After I was raped, CGIS agents asked me, “Do you really want to ruin his career?” They told me I would have to take a polygraph and could face prison time for a false accusation. So I did not file.

** This anonymous U.S. Coast Guard Survivor Testimonial was originally submitted to “The Pettiest Officer of the U.S. Coast Guard” on Facebook in May of 2024 and re-published by MLAA. MLAA does not know the identity of the author and has not verified any of the claims or allegations made in this testimonial. Light formatting changes for readability, or redactions for PII may have been applied before publishing. **

I was stationed with a Coast Guardsman in 2003 at Morgan City, LA. We started dating shortly after I was stationed there. He quickly became controlling and full of anger. But I somehow didn't see it at first. He alienated me from my family. He made me believe I didn't need my kids and they didn't need me. I became very depressed and was in the mental health unit at the local hospital for 3 days. When I came home, he told me he began sleeping with someone else but that it was for the benefit of our relationship. He had me so drawn into our relationship that I didn't break up with him. I was angry but didn't leave him.

One night we were out drinking and started arguing about him cheating on me. We came home and he threw me on the couch and said, "You're mine and I can do whatever I want!" He then pulled down my pants and raped me on my couch. After he was done, I ran upstairs to get away from him but he followed. I jumped on my bed and grabbed a belt and started swinging the buckle end at him. He said he was going to call the cops on me.

So much of it is a blur but the next thing I remember is him leaving. I went downstairs to get my phone and call someone but it was gone. He had taken it. I was so upset and scared. I ended up taking a full bottle of prescription sleeping pills. At some point he came back and found me passed out nearly dead on the couch. He rushed me, or called an ambulance—I don't remember which, to the hospital. He stayed with me the whole time. The nurse said how kind and attentive he had been. I just cried. Because with him there I couldn't tell anyone what happened.

After that I went to a psychiatric unit at a military hospital where I stayed for three weeks. When I came home I did outpatient therapy where I finally got the strength to leave him. Then the investigators came. They asked me, "Do you really want to ruin his career?" They then told me I would have to take a polygraph and would likely fail due to my emotions and then would face prison time for a false accusation. So I did not file.

20 years and some change - I filed for disability due to MST/PTSD and was approved. But nothing was ever done about him as far as I know.