TAMPA, Fla. — As the number of reported military sexual assaults continues to climb, a survivor is sharing her story.
“The people that were supposed to be helping me, you know, the chain of command — no. They flipped the script. I became public enemy #1. And it got worse," Senior Airman Chelsey Woodard, who is now stationed at MacDill Air Force Base, told the ABC Action News I-Team.
In December, the U.S. Department of Defense announced that decisions on whether or not to prosecute alleged sexual assaults will now be made outside the chain of command, to restore "faith that the system is fair, just and equitable."
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Woodard and her attorney, Lindsey Knapp, told the I-Team the change doesn't go far enough. They are coming together with other survivors of military sexual trauma (MST) in a push to overturn a Supreme Court decision (US v Feres) that currently prevents military members from filing lawsuits against fellow service members.
Coming home from MacDill Air Force Base, Woodard leaves one world behind and enters another. Dropping her boots at the door, she picks up a leash to take her dog, Braxton, out to play at a nearby park. The military melts away, and the present moment grounds her.
"This is my spot," Woodard said, sitting at a bench, looking out at the water. I can just come right here and let it take the day away, you know, just watch the waves and just relax."
The work she unwinds from was once uplifting.
“I would just come to work smiling, you know, I had a reason to smile," Woodard said.
Woodward, now 30 years old, was looking at old photos from when she first entered the military.
"It really just took my breath away to see how happy I came in, to go through something so traumatic, and then to regain some of that happiness," she said. "I don’t know how I made it through this, but I did.”
Woodard said everything changed in 2021 at Osan Air Base in South Korea, the night of her birthday.
“We were out, we were having a good time, and everything just took a turn for the worst there. We were in COVID lockdown and they kind of had like a bonfire at one base to kind of bring people together," Woodard said. "I wasn’t expecting it to go the way that it did.”
Woodard said another service member raped her that night.
A few months later, she said she spoke with someone who knew him from his previous base.
"When I described what happened, it was like — almost immediately, he was like, he does this all the time, he did it to another girl here and some girls at the last place and I was like — so he’s a predator?" Woodard said. "It really propelled me forward when it came to reporting and saying something.”
Woodard went to the Air Force's Sexual Assault, Prevention and Response (SAPR) Program.
“They said, just talk to your chain of command and see if they can move you to the other side of your work section," Woodard said. "And when I did that, it just went left. It went left.”
Woodard was moved to an area that still put her in contact with her abuser.
“That’s where the individual who did the assault was," she said.
Woodard decided to file a report that would trigger an investigation, meaning the assault accusation was no longer confidential. Instead of receiving support, she said things got worse.
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The number of sexual assault reports made to the Department of Defense have continued to go up. The latest year, fiscal year 2022, there were 8,942 reports, according to the DoD's Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military. The highest increase in reported incidents was from the Air Force — a 13% increase.
Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall put out a video message in response and said, in part, "This is simply unacceptable. I’ve met with survivors and listened to their experiences in excruciating detail. I’ve listened as they’ve shared how they grappled with the decision of whether to report, wondering how taking that important step could impact their own lives and careers.”
For Woodard, the impact included diagnosing her with a paranoid personality disorder, suspending her security clearance, delaying her promotions, and beginning separation proceedings against her, according to a letter Woodard's attorney wrote to General Charles Brown, Jr.
“How is it that I’ve done all these things with all of these medical evaluations, and nobody caught this multi-personality disorder until I reported the sexual assault? Really?" Woodard said.
Then another mental health provider told her, "based off of all the testing and everything like when we did our follow up, he was like, you don’t have this, you have PTSD. But because they’re treating you the way that they’re treating you, it’s like they’re reopening the wound in the first place and they never treated you for the wound, they’re treating you as if you’re crazy. Which is making it worse.”
Woodard's attorney, Knapp, said she has seen the same tactics before.
"When the military is still allowed to police itself, this is what you get," she said.
Knapp is an Army veteran and survivor of sexual assault and domestic violence. She is the executive director of Combat Sexual Assault.
"We represent service members and veterans who have been retaliated against for reporting," she said. "According to the Department of Defense, more than 60% of service members who report a sexual assault are being retaliated against."
Knapp told the I-Team that Woodard was transferred from two installations because of the retaliations she's experienced since reporting.
The I-Team contacted the Air Force, who provided the following statement:
51st Fighter Wing at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea
“The 51st Fighter Wing has a zero-tolerance policy for sexual assault and harassment. Each case is investigated under Department of Defense guidelines. The safety and well-being of our Airmen is and will continue to be our top priority.”
“The only way we’re going to see any meaningful change regarding sexual assault in the military is when we find a clear path for service members to hold people accountable," Knapp said. "So until we allow those service members to have the same rights as their civilian counterparts, we are still going to be here.”
Military Sexual Trauma (MST) VA Resources
"If me coming forward and putting my story out there helps the people at the top say, you know what, maybe we do have to have a hard change, maybe we do need to revisit Feres, maybe we should look at how we hold our leaders accountable, maybe that’s a step in the right direction and that’s what we need.”
Woodard has made a complaint with the DoD's Inspector General to investigate what happened to her. Knapp said that's the only path forward they have without a change in federal law.
When the I-Team contacted the inspector general's office, a spokesperson said, "It is the policy of the DoD OIG to neither confirm nor deny the existence of an ongoing investigation. This is to protect the confidentiality of those involved and to protect the integrity of the investigative process."
This story started with a tip. If you have something you'd like the I-Team to investigate, email kylie.mcgivern@wfts.com.
