Gloria Scott, 45, was in the Army from 1980 to 1984 and in the Army Reserve from 1985 to 1992. While she was in training school, a fellow soldier came to her home to get notes for a class, beat her and raped her. He told her he’d kill her if she told, she said.
“I didn’t report it because where was I safe on that base? He could go anywhere … and who was I going to tell?”
She wants to warn women who join the military that they need to protect themselves and get help if they are assaulted. “It’s too late for me, but these young ladies just beginning (in the military) – who gives them the right to snatch their lives away?”
“It has affected my life from that time on,” said Scott, who lives in Southern California and last year was laid off as a telecommunications worker.
“I was just going through the motions,” she said. “I had a lot of hostility, terrible outbursts. Any man, it was like, let me at him.
“I beat myself up a long time. Why did I stop fighting him? It was my fault. I couldn’t cope. I still see the bruises. I don’t look attractive to me because I still see those scars.
“You say, ‘I’m going to suck it up. I can cry in the shower.’ The other women are compassionate, but they’re happy as heck it’s not them.”
Now, she is gathering records to prove her claim to the Department of Veterans Affairs for benefits. “To this day I have the same nightmare: I’m fighting for my life. And when I wake up, the covers are all jumbled and torn up. But they tell me they need proof something happened to me. How dare they?”
