海角大神

As Pete Hegseth faced a contentious Senate confirmation hearing for secretary of defense Tuesday, veteran servicewomen including Paula Coughlin were watching closely.

Ms. Coughlin, who narrowly escaped rape during the now-infamous Tailhook scandal of 1991, was a pioneering whistleblower in the movement to change Pentagon thinking and policies that long tolerated inaction and retribution against service women like her.

She was one of dozens of servicewomen and civilians who ultimately reported being sexually assaulted in a Las Vegas hotel hall by some 300 naval aviators attending a conference and flying high after the release of 鈥淭op Gun鈥� and a Gulf War victory.

Trained as an anti-submarine warfare helicopter pilot, Ms. Coughlin resigned from the Navy after speaking up. Asked whether she鈥檇 recommend the service she once loved, for years her answer was 鈥渁bsolutely not.鈥�

Then came widely hailed bipartisan legislation and President Joe Biden鈥檚 2023 executive order that took the decision about prosecuting sexual assault away from commanders who might be, and often were, tempted to protect male friends and their unit鈥檚 reputation.

It was a step supporters had long argued would deter the crime 鈥� and dovetails with a recent drop in military sexual assaults reported by the Pentagon. After increasing during the first Trump administration, there were some 8,500 reports of military sexual assaults in the most recent fiscal year, which includes the months just before Mr. Biden鈥檚 executive order went into effect. This marked a nearly 5% decline from the previous year and a drop for the first time in nearly a decade, according to the Pentagon鈥檚 annual report on sexual assault. The latest report also points to a 20% drop in 鈥渦nwanted sexual contact鈥� of any sort.

鈥淚 was actually going to change my answer鈥� on the recommending service question, Ms. Coughlin says. 鈥淏ut not anymore.鈥�

Today, decades of work to have the crime taken seriously by the U.S. military 鈥� and for women to be taken seriously as full members of America鈥檚 warrior ranks 鈥� are in jeopardy, she and others argue, with President-elect Donald Trump鈥檚 choice of Mr. Hegseth. He鈥檚 an Afghanistan and Iraq war veteran who has said 鈥渟traight up ... we should not have women in combat roles,鈥� as he put it in a November podcast episode.

Such beliefs about the worth of their service are seen by many women as a barometer for how they would likely be treated in a military run by Mr. Hegseth. Rather than driven by desire or drunkenness, sexual assault is now often understood to be a crime of deep disrespect apt to flourish in places where men don鈥檛 think others belong. If Mr. Hegseth allows this disregard to take root, advocates like Ms. Coughlin worry it could supplant their decades-long efforts to bring about change.

Outside of his military record, a 2017 sexual assault allegation, as well as reports of heavy drinking, harassment, and financial mismanagement dogged the early days of Mr. Hegseth鈥檚 nomination. The assault accusation did not result in an arrest; it was investigated after a hospital nurse reported to police, per local legal requirements, that a patient had requested a rape exam.

Mr. Hegseth denies any crime, saying the encounter was consensual. In 2020 he agreed to pay an undisclosed sum, his lawyer said, to head off what he described as a spurious civil lawsuit. He has pledged to give up alcohol if he gets to lead the Pentagon.

Remarks Mr. Hegseth makes about women鈥檚 proper roles in a book published in June, 鈥淭he War on Warriors,鈥� have also stirred up controversy.

鈥淲e need moms, but not in the military,鈥� writes Mr. Hegseth, who served as a major in the Army National Guard. Killing runs counter to female instincts, he argues, and seeing women wage war messes with men鈥檚 heads.

鈥淲omen in combat forces men to ignore those civilized instincts. If you train a group of men to treat women equally on the battlefield then you will be hard pressed to ask them to treat women differently at home,鈥� he warns.

During the hearing Tuesday, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told him that such statements are 鈥渂rutal鈥� and disparaging to those who have served. (View more Monitor coverage of the hearing.)

Under subsequent questioning, Mr. Hegseth committed to appointing a senior-level official dedicated to sexual assault prevention and response. He also said women 鈥渨ill have access to ground combat roles鈥� as long as the military doesn鈥檛 lower the bar.

To this, he quickly added that one of the first things he plans to do at the Pentagon, should he be confirmed, is launch a review 鈥渢o ensure the standards have not been eroded.鈥� He made it clear in his testimony that he believes they have.

