this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2024
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Most of my anecdotes are just that, anecdotes. Suffice to say the military command structures, especially the navy while onboard a deployed ship, is not kind to transgender people, or depressed people, or anyone not a gung-ho patriot white supremacist.
Trigger warning for depression and suicide, and sexual assault.
::: spoiler spoiler
One anecdote, a close friend was placed on suicide watch while on deployment, which means somebody from our department has to watch them 24/7, which is on top of our normal watch and maintenance requirements. They were locked in a room inside medical with 1 sailor from our department, 24/7, and they are unmonitored by medical staff or doctors. Instead, my command send the transphobes and the people that already were known to dislike my friend. So they were trapped inside this room, with the same tormentors that led to them being confined in the first place, enduring a constant stream of hate. “You’re useless to us, you can’t stand watch, you can’t do maintenance, you might as well kill yourself, your parents would probably be relieved anyways” that type of stuff. And you know, being suicide watch, you would think sharp objects aren’t allowed, but every single one of them carried their knife in there and offered it to them. I volunteered to take the midnight watch, nobody else would, and heard this and worse first hand. Both from my friend, and later in berthing listening to those fucks gloat and joke.
And I want to clarify at the end, my friend was dishonorably discharged, and with the help of their civilian out of pocket psychiatrist who documented everything, sued the Navy for 100% disability. Close to a happy ending as you could get, not every anecdote ends well. Or ends at all. Almost all women experience sexual assault in the armed forces, the statistics are high as fuck, and it’s under reported on top of that.
Funny anecdotes would be the time our entire training command barracks was raided for suspected contraband. They seized something like 30 dildo’s, a couple toaster ovens, but no drugs.