New England Public Radio

Massachusetts U.S. Senator Calls Military Sexual Assault An Epidemic

Last week the Senate blocked a bill that would have stripped senior military commanders of their authority to prosecute rapes and other serious offenses in the ranks.

Another bill dealing with some of the same issues is slated to come up for a vote Monday and Massachusetts U.S. Senator Ed Markey says he’ll support it.

The vote last Thursday rejecting Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s bill was vigorously opposed by the Pentagon’s leadership. And the showdown capped a nearly yearlong campaign by Gillibrand. But the Senate also unanimously cleared the way for a vote on legislation sponsored by Senator Claire McCaskill that enables victims to have a say in whether their cases are heard in the military or civil justice system.

Markey says he believes the “rules have to change. That women and men that are sexually abused in the military must have protections against being intimidated by their superiors.”

While Markey describes the McCaskiil bill as a step in the right direction. He believes more will need to be done to face what he calls an epidemic of sexual abuse in the military.

Operations at Western Mass. Air Bases Slowed by Federal Shutdown

The ongoing government shutdown doesn’t affect active-duty military, but it’s slowing down operations at two western Massachusetts air bases. Barnes Air National Guard base in Westfield has furloughed about 270 people, mostly technicians, but it remains open. At Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee, several hundred employees have been furloughed indefinitely – mostly civilians and reservists. But Lieutenant Colonel James Bishop says there are still enough people to carry out the base’s mission.

“We fly regularly overseas to military and humanitarian ops, says Bishop. “So we’ve got enough people in flying, maintenance, and services to make sure that mission still happens.”

Bishop says those who are still working are doing so without pay. He says many personnel are frustrated with the uncertainty of when they’ll return to work. Bishop says many base employees were furloughed for six days over the summer because of the federal sequester.

A Candid Conversation about Military Sexual Trauma

Sexual misconduct in the military has been discussed more openly of late. The Oscar-nominated documentary, “The Invisible War,” about military sexual trauma was inspired in part by the work of writer and Columbia Journalism professor Helen Benedict. New England Public Radio’s Susan Kaplan asked Benedict to describe  how people react to the alarming statistics.

New Measure Works To Prevent Foreclosures on Massachusetts Military Families

Last week we reported on tax benefits for Massachusetts national guard members serving overseas. Now a measure signed into law on May 31st may help stave off foreclosures for all active-duty military personnel.

The measure was brought to the legislature by Amherst land title examiner and military mother Bonnie MacCracken. She says a federal law which prevents lenders from foreclosing on active-duty service members has been in effect since 1940. but to qualify, soldiers have to prove to their banks that they are active-duty. And modern lending practices, MacCracken says, have made that more difficult.

“We are no longer banking locally, and our mortgage holders are in St. Louis, Texas, or California. And especially since banks have gotten bigger, it’s harder for our soldiers and their family members to notify the banks that they are deployed to stop a foreclosure.”

Under the new  measure – part of an overarching military support bill called the VALOR act – Massachusetts soldiers can file one notice with the state instead of searching for the appropriate bank officials to inform of their active-duty status.
Jack Downing is President of Soldier On, an advocacy group for homeless veterans in Western Massachusetts. He says the amendment is particularly important for reservists, who he says often lose income while deployed.

“What happens is, for many of them, when they come back they’re underemployed, they don’t have the dollar flow to continue to manage their living situation, and they end up losing their dwelling, and eventually some of them become homeless.”

Downing says of the 285 veterans in Soldier On’s shelters on Sunday night, seven had lost their homes due to their military service.