Sexual assault in the military.... Traumatic subject.

My oldest daughter spent 15 years in the RCAF as a clerk. Some of that was spent at Ottawa's national headquarters, during a time when senior officers were pleasing themselves about assaulting junior female service members. The senior officers obviously were 'pulling rank' to have their way with those junior staff, particularly those with a nice attractive shape, like my daughter.

She became paranoid about it, was traumatized, felt powerless to defend herself against these commanding personnel, and eventually got to the point where she simply packed it up and went AWOL. There must have been something to her claims of sexual assault, because her superiors didn't make any real efforts to get her back into her position at headquarters. She moved to Alberta with a fellow airman, who was then an Electronics Warfare Specialist on the CF-18 Hornets. They became a common law couple at 4 Wing, Cold Lake, Alberta.

While she was still in Ottawa, at headquarters, I got a phone call one evening from some unidentified young male down there. He didn't say that he had been ordered to make that call, but it figures. During the call, he asked me if I was Leah's father. I said, "Yes, why?" And he said, "We would just like to tell you that you'd better keep your nose out of our affairs, and your mouth shut, or you will wish you had!" And I said, "Fly that by me one more time, please!" So he did. Then my Irish temper kicked in, and I said, "Listen very closely, because I'm not saying this twice. You've probably got us on tape anyway, so listen up! I'm ex-Air Force myself, and also ex-Civil Service in Ottawa. I know that neighborhood very well. I am presently retired. Don't give me reasons to come out of retirement, with my well-oiled equalizer, and my black kid leather gloves that leave no fingerprints, and revisit my old haunts around Ottawa, for a little target practice, and to create fresh food for the coyotes across the river in Gatineau Park.... Are you reading me loud and clear, Kid?"

He said, "Yes Sir! I am! And you were right - I'm under orders here. This isn't my idea." And I said, "I thought so! So be sure you relay all this back to that shithead who thinks he can do what he likes to my daughter without anybody trying to stop him, because I have a guaranteed solution for his problem, unless he's bulletproof. And I have yet to meet anyone who is bulletproof, understand?" And he said, "Yes Sir! I understand completely." And I said, "Good! Now lose this phone number, before I decide to go travelling."  And I hung up.

Later, the guy who had been the commanding officer of my daughter in Ottawa got promoted to commanding officer of CFB Trenton, where he was eventually convicted of murdering at least one of his sexual assault victims there. And by that time, my daughter was under the care of a doctor in Cold Lake, Alberta, and refusing to believe what he was telling her, and refusing to take her meds which he had prescribed. He and I had a long conversation one day about her, and he said that she wouldn't cooperate with anyone involved in her treatment because she didn't believe there was anything wrong with her. She thought it was all the rest of us who are nuts. And I said, "Isn't that so typical of people suffering mental illness?" And he said, "Yes, and I can't help her if she won't cooperate!" So I said I'd talk to her about that, and I did, but to no avail. She eventually broke up with Roger, her guy, and moved back to her childhood home in Ontario, where she committed suicide six months later.

And it distresses the hell out of me to think that this abhorrent situation still goes on in our military, unchecked. And Leah, wherever you are, Baby, this one's for you, Darling. I hope God is holding you safe and warm in the palm of His hand......