DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... National Guard soldier killed herself after being gang-raped by colleagues

A devoted Army National Guard soldier killed herself after she reported being sexually assaulted on the job — but the military branch did nothing to help, according to her mom.

“To think that that’s what took her life — that’s what broke her,” Debbie Robinson, the mother of officer Morgan Robinson, told CBS Evening News.

“They wanted her body. And they took her soul.”

The horror that led to Morgan Robinson’s suicide began two years earlier, when one of her supervisors allegedly sexually assaulted and harrassed her multiple times while they were stationed in Kuwait, according to CBS, which is investigating failures by the US military to address sex crimes internally.

But when Morgan reported the attacks, higher-ups did “nothing” to punish the supervisor or protect her, according to her mother.

“She got nothing,” Debbie said.

While on the same deployment, Robinson was then sent to Afghanistan, where multiple soldiers allegedly gang-raped her, CBS reports. This time, she was too scared and disillusioned by the system to report it — and four months later, she committed suicide.

The Army began an investigation into her untimely death and later handed Debbie a report — but much of it was redacted.

The parts that weren’t blacked out said: “Sergeant Robinson suffered sexual, physical, and psychological trauma while deployed. The sequel of this trauma was a factor in her death,” according to CBS.

“I just didn’t understand how they could actually stand there and look me in the eyes, and hand that to me,” the mom said.

She believes the Army is responsible for Morgan’s death — for failing to properly investigate her daughter’s first sexual assault claim and “handle what happened.”

“They can’t police their self. How can you investigate yourself? You can’t,” Debbie said, adding there should be an outside agency that probes sexual assaults within the Army.

Eight months after her death, the officer who allegedly attacked her in Kuwait was finally given a written reprimand — which Debbie said is too little, too late.

“[It was] a job that she loved. It was for her country,” she said of her daughter, who joined the Army in 2010. “Everything just plays over and over and over in [my] head, thinking, ‘Did I miss something? Could I have done something?’”

The Army said in a statement that officers conducted a full investigation into the sexual assault report and took “appropriate” action against the supervisor in question.

“The department remains committed to our goals of ending sexual assault in the military, providing the highest quality response to service members and holding offenders appropriately accountable,” the Army’s principal policy adviser Elizabeth Van Winkle said.


https://nypost.com/2020/11/18/soldier-killed-herself-after-being-gang-raped-by-colleagues-mom/

Yes, they are always addressing this issue with their words, like most sections of our society regarding this problem, but their actions are a joke. I’m continually astounded that good people do not care about this type of abuse. It’s more than disappointing.

Flippant and dismissive. Absolutely tragic.

Seems like stronger policy and leadership needs to be installed.

If they don't care, I can't call them "good" people.

This is awful.

Wait ... she was raped, and her rapist received only a written reprimand? Really?

Revolting.

Revolting indeed. Revolting because I'd imagine this is not uncommon in the military or as we see everyday in the general public.

Jules, not to divert from this story, but the Associated Press published an eye opening story on similar abuses of women.

Tremendous reporting.

AP: Rape, abuse in palm oil fields linked to top beauty brands

When the US military made the announcement that women would now be allowed in combat situations, I feared the enemy would rape them if they were captured... Turns out that's not so much an issue as our own men doing it. And this has been going on for years (decades now) and still being covered up. The only advice I would have for a young woman in this kind of situation is to carry a sharp ass knife and cut or kill the attacker. It's hard to deny you were not up to no good with a big slash on your face or a Bobbit wound. I know this is not an answer, but if you are on your own with crap leadership, nobody would blame you.

Absolutely disgusting.

But unfortunately, I’m not surprised. If you’re an staff sergeant or higher, or an officer in the military, they will go through great lengths to protect their careers and reputations.

It’s deplorable.

Probably somewhat related, it seems you're starting to hear about higher-ranking folks being relieved of command. There will be stretches where you see at least 1 person/week being relieved of command due to poor leadership.

this is why in another thread, i mentioned before that i like social media.

the reason *some* of these clowns are starting to be held accountable is that its become much harder to sweep things under the rug.

for example, would we have heard about those two female soldiers who were killed by other soldiers in fort hood without the social media campaign?

nope.

one thing i noticed when i was active duty is how these douches would do some sick crap, but this would happen:

the woman would get victim-blamed to the point that they move her out of the unit due to lowering morale, or these high ranking NCO's/officers would be quietly relieved from command, moved to some training unit on XO position, and retire without anything seriously happening.

out of sight, out of mind. the most common Army phrase i ever heard while i was in. man, did that phrase end up covering a whole bunch of situations when i think about it...

The sad thing I know the military has placed a lot of emphasis over the past five or so years on Sexual Assault Prevention and Resistance (SAPR) training and protocols to combat this kind of thing from happening. I am a civilian who works for the military and we receive constant correspondence on all this kind of stuff.

Problem is that it seems to be a one-size-fits-all way to deal with it and it doesn't appear to be dressing the acute problem.

This is so true. You know the other saying "it's a small Army", like you're never more than two degrees of separation from someone. Yet somehow this stuff, that everyone knows happens, gets lost. Like everyone hears about X, Y, or Z, and it seems like everyone knows about it, but it is almost always kept between 'peers' (rank).

It just blows my mind that with the "emphasis" (quarterly training, dedicated personal per unit for SHARP stuff, etc.) it is all too often just smoke.

Sometimes justice is served, though. Had a [censored] bag SFC from our unit get knocked down to E1, sent to Leavenworth, and dishonorably discharged for sexual assault. But for every instance of justice served there are probably 5 or more that just get swept under the rug.

-Experience as a former O who had to deal with one of these.

Sadly, it takes much more than 5 years of new training and protocols to change an entire culture that has been so deeply ingrained for so long.

Very disgusting. The way we treat women is appalling.