suzanne_arrest

171 days since Suzanne's "arrest" and the Army, General Dubick and Colonel Miller specifically, are bound
and determined to ignore the fact that their Sergeant sexually abused my daughter. Instead, they are making
her abuser's prophetic words to me daughter a reality. " Swift, you look like you are going to tell someone
about what happened between us. Nobody will believe you." Suzanne believed him then and now she is
seeing that he was speaking from experience. By ignoring the fact that Suzanne was sexually abused in a
combat zone in Iraq by her squad leader, an Non Commissioned Officer who took an OATH to protect the
soldiers working beneath him, they are giving other sexual predators in the military the green light that victims
of sexual abuse in the military are systematically punished and not believed while the perpetrators go free to
abuse again. Shame on them. When listening to story after story the same thing comes up, the perpetrators
use fear and intimidation and tell the victim that no one will believe them. This is a monstrous epidemic and
still the lack of care and understanding shocks me. Even though we know this is not a gender specific
occurrence, the majority of military sexual violence is perpetrated against women. It is true that women are not
safe to serve their country in the military. Especially, while we have command staff that continue to "sweep
under the carpet" these victims stories, both ignoring their painful traumas and exacerbating the pain and
suffering by not believing them.

Suzanne's last few months have been a horrifying roller coaster ride. She was charged with missing a
movement and for going absent without leave. Since then her future has been more unclear than ever. One
day we are being told she will be home by Halloween the next that she is going to prison. Then one day she is
told there is a deal on the table. A deal? Well, I was very skeptical of that. The deal was that Suzanne stay in
the military for her remaining 19 months, no reduction in rank, a summary court-martial, no assurance she
would not be re-deployed and here is the kicker, Suzanne would sign a statement saying she was not raped
in Iraq. I did not know about the statement until a few days later and Suzanne called me and was very upset.
Here was my 22 year old daughter making huge life decisions and she was distressed. First, she felt that after
all this struggle to stay in the military would be too hard and scary, but she was willing to do it until they told
her about the statement. When she heard about it her immediate thought was, "here it goes, this is the part
where the abuse gets swept under the carpet." I asked her what she wanted to do. She said she did not want
to sign it because it was not true and she was not going to lie. Once again, I say shame on the military for
re-victimizing this young soldier who according to her team leader was the best soldier he had and her Major
who said she acted admirably in combat. And Suzanne did see combat. She told her little cousin who is ten
the other day when he asked her about her time in Iraq that she was fired at more times than she can
remember. I know my daughter better than anyone else in the world. I know the good the bad and the ugly. I
also know that it was her complete intention to go on that January 2006 deployment to Iraq. She had sent
some of her most precious possessions over ahead with her Unit. The same Unit that divvied up her
belongings and left some of her childhood treasures to the trash heap in Iraq. I saw the look of terror and fear
in her eyes while she was standing in our kitchen trying to say goodbye to me. Her fear and anxiety are real
and her stress levels increase daily as does her depression. I had some trust in the system that they would
care for my daughter, not allowing my daughter to be used and abused by seasoned predators in a combat
zone. Then to only add to injury when she finally does use the proper channels and makes a formal complaint
she is humiliated and treated like a traitor for telling. Boys will be boys, ya know.

The general public do not understand the tragedy of having a family member serve in combat. The fear and
anxiety that plagues you while they are there and the very often stranger that hopefully returns home to you.
Post traumatic stress disorder is very real. It breaks your heart all over again to see your soldier not
understand why they fly off in a rage at the smallest of things. Or why the next minute they are crying their
eyes out and just want to crawl in a whole a disappear. I have heard of two women Iraq vets who have
committed suicide and the very thought chills my heart. Suzanne's mental health continues to hang by a
thread as her acting out and self destructive behavior escalates the longer the military holds her. She is
being allowed to come home every other week to see her civilian psychologist which is good, but her real
healing will not begin until her future is decided.

Does anyone get this? Why in the world are our federal elected officials not stopping this? Why do my please
for help fall on ears that seem unable to hear me. How is it that these commanders can go home at night
knowing what hundreds of women are going through while they are systematically abused by the perpetrators
and re-abused by the lack of care of the command. I know my Grampa, who was a Colonel in the Army, is
turning in his grave by this thoughtless and destructive manner in which General Dubick and Colonel Miller
are toying with my daughter's mental health. She has been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder
twice now and yet they continue to move forward with a court martial and threat of prison time.

Something even more disturbing was brought to my awareness a few weeks ago. A dear family friend came to
me in tears because she was so scared for Suzanne's safety while she is in the Army. One of her relatives
just returned form a tour in Iraq. He was furious to find that she was friends with "Suzanne Swift." He does not
know Suzanne personally and now he hates her and what she represents. He told our friend that while he was
in Iraq he was at a training, a sexual abuse "prevention" training. In this training the trainer used Suzanne's
name, Suzanne Swift, and her case, as an example of what little lying whores do to "good soldiers." This
second hand story scared me to the very core. If this is what is being taught to other soldiers, especially in
Iraq, I fear for Suzanne's very life in the military. She has now at least once been de-humanized and
demonized by others in the military and she is not safe. I was asked to find out names and get the facts, but
our family friend was scared to death to tell us what she did. I could not ask her to find out more and put
herself at risk. Now we have two demons that our soldiers are hating in Iraq, "Hodgis" and "Suzanne Swift."
What is our world becoming where we are not only re-victimizing but demonizing victims of a crime.

So, as we have been on this very long and painful journey, I travel around the country talking about military
sexual violence and how we must change the system I have met some incredible people. One minute we think
Suzanne will be free in a few weeks, so I slow down and stop the frantic fundraising, the next I am hearing we
are going to court-martial and I need to have $5,000 immediately or else. I want to send out a huge
appreciation to everyone who has supported Suzanne with prayers, thoughts, words, finances, actions, and
letters. Please keep Suzanne's website, http://suzanneswift.org/, set as your home page so we can all
remember to DO something everyday. Take actions by calling your Congressional Representatives and
Senators demanding a significant change in the way military sexual abuse survivors are treated. Ask them if
they know about Suzanne's case and what they are doing to help her. Call Ft. Lewis and ask for General
Dubick and Colonel Miller and ask them if they are going to bring swift justice to Suzanne so she can be free
to heal from the trauma she experienced fighting two battles at once in Iraq. The numbers are all on
Suzanne's website. Write to your editorial board and ask them to cover military sexual violence or depleted
uranium poisoning and how we do not care for or believe our soldiers pain from serving in a combat zone.
Check out her petition. Almost every page has a comment form someone else who has had to deal with
military sexual violence.

This year has been incredibly stressful on our family. Personally, I have changed drastically from the person I
was 6 months ago. People do not understand what kind of hourly stress I feel, not knowing my child's fate.
Despite it all we are blessed beyond belief. I will continue to work tirelessly as an advocate for my daughter,
seeing her free of this cruel system that punishes victims while perpetrators are allowed to go free. Seeing
her free for the holidays so she can be here when her sister, Sonja who is due to give birth on Christmas day,
goes into labor and is surrounded by her whole family to welcome our new little miracle boy into the world.

Peace on Earth, and good will to men AND women...right?
Sara