I may be on my death bed…

But I will NEVER give up hope that the USMC has pulled its collective head out of its ass to find Marine Corporal Cesar Laurean the murderous coward of fellow USMC Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach AND her unborn baby. (The article states that there was a post-mortem slash on her throat that was supposed to make it look like SHE killed herself.  Laurean’s wife, who I’m waiting to see is involved or not, produced a note that he wrote which claimed Lauterbach slit her OWN throat during an argument.  $10 says the wife is in on it.)

I could start listing the departments that should have either prevented this incident from occurring, OR should currently be enacted or empowered to HUNT down this errant marine, bring him to swift justice (via the bouncing of his person off of the hood and beneath a few tires of several dozen humvees), so that Lance Cpl. Lauterbach and child’s murder will NOT become a) unsolved, b) forgotten, or c) a joke that marrs the reputation of the corps (HOORAH!).

The U.S. Military has an organization called SAPRO (Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office).  This office/division, “serves as the single point of accountability for Department of Defense (DoD) sexual assault policy.” 

Hmm… let’s see.  What else doesn’t the DoD like it’s military men to be doing. 

• does not tolerate sexual assault
• implemented a comprehensive policy that reinforces a culture of prevention, response, and accountability
• ensure the safety, dignity, and well-being of all members of the Armed Forces
• ensures that a proper workplace environment is maintained, one that rejects sexual assault and attitudes that promote such behaviors

 Really? It does does it? 

Maybe it’s the decongestants speaking on my behalf or perhaps my NEED to sleep is causing me to misinterpret something obvious. It seems to me that in all of the years that the US Armed Forces have permitted women to be a part of their everyday functions (either as civilians or military personnel, or somewhere inbetween), that it has taken until the 21st century for rules of engagement to be dualized (meaning, pertaining to BOTH men and women) so that a lone female in a unit of men (yes, I realize that there are more than one female in a unit) will not become the target of… harassment by men who were trained (and some bred) to be fighters.  How do women fit into this box that men as far back as the ancient civilizations have created?  You know, when women were ONLY the domestics responsible for home, hearth, and breeding, whereas the men (insert grunts) were in charge of hunting animals and invading humans… and during this evolution of the gender military thing, did it ever occur to anyone on staff that perhaps, just an idea mind you, someone should protect the females on the bases (civilian or military) from the warring advances of males who, until the early 1900s, were gender-isolated in the sense that women were never the enemy and mostly were never equals to the men in the trenches.  (That is, if you exclude women dressed incognito who did so to fight in various American conflicts, and probably some European as well, as equals to the men.)

*pauses for a cough or fifty*

What I’m getting at is this… when the military began to permit women to stand amongst (or alongside) the men in an official capacity (soldiers or personnel) in the 20th century… it should have been THEN that laws and regulations were re-adapted to demonstrate to the male soldiers that saying or doing things (like, grabbing a female soldier’s breasts, or holding down a naked female soldier and raping her) are NOT acceptable.  Why?  The women soldiers and personnel are on the SAME side as the men.  The only difference is that one group gets to pee standing up.  You would THINK that in the mindset of the military, IN the United States, that they would be retrained to not take their aggressions OUT on civilians, particularly women, nor see a female soldier as an object to be controlled.  (No, instead the US Gov’t decided to “wait” for women to be allowed on submarines or out to sea for extended cruises because of all that sexual fun fun that may go on.  Perhaps it is just me… oh wait, it probably IS just me… that gets annoyed when I read about stories in which female soldiers are STILL getting sexually harassed by male soldiers… some of whom are BETTER soldiers than the men… but I digress.)

Oh boy, I can see how this is going to get off-track and somehow misinterpreteted.

Let me pause my sickness-induced haze to make one statement, and hopefully it comes out like I intend it to:

It is NEVER acceptible for one person to dominate over another by use of aggressive tactics, violence, or sex. 

Therefore, when someone does breach that line drawn in the sand, EVERY SINGLE TIME IT HAPPENS, something must be done…. regardless if a female soldier makes a comment about a male soldier’s penis size OR a male soldier comments about a female’s breasts.  But, that it must be an equal offense to receive the equal treatment.

A male soldier raping two or three female soldiers is NOT the same as a female soldier calling a man a “dickhead.”  Therefore, the punishments need to be in accordance and agreeable to the crime.

But, what cannot happen is the reemergence of the “old boys club” that is STILL alive and kicking.  And, superior officers shouldn’t do that “wink wink nod nod” thing when they hear about a male soldier doing something “inappropriate” against a female soldiers.  (Am I making sense?)

But, hey, what about the hundreds of young men who are accused and tried for having sex with their 15-year-old girlsfriends… they’re being branded sexual offenders and child molesters.  That’s not right.  Is it?  Or isn’t it? 

If a man rapes ten women is he as guilty as a man who rapes one?  If a soldier kills a village and rapes its women and young girls, isn’t he just as guilty as the man who raped ten women?  What about if a woman soldier raped… oh wait… hmm… interesting.

We can make comments about a guy’s woo-woo, his butt, his eyes, and his prowess, but can a woman physically rape a man… forcing him to have sex against his will…. using sex as a weapon of control and fear… and thereby causing him to be reduced to a shell of a human being who is thereby fragile or broken?

Uh, no.

I haven’t met a man YET who’s said to me, “Herstory? I hate sex… When my girlfriend/wife grabs me and tells me that we’re having sex, I get scared and in my mind go to that SPECIAL place where my soul cannot be touched.” 

Have you?

So, I think that if we’re going to MAKE SOME CHANGES… then let’s start with the military.  (Sure SAPRO is a start…)  Let’s put some pressure out there for the USMC to use their OWN resources to find their OWN man who murdered one of their own and bring him back to the U.S. to face a military tribunal.

Or, some freakish accident that results in the loss of his member… THEN being brought back to face a military tribunal of FEMALE officers with one hell of a grudge.

That’s when justice will be served… and this girl and her baby’s death will be vindicated… and I won’t be visually SCREAMING about this incident every single time it is mentioned (casually or not) in the media or on television/radio/newspapers.  Just like Natalie Holloway… or the bazillions of other cases that just wisp away into the vast expanse… never to be solved.

Don’t let these cases die out because of bureaucratic red tape or disinterest… because if someone doesn’t keep this in the eyes of the public, then the murderers will NEVER be brought to justice!