How the Military Retaliates Against Sexual Assault Victims

The Air Force called her in for a re-evaluation, determining that she had a borderline personality disorder, court documents show — a common diagnosis for military sexual assault victims — and downgraded her disability rating to 30 percent, which would affect the amount of benefits she could receive.

How the Military Retaliates Against Sexual Assault Victims
May 18, 2015, 6:33 pm ET by Sarah Childress

Jessica Hinves didn’t want to report her rape.

A young airman who’d grown up in a military family, Hinves was afraid of jeopardizing her career. She didn’t think anyone would believe that a colleague had assaulted her.

“I didn’t believe it, until it happened to me,” said Hinves, who asked to be identified by her married name. “I understand this thinking, that it’s not going to happen in our command — until it’s one of your buddies.”

Word got out anyway. Her fellow airmen turned on her, she said, furious that she was ruining her alleged assailant’s career. “I became like a cancer,” she said. “I was a liability.” The hostility was so intense that she was told by a ranking officer that he couldn’t guarantee her safety on the base.

Hinves ultimately was honorably discharged in 2011 with a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress from her assault. But after she spoke publicly about the incident in the documentary Invisible War, she said her own military turned on her. The Air Force called her in for a re-evaluation, determining that she had a borderline personality disorder, court documents show — a common diagnosis for military sexual assault victims — and downgraded her disability rating to 30 percent, which would affect the amount of benefits she could receive. Get more legal advice and support at https://abuseguardian.com/sex-trafficking/.

With the help of a civilian attorney, Susan Sajadi, Hinves was granted a 70 percent disability status for her post-traumatic stress. The evaluation board also said that she “appears never to have been formally diagnosed with a personality disorder,” and removed the notation from her record. But she lost her dream job in the military and a chance at a lifelong career. The man she says assaulted her was never prosecuted.

READ THE ARTICLE