Whistleblowers who claim they're victims of military sexual trauma often tell similar stories — stories of retaliation and intimidation in the wake of reporting assaults.
As Veterans Day approaches, 13 Investigates continues our "Guarding the Guardsmen" reports with more former service members, inspired by our series, coming forward to voice their concerns.
"I wanted to come out because command, like, isolates you so much. It makes you feel that hopelessness," says Senior Airman Elizabeth Smith. She says her isolation and hopelessness faded after hearing about Sgt. 1st Class Allison Bailey.
"So, listening to Allison Bailey's story, I felt like I was reading my story all over again," Smith said.
Both women reported sexual assault. In both cases, law enforcement investigated and didn't file charges, citing insufficient evidence. And both say they were retaliated against by the Nevada National Guard.
"So, it's important that we come out and show our faces and support each other, because the Guard doesn't want us to find each other," Smith said.
The Guard tells 13 Investigates it does want service members to come forward and encourages reporting in many ways.
"Over the course of the last three years, the Nevada National Guard has taken proactive steps over the course of that time to combat sexual assaults in the force and hold accountable, people, for their actions," said Capt. Emerson Marcus, the public affairs officer with the Nevada Guard.
Capt. Marcus says that includes a Memo of Understanding effective January 2021 that requires all sexual assault allegations to be referred to the Nevada Department of Public Safety. He also says the Guard supported a revision in state law with a stronger definition of sexual assault.
"We've also launched many awareness campaigns," Marcus said. "This has been something the Department of Defense has taken very seriously. And we have, in our awareness campaign — I will say that we have seen an uptick in reports."
Other insiders we spoke to say that's a double-edged sword.
"I left the military as a major," Marilyn Burden told 13 Investigates.
Burden worked in the Wyoming National Guard's Equal Opportunity Office for half her career. With posters and flyers in every building, on military websites, social media and through email blasts, Marilyn says service members are encouraged to speak up. But in her experience, the rhetoric doesn't match the reality.
"Some of the people in senior leader positions were a little bit toxic," Burden said. "People coming forward or taking things outside their unit was then a threat to their authority or a threat to their ego. And then they would retaliate against the member."
Over time, she saw a pattern.
"The series is: deny, delay, deflect, confuse or cover up," Burden said.
Frustrated with the culture, she eventually left the Wyoming Guard. Leaders there have not responded to our request for comment.
Burden initially reached out to 13 Investigates after our reporting on Bailey's case. Bailey died from organ failure due to multiple health issues six weeks after she was discharged from the Nevada Guard.
"The portion of the story — of Sgt. 1st Class Bailey's story — that just really ripped my heart apart was that her sons found her," says Burden. "And her death...she left behind two boys."
Burden says that brought back memories of a case she worked a few years ago.
"I was appointed as a victim advocate for a soldier — a female officer — who had been raped while she was deployed to Iraq," Burden says. "She ultimately ended up committing suicide."
Burden says the soldier left three teenage boys behind.
Smith understands the depth of that despair.
"They made me feel so hopeless...that I wanted to kill myself," Smith said, fighting back tears.
But she was able to fight through that to continue her career despite what her attorney, Lindsay Knapp, calls ongoing retaliation.
Knapp cites an email from the Nevada Guard as an example. Elizabeth was told she would be granted an expedited transfer to another state's guard.
"And it took more than two years for us to get her out of that unit safely," Knapp said.
But after our previous story about Smith aired in 2021, an email sent to Knapp stated:
"The transfer will now be processed as an interstate transfer (IST) and is unrelated to the unsubstantiated sexual assault. This change is due to your comments mischaracterizing the expedited transfer during the news story."
"They withdrew it," Knapp said. "And then after that story aired, in addition to retaliating against Liz, they're like, well, let's just go after the attorney as well. Let's see how hard we can hit. And then they threaten to file a Bar complaint against me. Two years later, no Bar complaint has been made."
13 Investigates asked specifically why the Guard changed Elizabeth's transfer based on comments Knapp made in our report. The Guard provided this statement:
"Elizabeth Smith was granted an expedited transfer. According to Nevada Air National Guard personnel office (A1), she transferred to the California Air National Guard on Feb. 6, 2022. The Nevada Air National Guard Recruiting and Retention Office originally worked the process with the Oregon Air National Guard as early as May 2021 and through August 2021. I would refer you to Ms. Smith on why she chose to not transfer to the Oregon Air National Guard. Throughout the process, the Nevada Air National Guard worked with Ms. Smith and her request to transfer to another unit. This is apparent in her ability to receive a transfer in February 2022."
