Sexual Harassment and a Sexual Assault forced me out of the Coast Guard and forced me to abandon my dream of a 20 year career.

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I'm out now, but a few counts of harassment and an assault helped me come to the decision that I would get out instead of serving my dreamed after 20 year career.

1) I got out of boot camp and when to a school. I engaged with someone else before classes started. After a few times we found out we were in the same class and broke it off. I went about my way. Later he started spreading rumors and lied about receiving a tape of me having a 3-way. After A school he got blocked in everything and I kept my chin up in hopes that it was just a one off annoyance. At the time my class advisor found out and him and the master chief of our school house told me it was my fault for anything having happened and "if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck..." and it came down to I should have never engaged to begin with and if issues persisted they would take hit up the command. Important note: he was someone who charmed his way into being a teacher’s pet and the class advisor and master chief barely let me have a word but let him talk all he wanted.

2) I reported to my first unit and someone training me started to ask sexual questions. I brushed it off and took it as just their personality but things progressed and he creeped-out someone over us. Once this happened and they asked me about our relationship it escalated to a harassment investigation. This lead to rumors circulating we had been together etc. this person had photos of myself and others working and a history of showing my up to another girl's barracks door after he was told to stay away from her but that was brushed under the rug as well. The CG found a way to get rid of him faster than the ongoing investigation and he was separated for an unreported injury instead of facing the music.

3) I was out with friends to a little party (everyone there was in the Coast Guard). I went to use the bathroom which was full so one of the guys said I could use one upstairs in an upstairs bedroom. He followed me and assaulted me. I was young and dumb and didn't see a doctor. I blocked it out of my mind. Later I reported it with texts of him saying he was sorry for what happened and when I told him to leave me alone or I'd report him and he had replied with “please don't report me blah blah.” They claimed there wasn't enough proof in the messages (that had literally said what happened) and he was let off the hook. The restraining order I had requested was denied because "he wasn't a danger to me" even tho there were times where I would have to interact with him one on one alone.

4) Same guy as the assault also told a buddy of his I would be down, which lead to some harassment.

5) I moved to a new unit and someone in my shop nonstop flirted with me but after my history of everything that was never done to anyone and him being an upper class to me I didn't bother saying anything. I didn't want to stir the pot when I first showed up. He was leaving in a few months anyways. I backhanded told someone higher in out shop who didn't say much except, "please, no, I can't deal with this right now too."

6) Someone from another unit was getting in trouble for trying to buy sexual favors from someone else. While under investigation for that they asked me the same thing looking for me to degrade him for money. When I reported that I was told "he's already one foot out the door anyways" and to ignore it and the closest to anything being done was if he had to interact with me he had to come with someone else.

** 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. **