity of the problem of domestic violence in the 1990s. The problem was especially visible after three soldiers stationed at Fort Campbell in Kentucky were charged with killing their wives or girlfriends. Congress took note and appointed a task force to investigate the problem and make recommendations for improvement.
In 2001, a report from the Defense Task Force on Domestic Violence to then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld made it clear that services aimed at preventing the escalation of domestic violence were insufficient. Most often anger management classes or couples counselling were ordered, which experts feel, are woefully inadequate measures.

Following the 2001 Task Force report, Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz issued a 25-page memorandum stating DoD's policy toward domestic violence, which remains unchanged. "This policy," says Lt. Col. Melynk, "is implemented by the Services through a variety of written policies and local orders. Enforcement is conducted by military commanders, who are responsible for the well-being of the personnel under their command and their family members, using their usual formal and informal inspection authority and formal investigations initiated by inspectors general at different levels."

The U.S. military states on its website that "criminal conviction of even a misdemeanor involving domestic violence can end a service member's military career." However, given the paucity of cases that go to court martial, few careers appear to be at risk. Further, military spokespeople seem reluctant to discuss the matter. The National Military Family Association, the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office of the U.S. DoD, DoD FAP and the Military Family Resource Center all failed to return phone calls during research for this article. In a brief conversation Lt. Col. Melnyk declined to comment on the Renteria case. "It is inappropriate for us to comment about ongoing litigation," he said, adding that the DoD provides general policies to the Armed Services but leaves enforcement to them "in the spirit of the regulations."

While members of the Defense Task Force on Domestic Violence say the military is making progress on the issue, many of its recommendations, adopted in spirit, have yet to be implemented. "To eradicate domestic violence in the military will take a cultural shift that condemns violence as criminal behaviour and does not excuse it because of the comportment of the victims, the alcohol or drug abuse of the offender, the stress the offender is under, or even how sorry the offender is afterwards," a Task Force member told 'Mother Jones' magazine online.

Meanwhile, Adriana Renteria, now separated from her husband, told the 'New York Times', "I feel that nobody is in my corner. Because he wears a uniform, he is protected by everybody."

Womens Feature Service covers developmental, political, social and economic issues in India and around the globe. To get these articles for your publication, contact WFS at the www.wfsnews.org website.