Jennifer-Ruth Green is a hero who had her sexual assault used against her for politics

Jennifer-Ruth Green could have been any of us. She joined the military after the terror attacks on 9/11 in hopes of making a difference in this world. She did what most Americans didn’t do, she signed up and showed up. I was like her in that regard, I also signed up and showed up. I went to the Army, and Jennifer-Ruth to the Air Force. Although I didn’t get the honor of serving beside her while on active duty, I now have the esteemed pleasure of representing her as she navigates the world after military sexual trauma. As an attorney and executive director of Combat Sexual Assault, I represent service members and veterans who have been retaliated against for reporting a sexual assault.

And that’s what’s happening to Jennifer-Ruth. She was targeted because she’s running for Congress in Indiana’s First District. 

Nothing seems to slow Jennifer-Ruth down. She’s always had grit and determination.

After being sexually assaulted by an Iraqi guard in 2009 while deployed, she immediately reported it. Jennifer-Ruth had faith in the system. She had faith in her colleagues. She knew that she didn’t do anything wrong and believed that she would be treated with dignity and respect.

AIR FORCE TAKES 'FULL RESPONSIBILITY' FOR JENNIFER-RUTH GREEN SEXUAL ASSAULT LEAK, GOP CONGRESSMEN SAY

But what she found after she reported the assault was quite a different story. She was immediately retaliated against, not believed and was told that she would "set the movement of women serving in Iraq back 1,000 years" if she continued with her report.

Say again? How could a crime perpetuated against Jennifer-Ruth be her fault in any way? As someone who works in this field every day, this is sadly far too common. Here’s how the story unfolded and how the military justified its position.

Her commander blamed Jennifer-Ruth for the assault stating in her Officer Performance Report (OPR) that Jennifer-Ruth "wandered away from the main party at a Forwarding Operating Base and climbed a guard tower. The Iraqi guard attempted to grope you and then exposed himself to you. It is by luck that you or someone else was not harmed… ."

It is hard to fathom how one could blame Jennifer-Ruth for the assault, or even have the audacity to accuse her of wandering away from the main party. Jennifer-Ruth was assaulted while on official duties, and while with her partner. Her team was tasked to inspect the construction of a tower. Jennifer-Ruth climbed a ladder up the guard tower with the Iraqi guard, who was also a part of this mission. Jennifer-Ruth’s partner remained at the base of the tower to provide security. Jennifer-Ruth was assaulted by the Iraqi guard when she reached the top of the tower. Jennifer-Ruth came down the tower and immediately reported the assault to her partner.

It is unconscionable that her command characterized it in the manner that they did, and that they put it in her OPR. The personal courage that Jennifer-Ruth had to muster while enduring this level of retaliation was unparalleled. 

But what we see now is an unlawfully leaked personnel file that outs Jennifer-Ruth as a survivor of military sexual trauma. What kind of cruel joke is this?

CLICK HERE TO GET THE OPINION NEWSLETTER

After honorably serving this country and continuously giving back to the community, someone who does not have authorized access to Jennifer-Ruth’s personnel file leaks it to the press. And yet again, the sexual assault is being weaponized against her.

Jennifer-Ruth is the epitome of a leader. The military failed her when they gaslit and blamed her for her sexual assault. And now yet again, Jennifer-Ruth has to explain, now to the nation, the intimate details of an event that she has spent decades recovering from. For how much longer must we treat our service women as if their lives are forfeit? Why do they not matter? Why do they not get the choice of who gets to touch their bodies? And when an unspeakable act is perpetrated against them, why cannot they be given a measure of privacy?

At every juncture, Jennifer-Ruth has made the hard moral and ethical decision to do the right thing, even when others chose not to. Even though it has caused her years of pain and retaliation, she would do it all over again if she was able to help one more person. That is just the kind of person that she is. 

We stand with Jennifer-Ruth and will take any action necessary to see that those who leaked this very sensitive information are held accountable for their actions.

