![]() The Naval Investigation Service, at the time under the command of Rear Adm. In 1992, a Navy lieutenant named Paula Coughlin reported that she had been assaulted at the annual Tailhook convention - an alcohol-fueled gathering of naval aviators - in Las Vegas in September 1991. YouTube capture A long struggleīut the stories like that of FlorCruz’s assault are tragically common. “Being assaulted by someone who is supposed to be like a brother to you is a betrayal with a pain that cuts very, very deeply.” She would later learn that her attacker had also assaulted others. I went to the shower and turned on the water as hot as I could stand it, which is a universal response of victims.” “He told me he wouldn’t be so nice next time,” FlorCruz told students at PLU. She had no hope of overpowering him - he was close to six feet tall - but she fought back hard enough to make him leave. She woke up with him in her bed, fondling and trying to undress her. She didn’t know the young man had followed her. She said she had a bad feeling.įlorCruz left the party and went back to her barracks. Like many of the cadets, she drank.Ī male classmate kept giving her beers, trying to get her more drunk. The academy was still very much a man’s world.ĭuring her junior year, FlorCruz attended a tailgate party at a football game. ![]() ![]() West Point had only just begun accepting female applicants. It was a bold move for a young woman at the time. She quit the varsity track team and her grades suffered. She said that the university handled her case well - considering what it had to work with in the late 1970s.īut the experience was jarring for FlorCruz. She credited the RAs - one of whom was a young Katie Couric - for believing her and supporting her. She reported the incident to her own RAs. I was also ashamed because I thought I was more competent than that - how do you find yourself naked with a guy you don’t even like?” “I was humiliated - I felt guilty because my own convictions had been compromised. “I was vulnerable, away from my familiar environment,” FlorCruz recalled. An upperclassman - a resident adviser who had taken an interest in her - undressed her and pinned her to her bed.įlorCruz’s roommate opened the door, interrupting the assault. She was a student at the University of Virginia. Army photo From victim to soldierįlorCruz was just 17 years old at the time of her first sexual assault. FlorCruz speaks to students and faculty at Pacific Lutheran Univeristy on Feb.
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