The recent shake up in amongst military leaders has evolved into the ultimate soap opera. First we have General David Patraeus being forced to retire from the CIA last week for cheating on his wife and now we have General John R Allen under investigation who took Patraeus’ place in Afghanistan.

The person who blew the whistle on Patraeus was a family friend named Jill Kelley. She was being harassed by Patraeus’ lover and biographer Paula Broadwell who thought that Kelley was somehow romantically linked to the general. The truth of the matter is that Kelley and her husband have been longtime friends with the Patraeus’. This was not known to Broadwell who resented the close relationship she perceived Kelley had with the general. She responded by stepping to Kelley and sent off a bunch of threatening emails warning Kelly to stay away.

Late yesterday, the story took a new twist when it was announced that General Allen who was recently nominated to head the U.S. European Command and NATO forces in Europe may have some involvement. His nomination has been put on hold while he’s being investigated for sending 20-30 thousand pages of emails to Jill Kelley over the past two years. Everyone wants to know whats going on with those two. They have not said if there was some sort of romantic hook up or if he had been revealing government secrets. Right now the word from Leon Panetta is Allen had ‘inappropriate communications‘ with Kelley..

Thus far damn near every news agency is on top of this story as folks are seemingly eager to see heads roll. It’s the big talk all on Capitol Hill with lawmakers like Senator Diane Feinstein and Congressman Peter King demanding further investigation. They are furious that they were ‘left in the dark’. Today there will be hearings.

It’s good to see that the military brass and people sitting in the halls of power have stepped up to hold folks accountable. If having an affair is a big ‘no-no’ in military circles, then I say right on for being hard-nosed in enforcing the rules. We should expect more from our men and women in uniform.

With that being said, what’s confusing, ironic and quite sad is the lack of media fan fare and the lack zeal to see heads roll around the fact that the military is the scene to tens of thousands of rapes every year. Very few are demanding to know why in 2010 we had close to 20 thousand rapes on military bases? Yes, you read that right,. America’s dirty little secret is that we have horrifically high number of female soldiers being raped by their male counterparts.. Some of you reading this may think I’m trying to be sensational with my numbers, but rest assured I’m not. I’m quoting stats from Department of Defence. There’s an Academy nominated heart wrenching documentary called The Invisible War that unearth’s this under reported story.

One would think more of us would be outraged especially after we had several months of discussion about ‘legitimate rape’ during the Presidential campaign. One would’ve thought that we as a society would be moving quickly to purge not only those responsible for these sexual assaults but also the military leaders whose watch in which these rapes occurred. Why aren’t we having news conferences about someone like Patraeus, Allen or some other high-ranking general being kicked out and investigated because thousands of rapes have occurred under their leadership?

Sadly most of us have remained oblivious to the rapes on military bases or have simply turned a blind eye. Others have the nerve to rationalize an explain how the military has strict rules around officers having affairs while remaining dead silent on the rapes epidemic…Explain that one..

More importantly explain what steps we intend to take to eradicate rapes in the military. Why is our mainstream media focusing on the Generals but silent as a church mouse on a horrific act that’ll leave many severely scared for a lifetime? I guess we as a society are comfortable with the War on Women continuing.

Something to think about..

written by Davey D

PS.. Wanna give some additional food for thought about this case..We have a couple of things going on here.. First is the cover ups and silence of the high number of rapes in the military. Second we have the fallout around Patraeus.. Here’s an article that breaks down who Paula Broadwell is..she was more than just a biographer..