‘NEVER THE SAME’
Survivors of military sexual trauma turn to The Pink Berets for support and healing
Stephanie Gattas enlisted in the Navy at 18, excited to serve her country. Eight years later, she returned home to Texas, angry, combative and haunted after enduring sexual harassment and a sexual assault. The perpetrators were her fellow sailors, some of whom held leadership roles.
Driven by her experiences, Gattas in 2015 founded The Pink Berets, a nonprofit that helps women soldiers and veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as mental and emotional trauma.
Sexual assault and harassment in the military is a chronic problem that often leads to lasting mental and physical issues for survivors. While the Department of Defense is taking steps to address the issue, support programs like The Pink Berets fill a crucial gap in serving soldiers and veterans looking to heal.
Most of the women who have sought help from The Pink Berets are survivors of military sexual trauma, which involves any experience of sexual assault or harassment by a soldier during their time of military service, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Data from the VA indicates trauma can lead to PTSD, depression and other mood and substance use disorders.
More than 1 million outpatient visits took place at the VA for military sexual trauma-related care in 2017, according to data compiled by Protect Our Defenders, a national nonprofit dedicated to reducing rape and sexual assault in the military.
“On the outside, the majority of us don’t look disabled,” said Gattas, of Boerne, Texas. “But when you really get to the root of what it is that we’re suffering from, and you get to the root of our trauma, and you get to the root of these invisible injuries, you really start to uncover exactly how much help is needed.”
In 2005, the Defense Department established the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program to promote prevention, encourage increased reporting of assaults and improve response capabilities for victims. The agency releases an annual report on assault in the armed forces.
The latest report described sexual assault and harassment as “persistent and corrosive problems” across the military, with 8.4% of active-duty women and 1.5% of active-duty men experiencing an incident of unwanted sexual contact in the year prior to being surveyed. While the department says it has changed the metric used to measure sexual assault, the 2018 rates were 6.2% for women and 0.7% for men.
And while LGBTQ service members represented only 12% of activeduty members in 2018, they accounted for 43% of all sexually assaulted service members that year, according to data analyzed by the Rand Corp.
The problem is pervasive in Texas. A 2021 report from the Rand Corp. found female soldiers at Army bases in the state face the highest risk of sexual assault and harassment compared with other posts.
The death of Army specialist Vanessa Guillen in 2020 sparked national outrage and increased awareness of the epidemic of sexual assault in the military. Guillen’s remains were found about 20 miles east of Fort Hood in Texas. Investigators believe she was bludgeoned to death by a fellow soldier.
While the Army initially said there was no evidence Guillen was sexually harassed, a U.S. Army investigation released a year after her death found Guillen did report being sexually harassed twice by a fellow soldier at Fort Hood. Officials failed to report the harassment up the chain of command, according to the report.
Serving her country
Gattas entered the Navy in 1994, with the intention of serving her country for life. Her first assignment was on the USS Simon Lake, a submarine tender traveling to aid combat ships. Sexual harassment on the ship was rampant, she said.
“It was often this thing where it was kind of like the rite of passage, and I guess the norm,” Gattas said. She asked herself: “Am I supposed to adapt and overcome this? Am I supposed to just allow them to speak to me a certain way? To make advances? To follow me? To stalk me?”
Gattas said she was constantly in “fight mode.” She said she reported the harassment to leaders who said they would take care of it, but the environment only became more permissive. It was common for those in leadership to make advances, she said.
When the ship docked, Gattas would go out with friends. One night, after going out to drink, she was assaulted. She said she blamed herself: “I should have never drank. I should have never allowed myself
to let my guard down.”
Many active-duty women face pressure not to report incidents of harassment or assault because of retaliation and ostracism. An estimated 66% of service members who reported retaliation after filing a sexual assault complaint were women, according to data from Protect Our Defenders.
Less than half of women perceived their leaders as acting in a fully supportive manner after they reported sexual harassment, according to the latest Defense Department report. About 7% of men and 21% of women said filing a sexual harassment complaint
would be “too risky.”
After experiencing military sexual trauma, Gattas was diagnosed with PTSD and major depressive disorder. She contemplated suicide.
“You’re never the same when you leave” the military, said Gattas, who is now 47. “You have a traumatic experience and then you just don’t feel whole again.”
Military sexual trauma is compounded by the fact that the targets and the aggressors are supposed to protect one another.
“The military is a culture — it has ideals, it has a history behind it,” said Dr. Lewis Jeffery Lee, a retired
Navy SEAL, licensed therapist and mental health chaplain in San Diego. “So when folks come into the military, generally they are trusting because of the high standards of discipline and ethical behaviors expected.
“What happens when that’s violated?” Lee said. “It’s very devastating.”
A holistic path
The Pink Berets program helps women identify what triggered their PTSD and other mental health issues, whether it be related to combat or assault.
The organization uses holistic approaches to help women find healing. Equine, culinary and art therapies allow women to explore new skills and build confidence. Through a range of activities, the women are able to choose what tools help them heal best.
“If you build an infrastructure that allows them to define what those building blocks look like, then you can help somebody with a fractured psyche become normal again,” Gattas said.
Clients can be referred from the VA, private therapists, social media and word of mouth. The Pink Berets has served over 3,600 women through online and in-person programs.
Ayana Brown, a Navy vet in San Antonio, said the program was unique because of its emphasis on women with military trauma.
“Before, I had never heard of such a thing,
I was just doing everything on my own, trying to figure it out,” said Brown, who discovered The Pink Berets in 2017 after 12 years of coping with paranoia, hypervigilance, anxiety, depression and anger.
Brown said she was sexually assaulted twice while serving in the Navy. The first assault was by her recruiter, before she got to boot camp.
Rebuilding trust
Brown still has physical pains that stem from the assaults. She can’t be in a room with the door closed with a male colleague. She’s still mending relationships that became collateral damage over years of living without support. But she no longer feels alone in her journey to heal, she said, and she’s rebuilding trust.
Gaining people’s trust is “vital” for healing, but it’s one of the biggest challenges the organization faces, Gattas said.
“We have to understand that sometimes they can feel ready, they’re going to have that leap of faith that they can do this, and then they’ll succumb to depression or they’ll succumb to anxiety,” she said. “I’ve been there.”
The Pink Berets program helps “them understand that they’re not in this fight alone, but they have sisters that want to come alongside them and fight with them.”