Inaction Putting MST Survivors Lives At Risk

A North East social worker and former Royal Marine claims more needs to be done to tackle Military Sexual Trauma (MST). In an exclusive interview, Tony Wright tells Simon Rushworth that the Ministry of Defence could be putting lives at risk. Unaddressed trauma in veterans can lead to suicidal thoughts, says charity founder.

The founder of an influential North East-based charity, campaigning to reduce the negative impact of in-service sexual violence, claims Ministry of Defence inaction is putting veterans and serving personnel in danger. Tony Wright, who set up Tyneside-based Forward Assist and is the co-author of several reports that lift the lid on a culture of bullying, cover-ups and sexual abuse within the Army, Navy and RAF, is on a mission to pressure military chiefs into a major policy shift. MoD officials told e QT that they are ‘committed to stamping out unacceptable sexual behaviours’, but social worker Tony said that the pace of reform is too slow and fails to recognise systemic failures from top to bottom. Tony, who was medically discharged from the Royal Marines in 1981 after suffering a shoulder injury, has heard evidence from men and women within the armed forces who insist their lives have been shattered by Military Sexual Trauma (MST) — a term the MoD refuses to recognise. Key areas of concern for Tony and the Forward Assist team include: A lack of engagement from the MoD and the military charity sector around MST. Unaddressed trauma in veterans that can lead to suicidal ideation and completion. A lack of recognition for MST in the UK despite its prevalence and impact on service members and ex-Forces personnel, A specific lack of support for male victims of MST with many feeling too ashamed or scared to come forward. “I’m not here to play the blame game,” insists Tony, who has pledged to postpone his retirement in the hope of seeing decades of research manifest itself in meaningful change. “I don’t want to add to the toxic blender. MST has happened in the past and it’s happening now, but let’s try and stop it happening in the future. That’s all I want.” “Forward Assist and the research papers we’ve published could help with that if the MoD want our help." But in the meantime can we at least try to keep people alive? Even a trusted referral pathway would be a positive step forward.” Tony believes the starting point when it comes to persuading forces personnel to open up about MST is an official recognition of the term. “From a practical point of view it’s really, really difficult to get people, especially men, to come forward when there’s no official terminology for what they’re experiencing,” he said. “If people feel brave enough, supported enough and trusted enough to admit what’s happened to them then I’d suggest we’d see quite significant progress in a very short space of time. “In the most serious cases it might even stop people wanting to kill themselves as a result of their experience of MST. But the term needs to be recognised before our forces personnel and all veterans can feel confident enough to have the conversations that could transform their mental health and wellbeing.”

The MoD point out that MST is a term used by the US Department of Veterans Affairs to refer to sexual assault or repeated, threatening sexual harassment that happened while a veteran was in the military. It said it has found no evidence of the ‘use of this term by defence, the medical profession, or the UK Government more broadly’ and has, therefore, opted against adopting MST into ‘official language.’ The MoD added that the term is not used by the World Health Organisation’s International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. Tony said: “That might be what the MoD says but Forward Assist has never been afraid of breaking new ground and sticking our head above the moral parapet. I’m having my last blast as a social worker here because we desperately need MST to be on the radar and we need to get people talking about it. “It’s an issue that, with some resolve and focus, could be sorted out and a much better system put in place. “It’s not impossible to do that because there are experts within some wonderful organisations working around MST. Some are specifically talking to men who are victims of sexual assault or rape.” In 2021 Forward Assist published The Invisible Man report. Tony and his colleagues interviewed 30 male survivors of MST, aged between 37 and 69. Their length of service was between two and 17 years. The report described MST as any of the following:

Forced or coerced sexual encounters, sexual encounters perpetrated while a person is unwilling or unable to give consent,

Inappropriate sexual jokes or lewd remarks,

Unwanted physical contact that makes you uncomfortable, Repeated sexual advances,