Knapp believes they are avoiding the question, and provided this statement in response:
"After multiple attempts to get the [Nevada National Guard] to process her Expedited Transfer, Liz felt that she had no recourse than to go to the press. While this was occurring, the NV NG approved her Expedited Transfer request seemingly out of the blue. Liz thought that this was because the local news networks were reaching out to them for statements, and that made them soften. But when the story aired, the NV NG withdrew her request for an Expedited Transfer and instead told her that she could only get an "Interstate Transfer." An interstate transfer is a transfer request that any Airman/woman can make under any circumstance and does not offer any of the protections for which an ET was established. The military specifically created the ET process more than a decade ago in response to the barriers that Service Members were facing after reporting a sexual assault. The service wanted a process to be put in place to elevate these transfer requests to the DoD so that they had visibility on each and every one, ensuring that each survivor of sexual violence was handled appropriately and confidentially. But after Liz whistleblew about her experience, the NV NG took this safety net away from her. They promptly took this request off of DoD's desk so that they would no longer have visibility on the retaliation that they were making Liz experience. Without these checks and balances, the NV NG was free to operate unfettered, and continue to wear her down further. After this occurred, we sent a letter to the Joint Chief of Staff asking them to intervene immediately and ensure that Liz was granted an ET, and not an IST. After we did this, the NV NG was forced to comply and threated to file a bar complaint against me for sending our concerns to the DoD for action."
Knapp encourages victims to make their voices heard and hopes cases like Smith's and Bailey's encourage a critical, nationwide look at the issue of sexual assault and retaliation in the National Guard.
"So, if we're looking at the Nevada National Guard very narrowly and not taking into account their brothers and sisters to the left there, we're not actually addressing the entire problem," Knapp explains. "We're looking at, you know, a broken arm without understanding that there's, you know, there's a gunshot wound to the chest."
As for Smith, she wants her courage in coming forward to motivate others.
"That's what needs to happen, is that we need to stop being afraid of our truths and come out and share that this is what's happening with the Guard," Smith said.
As we have for each of our reports, we again asked the Nevada Guard for an on-camera interview with its top general, Ondra Berry, but that was denied.
They instead provided these statements:
"The Nevada National Guard takes sexual assault in the military very seriously. Sexual assault in the military is a national issue being addressed at all levels, including an executive order from the President earlier this year and an independent review commission initiated by the Secretary of Defense (also see Fort Hood investigation following 2020 death of Pfc. Vanessa Guillén). Additionally, the Nevada National Guard has taken numerous steps to address the issue here in the Silver State. In 2021, the Nevada National Guard entered a legal agreement with the Nevada Department of Public Safety for all sexual assault cases to be investigated by the Major Crimes Section of the state police investigators at DPS. Also, in 2021, the Nevada National Guard changed state militia law to align definitions of sexual assault and harassment with stricter definitions used in the Uniformed Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Also that year, the Nevada National Guard restructured its support services under a new military directorate, J9, to house its resiliency, military support offices under one joint -- Army and Air -- effort. This includes the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, Psychological Health Services, Chaplain Corps, Family Programs, Substance Abuse Program and Suicide and Crisis Support.
In 2020, the Nevada National Guard launched its #ZeroToleranceNVNG campaign to raise awareness for survivors to come forward and report sexual assault in the military -- regardless of whether the alleged perpetrator was in the military. For instance, a recent review of cases over the course of the past two years showed seven of 12 reports included an alleged perpetrator who was either unknown or not a member of the military (a civilian). Of the five remaining cases, two of the alleged perpetrators entered a separation board and the other three cases remained under investigation. The Nevada National Guard supports survivors of sexual assault with services regardless if the alleged perpetrator was in the military. With a population of about 5,000 in the Nevada National Guard, this data puts the Nevada National Guard on par with the rate for many national statistics. In 2021, the Nevada National Guard saw an increase in reports -- many with alleged perpetrators outside the Nevada National Guard -- and several reports for incidents going back more than a decade. The Nevada National Guard viewed the increase in reporting as a success for the awareness campaign."
