I Hate November

I have one main reason why I hate this month and that is because of what I experienced 24 years ago and it was my first duty station when I was sent overseas to South Korea. This is the time that I usually need the most support because I am capable of anything and it is something I will ever forget, but it is also the reason I try to raise awareness on this topic of MST (Military Sexual Trauma). After AIT I ended up taking a month off and was not scheduled to ship out overseas until the 13th of November. When I landed in Osan Air Force Base it was a snowy cold day that I remember. From there we are transported to the base that we will process into and to what Camp we were then assigned to. A couple days I was in Yongsan and then I traveled to Uijeongbu or Camp Red Cloud where my company was located in 552nd Signal Corp. After meeting some of the soldiers that would be part of life I met here in Camp Red Cloud, but I was meant to go to Camp Casey to first platoon.

About a week after arriving in Camp Casey the platoon was having a Thanksgiving celebration, a celebration I would never forget, even to this day it bothers me. So as the festivities were going on we all had our own cups and in mine I had Coke, but I guess when I set it down, someone snuck something into my drink. Aside from the factor that I loved drinking this just made everything harder to stay awake. Straight up I was raped by my section Sergeant named Rodney Valentine, aside from him seeing me this way, so did the rest of the platoon and my roomate, who all did nothing. I remember I tried to run away a couple times, but everytime I would take off I would pass out because of the roofies.

At first when this happened, I just thought that this was a nightmare and I had imagined everything, but it wouldn’t be until about 6 months later would I realize what I experienced really happened. Funny thing is I was pushed out of the Army for this, because they did not want to deal with the issue, so I was written up as unable to cope with military life and then I was discharged. The only person that tried to help me, were those that were there for me in Camp Red Cloud, as well as my boyfriend at the time. Overall there is no help for those that are sexually assaulted, because if there was, then more than likely I could have gone after my other rapist! This is why I hate the month and Thanksgiving altogether.