Despite the controversy, in the weeks leading up to Tuesday鈥檚 Senate hearing a number of Republican Senators have voiced support for him. As part of his Capitol Hill charm offensive, Mr. Hegseth appears to have dialed down his remarks about women in the ranks.

He stopped by his former employer, Fox News, to say on a recent broadcast that female troops are 鈥渟ome of our greatest warriors.鈥�

Yet there are potential policy moves that Mr. Hegseth could make should he become defense secretary. The Defense Department dropped its ban on women in combat in 2013. Mr. Hegseth could potentially reinstate it. Currently, out of the roughly 2 million service members in the U.S. military, about 19% are women. Since it was opened to women a decade ago, more than 140 women have graduated from the U.S. Army鈥檚 elite Ranger School.聽

Having to contemplate these scenarios and others harks back to 鈥渁n implied vulnerability, an implied second-class citizenship for every military woman,鈥� says Ms. Coughlin. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just what we鈥檝e been working against all these years.鈥�

This is a story about that work.

鈥淏one-crushing鈥� culture

The U.S. military ultimately referred 140, or less than half, of the alleged Tailhook perpetrators for disciplinary action, but filed no sexual assault charges.

In the hours after it happened, Ms. Coughlin recalls thinking that the offenders were 鈥渁bsolutely outliers鈥� 鈥� that this was not a systemic problem. Her dad was a naval aviator, and she鈥檇 grown up close to his Navy friends and their families.

Ms. Coughlin, an admiral鈥檚 aide, told her boss, Rear Adm. Jack Snyder, the story the next morning. She was sure he鈥檇 want to know about criminal behavior. 鈥淚nstead, he said, 鈥榃ell, that鈥檚 what you get when you walk down a hallway of drunk aviators.鈥� 鈥�

The commandant of the Marine Corps later told Ms. Coughlin that he鈥檇 met with an alleged perpetrator and his minister. 鈥淗e said, 鈥楬e鈥檚 a good 海角大神.鈥� And that I got the wrong guy,鈥� she recalls.

Instead of introspection, or even action, Ms. Coughlin ran headlong into resentment. 鈥淚t was, 鈥榃hy are there women in the military, anyway? Who opened that Pandora鈥檚 box?鈥�

When Rear Adm. Snyder failed to move her complaint up the chain of command, Ms. Coughlin went public and found herself on the receiving end of a culture bent on 鈥渢otally destroying victims,鈥� she says. Her security clearance was revoked and the vile vitriol 鈥� to which her parents were also subjected 鈥� felt never-ending. 鈥淚t was bone-crushing. I changed my name and hid for a long time.鈥�

A decade later 鈥� after she got married and raised a family 鈥� Ms. Coughlin reemerged into the world of advocacy.

Nancy Parrish, a Democratic strategist and activist, had watched Ms. Coughlin鈥檚 interviews on national television years earlier and was struck by her bravery. Like Ms. Coughlin, Ms. Parrish also thought that the Pentagon would fix the problem once it was on their radar.

That didn鈥檛 happen, and in 2012 Ms. Parrish invited Ms. Coughlin to take part in the rollout of the documentary 鈥淚nvisible War,鈥� about military sexual assault.

Ms. Coughlin agreed. As she did some preparation after long avoiding the topic, she said she was gutted to see that military assault rates remained high and unaddressed.

鈥淥ne of the best steps towards healing is to take steps to keep it from happening to somebody else,鈥� she says. 鈥淎nd so I threw myself back into it.鈥�

鈥淎 form of torture鈥�

It was in the year of the Tailhook scandal that retired Col. Don Christensen, former chief prosecutor of the Air Force, began his career as a judge advocate general, or JAG lawyer.

He was good at his job and gradually gained a reputation as a go-to defender for military men accused of sexual assault 鈥� not one he wanted. He saw the effect that the cases were having on women, and that there were too many men 鈥渨ell above the law.鈥�

He switched sides and proceeded to prosecute dozens of sexual assault cases 鈥� more than any other JAG lawyer at the time.

In 2012, he won a conviction against a popular lieutenant colonel and fighter jet pilot, James Wilkerson, for assaulting a guest at his house party. The guest was Kim Hanks, a physician assistant at the U.S. base in Aviano, Italy.