Offers of something in exchange for sexual favours,

Sexualised initiation ceremonies,

Physical assault of a sexual nature, including the penetration of the anus and oral cavity. Vivid testimony included in the report makes for tough reading. One individual told the report: “The initiation gang was made up of Commissioned Officers, NCOs and other soldiers. I wouldn’t take part. That was my downfall and I was raped.” Another said: “The instructor pinned me to my bed and I froze and couldn’t fight him off. I pleaded with him to stop but he wouldn’t. I can still hear him laughing. He told me that he would destroy me if I told anyone. These responses, and many more like them, were mirrored in the charity’s reports into women in the Forces. No Man’s Land (2019) and its 2021 follow-up reported widespread abuse of serving female personnel with one respondent telling the authors: “I often wonder what would happen if members of the public knew how women are treated in the military. I doubt they would still send their daughters.” Tony said the MoD has full access to Forward Assist’s independent research and that the 2019edition of No Man’s Land, in particular, helped to inform what is commonly referred to as the Atherton Report. In 2021, Sarah Atherton MP, chair of the Sub-Committee on Women in the Armed Forces and an intelligence corps veteran, published Protecting Those Who Protect Us: Women in the Armed Forces from Recruitment to Civilian Life. Women face barriers to promotion, issues with families and childcare, abuse and inappropriate behaviours, and an overrepresentation in the Service Complaints system. These responses, and many more like them, were mirrored in the charity’s reports into women in the Forces. No Man’s Land (2019) and its 2021 follow-up reported widespread abuse of serving female personnel with one respondent telling the authors: “I often wonder what would happen if members of the public knew how women are treated in the military. I doubt they would still send their daughters.” Nevertheless, Tony feels frustrated that the report’s key findings have not yet led to a rapid and widespread victim-focused culture of change. “More recently, the armed forces have had three serving women — young women — who’ve committed suicide,” he said. “And you could definitely make a link between what we call MST and their experiences and the fact that they took their own lives because of the absence of a sexual trauma pathway to support. “As a social worker that was when I went, right, ok, we’ve really got to stop hiding this. We’ve got to be a bit more vociferous about this and raise awareness. “However you identify, the fact remains that sexual abuse within the armed forces is uniquely challenging and support for those affected requires root and branch reform. “MST is a term used by the Americans, Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders — in fact the UK is an outlier in that respect.” The reason these other countries are saying it’s distinct from any other sexual trauma is that in a military setting your perpetrator could be your colleague, your friend, the person you serve with and even your superior. And unlike anywhere else — other than a domestic relationship with partner abuse — there’s no easy escape route. You can’t just up sticks and disappear. “Normally you’d look to get as far away as possible from your perpetrator but in the military that’s not always an option. We’ve seen the same thing happen in the police — with tragic consequences — and I imagine there’s a similar pattern across the uniformed services.” “MST takes place in a unique setting and that’s why it requires a unique classification.” ”I don’t want to add to the toxic blender. MST has happened in the past and it’s happening now, but let’s try and stop it happening in the future. That’s s all I want.” The MoD has outlined several measures that have been put in place to safeguard serving members of the military. The QT presented Tony’s concerns to the MoD as we sought a response from the Armed Forces Minister. James Heappey MP who has since resigned from the role and it was left to a spokesperson to explain: “Unacceptable sexual behaviours have no place in the Armed Forces, and we are committed to stamping them out. “We have established the Defence Serious Crime Command and Victim Witness Care Unit to ensure we have the jurisdiction to investigate globally and provide specialist support to victims and witnesses of serious crime, independently from the Chain of Command. “We have strengthened our ability to discharge from service anyone who has engaged in unacceptable sexual behaviour and encourage anyone who has experienced or witnessed this kind of inexcusable behaviour to report it immediately.” The MoD went on to point out that: The Army’s Zero Tolerance to Unacceptable Sexual Behaviour policy went live in November 2022. Its Victim Witness Care Unit is independent of Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force chains of command. Victims of a sexual offence that occurred in the UK will always be given a choice as to whether their investigation is dealt with by the Defence Serious Crime Unit or a Home
Office police force It is more than quadrupling funding for victims’ services in 2024/25, spending at least £460m over three years to March 2025 It will increase the number of Independent Sexual and Domestic Abuse Advisers by 300 to more than 1,000 — an increase of 43% in three years. The Government’s first Women Veterans’ Strategy will be published in spring — it will look at the experiences of women veterans and the challenges they have faced. In addition, the MoD told The QT that all complaints of bullying, harassment or
discrimination are now dealt with by someone outside an individual’s chain of command in a bid to ‘strengthen the levers available’ to dismiss or discharge anyone who has committed a sexual offence. Tony said: “I’m delighted to see those strategies being implemented by the MoD. It’s long overdue and will take time to implement. However, there is a paucity of understanding within the military and civilian support services about the long term and short term psychological impact of PTSD-related MST on intersectional communities and male veteran survivors. “Forward Assist is in its second decade of existence and during that time we have led the way
by visiting the USA and Australia to research best practice in supporting sexual trauma survivors. “Sadly, the UK MoD, Army, Royal Navy or Royal Air Force have never reached out to ask if we could help advise them and/or design person-centred support services for service personnel and veterans with lived experience of MST . “One has to ask why that might be given the huge difficulties they are currently having with recruitment and retention?” Tony appreciates that work is being done to address an increasingly desperate situation but
feels there is still an overriding reluctance to widen a necessary debate and kickstart the conversations that could save lives. “It’s fascinating just how much the MoD and everybody in the military charity sector just do not want to talk about this subject matter,” he adds. “And the problem with that is, if you don’t engage people and get them into some form of trauma-informed therapy — some form of support — then their lives just spiral out of control. “I would argue there are lots of veterans in custody, in the prison system, simply because they’ve been unable to talk about not only childhood trauma but then sexual trauma in the military. “The public seem to think that, bizarrely, if you talk about trauma related to veterans, it’s all about combat veterans. The evidence just isn’t there to back that up.“MST leads to people having multiple, unaddressed issues which can lead to suicidal ideation, or indeed, completion. “The last guy who was referred to us as a result of a sexual assault joined the army when he was 16. That’s when the abuse took place. “He’s in his 60s now and he still has nightmares and still suffers trauma. It’s ruined his life.”

 Siomon Rushworth (The QT)