My Coast Guard tormentor got 19.5 years in federal prison. Will he get out on good behavior? Will he have some type of revenge for me? It haunts me all the time & I suffer daily.

** 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 joined the CG in 2011. Sexual assault and harassment wasn't talked about as much as it is now.

I reported to my first unit, a station in FL. Brand new, first time away from my family. Living on the other side of the states from them. Living alone for the first time. I made friends with someone who I thought was being nice, making me feel included. We went out and he showed me this new place I was living at. One of those times, I noticed that it was getting late. I told him it was time to go. As I was urging and literally pushing him out the door, I finally got him over the threshold of my front door. As soon as I said bye and started closing the door, he jammed his foot into the door and prevented it from being closed. He pushed himself back into my kitchen front area. Pinned my wrists above my head. Took his other hand and felt up my body. Took his knee and spread my legs. We were still clothed. But I could have seen the fire in his eyes. The urge. I was fighting him. Moving and fighting to get him off. I wonder if that is what made him stop. He finally let go of me and smiled and left. I felt gross. What did I do to cause this? Why me? I always thought it wouldn't be me. Isn't that what most of us think?

Throughout that time, he would text me or call me. I would always make up an excuse. I would tell him I'm going to bed. He would say it's easy to break into a home. I would hear his truck drive by. I would sleep with a knife under my pillow. All the lights on in my house. I would call my parents each night before going to sleep to feel safe. When I finally spoke up, my command at the time asked me what I would do. As a fresh new boot, an E-3, the only thing I knew at the time, thanks to boot camp, was a negative 3307. So I said that. They wrote him up and put it in his file. They finally put us in different sections. So I still worked alongside him but never in the same group.

About 6 months later, one day while I was leaving, I was checking out. He texted me telling me that I forgot something. I responded, "What?" He said it's in the comms area. So I walked back in. He looked at me and said, "Hahah, I can't believe you fell for that." I rolled my eyes and walked out. Before I knew it, he kept texting me. He kept saying these comments: "You know you want this," "You want to ride on this and roll," "I'm going to make you..." I asked him over and over to stop texting me, to stop bothering me, to leave me alone. It got to the point where I called my family who lived on the west coast, crying my eyes out. Scared. Asking my father to block his number from my phone. I didn't explain to my dad why. I didn't tell him exactly what was being said. Fear went through him that day. The following day, I went and reported it to his supervisor. I told the command. They said and told me since he was already written up with a 3307, there isn't anything they can do. NOTHING! All I did was cry. All I did was be angry, upset. Pissed! Why couldn't they do anything more? I was asking myself, "Am I an idiot for only pushing for the 3307?"

Three years passed. I'm married, I am pregnant with my oldest son. This kid was going down a dark path. DUI, passing out drunk in bathrooms. He ended up blackmailing another female at the unit. The new command looked into his record. They saw he had the 3307 in his file for his actions against another female. The new command didn't know that female was me. I spoke up. I told them that it was about me. They decided to finally open an investigation with CGIS. I'm heavily pregnant going through, reliving my story over again. I told them about the texts. Sadly, by this time, I got a new phone (before texts could be backed up), and lost my old phone due to water damage. There was no way of getting these texts. They didn't want to push for my mobile carrier to get access to the texts. They did subpoena his phone to try to get access to these texts.

During this process, I learned a lot about how badly this 1st command did things. They shouldn't have left it up to me to choose his outcome. They should have known better. I should have been transferred to a new unit. I shouldn't have been working alongside my attacker for 3 years.

Finally, I was put on baby leave at this time. A lot was done while I was gone. Finally, someone reached out to me and asked me if I heard what happened. They sent me the news article. I dropped my phone to the ground. I cried. I was angry. I was again upset. He was charged with solicitation of minors. Graphic images. They found all this when they seized his phone for the texts he sent me. The reason I was upset was because they washed their hands of my own attack. It was selfish. It took me years, my family moving, the birth of my 2nd son. Because if my command did things right the first time, these children wouldn't have had to go through that. The other female at my unit didn't have to go through the blackmailing. I lived with the guilt for years. I still do at times, even now. This all happened in 2012; it's 2024.

Naming my attacker may reveal who I am. His name is [REDACTED]. He got 19.5 years in federal prison. Do I know if he will get out on good behavior? Do I know if he knows or remembers that it was me who got him put there? Will he have some type of revenge for me? Things that haunt me all the time. I suffer daily. I have been to therapy. I have anxiety, major depression, panic attacks. My case has long been closed.

So I stand with Whistler McGee!