America’s military loves to talk about leadership. As the military construes it, leadership is less about leading successful meetings and more about duty, honor, and doing the right thing. But, lately, the United States’ military has shown a complete lack of leadership, honor and principle when it comes to the service of women in the military. The military has a rape and sexual harassment problem of shocking magnitude, and no one seems to be willing to do the right, honorable thing by addressing the problem and prosecuting the perpetrators.

In December 2002, sickening allegations about rape and sexual harassment surfaced at the Air Force Academy. Cadet Beth Davis described to military officials her ordeal of being raped by an upperclassman. Soon, other cadets came forward with their own disturbing stories of verbal and physical cadet-on-cadet abuse. A Vanity Fair interview with victims last year recounts their awful stories of a harassment-leaden hierarchical power structure in which male upperclassmen coerced scared first-year cadets into oral sex, rapes and an appalling variety of other abuses while other cadets, instructors and administrators stood on the sidelines.

Over sixty women cadets now claim to have been assaulted at the Air Force Academy; last May the Department of Defense inspector general released a report that nineteen percent of current female cadets reported being victims of sexual assault. Of that group, 81 percent were too scared to report the assaults, and 42 percent of those who did report the incident said that they experienced retaliation of the sort that Davis experienced: after promises from the Air Force that her rape would be investigated, her commanders refused to return her calls or e-mails and closed the investigation six months later, issuing her demerits for sexual activity in the dorms but disciplining no male cadets. After a media firestorm, the Air Force finally relieved token Academy leaders of command. There is no doubt the men deserved to lose their jobs, but the greater problem is that no systematic plan seems to be in place to address a culture that tolerates harassment, endorses rape and persecutes victims. Where, exactly, is the honor or leadership in all of this? Perhaps the Air Force Academy should abandon its falcon mascot in favor of the Cowardly Lion.

Unfortunately, the problems are not limited to the Air Force Academy. In the past 18 months, over 100 female soldiers, crossing all military divisions, have claimed they were sexually assaulted by fellow American servicemen while serving during the latest Persian Gulf conflict. Two weeks ago, the Air Force admitted it is “investigating” 92 assault allegations in the Pacific theater. A recently released Veterans’ Administration study estimates that 30 percent of female victims experienced a rape or attempted rape while in service.

Sgt. Audra Wood, a married woman serving in Iraq, was struck in the head by a rock while she walked back from guard duty. She was tied and gagged, then raped by a U.S. soldier. The military’s response was not evacuation or counseling, but a request that Sgt. Wood take a polygraph test. Capt. Heather Arlinghaus, married with two children, was raped at Fort Knox, Ky. while five months pregnant. Weeks after the rape, the military has yet to process her rape kit, saying DNA processing takes weeks. Rape kits are routinely processed in days, if not hours, in the civilian world, and the military managed to process Saddam Hussein’s DNA overnight.

Such flooring numbers and examples make it clear that for many women in the military, the enemy is fellow Americans in their unit and a military power structure that turns “investigations” into interrogations.

All of this shows that the military is failing its own soldiers and, quite simply, refusing to take claims of rape and sexual assault seriously or, at the least, provide sensitive treatment and counseling for the victims. The actions of the men perpetrating the rapes and sexual assaults are unconscionable, but equally despicable is the military culture that permits and fuels the devaluation of women. The time has long past for the military to stop talking about leadership and start showing America what leadership really means by prosecuting perpetrators of sexual violence and sanctioning commanders who have ignored systemic sexual harassment.

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