June 30, 2016
Rabbi David E.
Eidensohn
Monsey, NY 10952
I contacted various senators in
Washington, DC regarding the drive to draft women into the military. I opposed
this on the ground that an enormous number of women are abused sexually and it
gets worse every year, although the Defense Department has struggled since 2004
to stop it. If a woman joins the army voluntarily, that is her decision if she
wants to be in a situation of abuse and I am limited in my complaints. But how
can the military force a woman into the military by drafting her, where
everybody knows that rape and abuse is rampant, is getting worse, and is so bad
that abused women don’t usually bother reporting it? One reason is that the
complaint goes to a senior military commander who sometimes rules that the
rapist is innocent and then begins a process of destroying the name of the
complainer. This information and much more is on the website of US senator
Kirsten Gillibrand in the section on the military. I have also a 700 page on
abuse from the Defense Dept FY2012.
The senior senator on the military is
Senator John McCain. I expressed my reservations about the draft and he
responded as follows:
June
30, 2016
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Mr. David Eidensohn
2 Phyllis Terrace Monsey, NY 10952-2724
Dear Mr. Eidensohn:
Thank you for contacting me
to relay your concerns regarding female service members in combat roles in
the military. I appreciate you taking the time to share your views with
me. I sincerely apologize for the delay in my response.
Over two years ago the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the decision to open certain combat roles for women. I do not feel that Congress should overturn this decision made by our military leaders. As you know, female service members are serving in hostile locations around the world and in all branches of the military. Many women have made the ultimate sacrifice through their service, and our nation owes them a deep debt of gratitude. The military services are currently working to ensure we maintain the very same high standards that separate the quality of the United States military from the rest of the world — particularly the standards for our elite special forces units. Again, thank you for contacting me on this important matter. Please feel free to contact me on this or any other matter in the future.
JM/ak |
Senator McCain’s letter has nothing
to do with my complaints, as is obvious. Of course, he has to answer many
letters and maybe he just has them put into general sections. This letter was
obviously not about my complaints but included in the pile of letters and
emails that opposed women being in the army, which was not the topic of my
complaint, as I mention above. I say simply that to draft a woman against her
will when you know she has a good chance of being abused and even raped is
wrong. And furthermore, until the military somehow finds a way to put men and
women in the same army without abuse, they should not draft any women. But on
second thought, what can Senator McCain answer to my complaints about abuse in
the military?
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand demanded
an investigation into very serious complaints against the Defense Department
and the huge amount of abuse and what it seems are questionable and even lies
perpetrated at the highest level of the military and Defense Department.
Senator McCain refused the demand
of Senator Gillibrand to investigate charges against the military despite the
fact that it was backed by many senators of both parties and important sections
of the country. He has no answer.
But I should be grateful for Senator McCain
for writing to me. At least he proved that he tries to be polite. But is he
polite to the women who are raped? And if he has no answer to this, this itself
is an answer. It is an answer that raped women are not something he is
interested in.
Any senator who wants to draft
women knowing that many will be abused and even raped, should be ashamed, not a
senator, and not even consider himself a decent human being.
Sincerely,
David Eidensohn
845-578-1917