Survivors of sexual violence deserve to be believed and protected. And Jennifer-Ruth is no different.

Taking in 'The View': Sunny Hostin smears Republican female voters as cockroaches

"The View" hosts sparred over voter issues, affirmative action and abortion during the ABC program this week as co-host Sunny Hostin suggested any women voting Republican were like insects. 

During Thursday's episode of "The View," the hosts went back and forth over voting issues days before the midterm elections. 

Hostin compared White Republican suburban women supporting the GOP to roaches voting for Raid.

"What’s also surprising to me is the abortion issue. I read a poll just yesterday that White Republican suburban women are now going to vote Republican," Hostin said, appearing to refer to surveys showing White women backing Republicans in 2022. "It’s almost like roaches voting for Raid [roach spray], right?" Hostin said on Thursday. 

SUNNY HOSTIN'S STUNNING REMARKS ABOUT NIKKI HALEY HER LATEST PERSONAL ATTACK ON CONSERVATIVES

Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin pushed back on Hostin and accused her trying to control "everyone else's vote."

"Do we love democracy or not because just saying that, it’s insulting to the voter," Farah Griffin said. "People make decisions about what’s right for their families. And the idea that you should have a say for everyone else’s vote…"

Co-host Joy Behar claimed that voting for a Republican was like voting for a "cult."

Behar, who has consistently dismissed concerns about crime ahead of the midterm elections, declared on Tuesday that crime was "not on the rise" and that it was "actually going down under Joe Biden." 

‘THE VIEW’ HOST JOY BEHAR SAYS GOP ‘CAN’T WIN' BECAUSE ‘DEMOGRAPHICS ARE CHANGING’: ‘THEY HAVE TO CHEAT’

Actress Anne Hathaway also joined the hosts of "The View" this week as a guest and said during her Tuesday appearance that "abortion can be another word for mercy."

"We know that no two pregnancies are alike, and it follows that no two lives are alike, it follows that no two conceptions are alike. So how can we have a law, how can we have a point of view on this that says we must treat everything the same?" she said. 

On Wednesday, the hosts engaged in a debate about the two affirmative action cases before the Supreme Court regarding race-based admissions policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina. 

While discussing the cases and Justice Clarence Thomas' remarks during oral arguments, Hostin said Edward Blum, the president of Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), the organization that brought one of the lawsuits, is a conservative activist.

‘THE VIEW’ HOSTS SUNNY HOSTIN AND SARA HAINES SPAR OVER AFFIRMATIVE ACTION CASES: ‘RIGHT WING ATTACK’

"He claims that affirmative action harms Asian-Americans. That is not true. He first started with white women. That didn’t work. Now he’s trying with Asian-Americans, I think that is going to work," Hostin said on Wednesday's episode. "The next attack is on LGBTQ+ rights and the next attack is on voting rights and they’re all before the Supreme Court. So I think what we need to do is recognize this for what it is. This is a right-wing attack on our rights. And it’s a concerted effort."

Co-host Sara Haines argued that Asian-Americans were a big part of these cases. 

"And it can be started by a guy like that, but it doesn’t disrupt the fact there is a personality rating that Asian-Americans are having trouble with in regards to a cultural difference. It's, I wouldn’t even say it's discriminatory, it’s downright racist," Haines argued. 

"They’re judging them on a personality score and if you win on just test scores, which, by the way people think, high school grades first and then standardized test scores, 43% of the elite institutions would be Asian. The problem with the civil rights movement was to say don’t discriminate against race because discriminating hurts a race. Fixing it with the same discrimination is going to hurt some other race." 

During Monday's Halloween episode of "The View," co-host Whoopi Goldberg dressed as June Osborne from "The Handmaids Tale."

Goldberg's red cloak included the words "my body, my morals, my life, my choice, not yours," on the back. 

Fox News Digital's Nikolas Lanum and Gabriel Hayes contributed to this report.

About Us

Virtus (virtue, valor, excellence, courage, character, and worth)

Vincit (conquers, triumphs, and wins)