Mr. Wilkerson was sentenced to a year in jail and kicked out of the Air Force, but months later his commander overturned the conviction and ordered him reinstated at full rank. The general鈥檚 reasoning boiled down to 鈥渉e was a good family man and had a lot of love for the Air Force,鈥� Mr. Christensen says.

Mr. Wilkerson was later demoted and removed from the military once again when it was discovered that he had fathered a child with a woman outside his marriage, a violation of military codes, including conduct unbecoming an officer.

The general鈥檚 decision to overturn the verdict of a military jury 鈥渨as the last straw,鈥� Mr. Christensen says. 鈥淚 was like, 鈥楾his is never going to change from the inside.鈥� And so I left to advocate for reform.鈥�

Around the same time, Ms. Parrish, who had chaired the congressional campaign of Rep. Jackie Speier, was quietly bringing Ms. Hanks and other victims around Capitol Hill to share their stories with lawmakers.

鈥淭hese were incredible people who just wanted to serve, who I saw as a tremendous loss to our country,鈥� once they left the military, says Ms. Parrish, who fled an attempted date rape as a young woman.

鈥淚 could get away. I could never see this person again. But to have to work with your perpetrator everyday 鈥� it鈥檚 a form of torture.鈥�

Ms. Parrish decided to start an organization, Protect Our Defenders, to bring together a pro-bono network of attorneys to represent victims and make law from the lessons they were learning about how to fix a broken military justice system.

As with gay rights, which expanded in the wake of the 鈥淒on鈥檛 Ask, Don鈥檛 Tell鈥� era, the hope, Ms. Parrish says, is that the military might serve as a cultural beacon for American society when it comes to addressing sexual assault, too.

Finding the 鈥済ood guys鈥�

Ms. Parrish became skilled at scoping out military conferences, finding the 鈥済ood guys鈥� and seeking their guidance. 鈥淚鈥檇 have conversations with some of them standing at the back of the room who supported our work but who could never say so publicly.鈥�

When Ms. Parrish first began chatting with Colonel Christensen, 鈥淥bviously, we had a real meeting of the minds.鈥� She arranged for him to meet with then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel about his experience in the Wilkerson case. She would later hire Mr. Christensen to be president of Protect Our Defenders.

Secretary Hagel urged Congress to strip the ability to overturn military verdicts from commanders and, championed by lawmakers like Representative Spier and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the measure was signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2013.

Other policy reforms followed, including giving sexual assault victims their own lawyers, known as special victims counsels and, in 2015, preventing use of the 鈥済ood soldier defense鈥� 鈥� the Wilkerson case was a textbook example 鈥� as a previously legitimate legal avenue for arguing innocence.

The 2023 measure taking the decision about prosecuting sexual assault out of the hands of commanders who鈥檇 lobbied to keep that power was a move that many service members hailed as the most significant transformation of the military justice system in decades.

Darchelle Mitchell, a Navy service member who came forward with allegations of being raped by a military co-worker while her two little boys were in the house, was elated.

It is 鈥渁 crack, finally, in that good old boy system,鈥� she says. Military leaders 鈥渁re having to change their mentality because the law is not just their law anymore.鈥�

Years earlier, when her perpetrator was found not guilty by a military jury that included some of his sailor buddies, Ms. Mitchell鈥檚 father was beside her as her knees buckled.

A proud Army veteran in whose footsteps she鈥檇 wanted to follow, 鈥淗e grabbed my elbow to lift me back up. And he says, 鈥楴ever let them see that they broke you. You stand strong.鈥� And somehow, I pulled it together.鈥�

She connected with Protect Our Defenders, the attorney network, 鈥渁nd all these people rallied around me. And when they rally, they rally,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey picked up the torch, and they fought for me. And that was one of the most beautiful things.鈥�

Amid fears that Mr. Hegseth鈥檚 nomination could usher back in the old status quo, those who battled to break it down are ready, they say, to persist.

鈥淵ou have to keep pressing, because if not, those who oppose reform will begin to reverse what you鈥檝e done,鈥� Ms. Parrish says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why the fight is never over.鈥�

For Ms. Coughlin, this grueling work has given her a new perspective on her own experience 鈥� and the role she鈥檚 played bringing about change.

鈥淚 thought for many years that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t took a lot of mental fortitude to realize I was probably in the right place at the right time.鈥�

Editor鈥檚 note: This article was updated Jan. 14, the day of initial publication, to say that the confirmation hearing occurred and to add content from the hearing.