Photograph Source: Photo by Oleg Ivanov
The US military has a domestic violence problem like the Church has a sexual abuse problem; like Big Tobacco has a cancer problem. For over half a century, the US government has known about and disregarded an excessive state-created risk to military families: service-related domestic violence is a violation of the 14th Amendment’s State-created Danger Doctrine stipulating that “a government actor can be held liable for an injury if their affirmative action creates or increases a specific risk of harm to an individual. [And] must provide protection if the government is responsible for creating the danger.”
You’ve probably seen the news about the most recent veteran murder-suicide in California: a San Diego family found shot dead after mom sought VA help for husband’s PTSD, or the military mass shooters in North Carolina and Michigan, Former Camp Lejeune Marines Tied To Weekend Mass Shootings or the veteran who killed his three daughters in Washington State, Manhunt ends for Travis Decker, who murdered 3 daughters in Washington | Fox News or the military spouses murdered at Hawaii’s Schofield Barracks: Schofield Barracks soldier pleads guilty to killing wife, unborn child | Article | The United States Army. Or maybe you read about the USMC two-time Iraq war vet Brian Johnston, who fatally incinerated his Australian wife and severely burned himself in a suicide attempt. ‘Pure evil’: Ex-Marine sentenced for murder of wife Kelly Wilkinson
I could go on – the killing surely will. But since there’s no institution more powerful and more central to American identity than the Department of War, we don’t talk about the fact that military service is the main predictive factor of whether a man becomes a mass shooter or domestic violence perpetrator or murderer. We don’t discuss the fact that the epidemic of military domestic violence is a state-sponsored and sanctioned violation of the human and civil rights of millions of military dependents and veterans’ wives and families.
The military has already admitted veteran suicide/homicide is service-related. When Strains on Military Families Turn Deadly, the VA has conducted multiple studies showing that wives of combat vets with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are at the highest risk of potentially lethal domestic violence of virtually any demographic in the nation. A 2006 study published in the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy found that veterans with PTSD were “significantly more likely to perpetrate violence toward their partners.” Over 80% had committed at least one act of violence in the previous year, “nearly half being a severe act, such as shooting, stabbing, or strangulation, according to the Conflict Tactics Scale [a tool used to assess abuse within relationships].” These rates were six and 14 times higher, respectively, than civilian rates.
The body of research, much of it conducted by the government itself, goes back to before Vietnam, and grows larger every day: Military Blast Exposure Linked to Veteran Aggression, According to Millions of Clinical Data. The federal government’s deliberate, shocking indifference to known risks of service-related domestic violence has left thousands of military spouses, children, caregivers, parents, partners, siblings, and veterans dead, injured, and suffering emotional distress, damages, and real property losses.
In a matter of weeks, perhaps days, there will be another report of a different military mass shooting, another dead military child, or more murdered military spouses. I hope it won’t be the military kids or spouses I’m working with who’ve survived near-fatal military domestic violence, recovered from open facial surgery, and escaped with the kids. But it could be. The service members are still wearing the uniform, command is still covering it up, and even after being found guilty of assault in courts-martial and civilian courts, the weaponized fathers still have visitation rights. I guess command figured that since the Special Forces Officer didn’t kill the kids the first time, he deserves another chance.
Military families and families of veterans either have the same “right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” as civilian families, or we do not. The US Constitution is either the law of the land, or it is not. Those who swore an oath to uphold that document are either legally bound to do so, or they are not. A lot of us would like to hear what the courts have to say.
