JUDY WOODRUFF: A video posted by a female Marine about sexual assault in the military
rocketed across the Internet, and into Pentagon press briefing room today.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin promised to take additional steps to stop such violence.
But, as Nick Schifrin reports, sexual assault in the military continues to rise, and individual
families continue to be ripped apart.
NICK SCHIFRIN: When Asia Graham graduated from high school in 2019, she hoped the military
would give her and her mother Nicole a better life.
NICOLE GRAHAM, Mother of Asia Graham: She wanted to go in the military, make me her
dependent, and have me staying in with her for the rest of my life.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Anthony Graham is Asia's brother.
ANTHONY GRAHAM, Brother of Asia Graham: Even though my mom was a mom, my sister tried to
act like a mom.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Where do you think that sense of responsibility in her came from?
NICOLE GRAHAM: We just raised a wonderful girl.
NICK SCHIFRIN: That girl became a woman in uniform. In December 2019, she arrived at
Fort Bliss in Texas, an 18-year-old soldier.
NICOLE GRAHAM: She was a very, very proud soldier, and her basic training's 1st sergeant
loved her and praised her.
NICK SCHIFRIN: But she left the military draped in a flag. She'd been found dead on New Year's
Eve 2020 in her barracks at age 19.
An initial Army press release said: "The Iron Eagle team is deeply saddened by the loss
of our friend and teammate."
But a second statement three days later, after a local news report, revealed a darker time
in uniform. Graham reported she had been raped by a fellow member of her unit in December
2019. The Army said it launched a criminal investigation, separated her from her alleged
attacker, and offered and encouraged medical help.
In Nicole's home, Nicole and Anthony Graham keep a photographic shrine, the happy daughter
of a white mother and Black veteran, the smiling soldier, the confident girl, confidence that,
they say, the Army extinguished.
ANTHONY GRAHAM: That same glow that she had about the military, the same happiness wasn't
there.
NICK SCHIFRIN: And they say what the Army claimed to have done to protect her isn't
true, beginning with when she first approached her commanders.
NICOLE GRAHAM: She got raped by a fellow soldier in December. She reported it in February.
She was told to shut up. And the rapist was in her barracks, in her company. And she had
to see him.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Asia Graham's own words also suggest the Army didn't do what it claimed.
In a message obtained by "PBS NewsHour" that she sent to a friend four days before she
died, she wrote: "I told my noncommissioned officer, and he didn't take it that serious."
She writes, she then told a female sergeant, who admitted "She didn't speak up, and a similar
situation happened to her when she first got here, too."
Graham told others who were more senior, but: "All they cared about was the Army doctrine
and cover-up themselves. I really was asking for help and therapy. I just feel mistreated."
Graham moved in with her brother off-base to get away from her alleged attacker. The
siblings had always been close. Anthony saw his sister's descent. She started drinking
and taking pills, and became self-destructive. She got a DUI. She died of an overdose.
But, in counseling, Anthony says she was told not to tell anyone anything.
ANTHONY GRAHAM: They heard her story. And then, right afterwards, they're like, all
right, we just need you to shut up about this. Don't talk about it to nobody. Don't tell
nobody about it. We're going to take care of it.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Last month, Fort Bliss charged Private 1st Class Christian Alvarado with
raping Asia Graham in December 2019 and, five months later, raping another woman, and, three
months after that, sexually assaulting a third woman. Per Army regulations, he's still on
base, on active duty, and free.
Is what happened to Asia Graham typical?
CAMILLA VANCE SHADLEY, Never Alone Advocacy: Yes. Who's responsible for the soldier's well-being?
It's the chain of command. They didn't listen. And in this case, this survivor is dead.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Camilla Vance Shadley and her husband, retired Major General Robert Shadley,
are with Never Alone Advocacy, a nonprofit that helps military victims of sexual assault.
Over the past decade, the number of reported victims has doubled, from 3,327 in 2010 to
7,825 in 2019. But the actual number of sexual assaults, including those not reported, is
estimated to be 20,000.
Last year, an independent investigation found a permissive environment for sexual assault
at Fort Hood and a lack of knowledge among commanders on when and how to report sexual
assaults. At Fort Bliss, Graham faced the same challenges.
CAMILLA VANCE SHADLEY: They actually are allowing the commands to make choices as to what rules
they will follow, they won't. And Asia is the perfect one. Four people knew that she
had complained.
MAJ. GEN. ROBERT SHADLEY (RET.) Never Alone Advocacy: It is not the chain of command's
choice to whether to believe or not. Their responsibility is to report it to trained
investigators to look into it to get the ground truth.
NICK SCHIFRIN: But Shadley says the buck doesn't stop with Graham's unit.
MAJ. GEN. ROBERT SHADLEY: The commander at Fort Bliss should be held accountable in order
to send a signal to the command and all the other division commanders, you better get
involved.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Shadley knows this problem.
MAJ. GEN. ROBERT SHADLEY: We, as leaders, have a responsibility to take care of our
soldiers, and it breaks your heart when we don't.
NICK SCHIFRIN: In 1996, he commanded the Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland when it
became known that drill sergeants had been preying on young female trainees.
MAJ. GEN. ROBERT SHADLEY: I have been told by hundreds, if not thousands of soldiers
that they don't trust their chain of command. This is a force readiness issue.
I predict a young leader is going to stand up on the battlefield and say, follow me,
and the soldiers are going to say, I don't think so.
NICK SCHIFRIN: In a statement to "PBS NewsHour," Fort Bliss says it's investigating when Graham
originally reported to her commanders and -- quote -- "If indeed those leaders took
no actions, then failure to act would be unacceptable."
But other service members say their leaders also take no action.
WOMAN: I have dedicated my life to the military.
NICK SCHIFRIN: In a viral TikTok video, a Marine says her commanding general allowed
her perpetrator to stay in the service.
WOMAN: And this is exactly why (EXPLETIVE DELETED) females in the military (EXPLETIVE
DELETED) kill themselves. This is exactly why nobody (EXPLETIVE DELETED) takes this
seriously.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Today, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin admitted the military has not
effectively dealt with sexual assault.
LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. Secretary of Defense: We have been working at this a long time in earnest,
but we haven't gotten it right.
I found the video deeply disturbing. I'm going to ask that her chain of command make sure
that someone is looking out after her needs.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Last year, candidate Biden promised to tackle sexual assault in the military.
At a fund-raiser, he said commanders should be removed from sexual assault reporting and
prosecution decisions.
JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: We have to change the culture of abuse in
this country, especially in armed services. I would immediately appoint a commission of
current and former military leaders, sexual assault survivors and their advocates, and
sexual assault experts, and give them 90 days to make concrete recommendations to me, including
on prosecution decisions.
NICK SCHIFRIN: But Shadley warns, the military may not follow through. And so he urges President
Biden to demand results.
MAJ. GEN. ROBERT SHADLEY: I believe the president should stick to his word, and say, I want
you to fix it. If the current leadership ain't going to do it, gets somebody in there who
will.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Back in Nicole Graham's home, what was once pride and hope in Asia's uniform
is now regret that she ever allowed her daughter to put it on.
NICOLE GRAHAM: I really, really beat myself up that I signed the paperwork for her to
go. When they recruit the kids, they say it's a family.
What kind of family lets people get raped and not taken care of the rapist? I wish I
never would have signed the paper.
NICK SCHIFRIN: They are victims of a plague the military has known about for decades,
but never cured.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin.