The assault\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Roland was excited to work as an aviation mechanic at a Naval Air Station outside Memphis, Tennessee. The teenager quickly realized he was his unit\u2019s youngest and lowest-ranked sailor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He considered himself na\u00efve when he joined the Navy. The higher ranking sailors in his unit invited him to the NCO club and the 17-year-old felt obligated to go.\u00a0\u201cThey said they were going to initiate me. I never drank and after about three drinks, I passed out. When I woke up, I was in the back alley of the club,\u201d he said. His pants were at his knees.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was angry. I was ashamed. I didn\u2019t want to tell my commanding officer or any of the guys in my squadron. I just had to deal with that and I didn\u2019t know what to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A 2016 Pentagon report\u00a0estimated over 10,000 men<\/a>\u00a0are sexually assaulted in the Armed Services annually. Men comprise over 80 percent of the active-duty military and account for the largest number of estimated military sexual assaults.\u00a0According to the Pentagon\u2019s assessment, the Department of Defense received only one report from a military male for every four military women.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s underreported, not just men but also women,\u201d said Dr. Sulani Perera, military sexual trauma coordinator at Edward Hines Jr. VA<\/a>. \u201cWhat patients tell us is that there is so much shame that they won\u2019t report. And there is this belief that reporting won\u2019t do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n In the past 12 months, more than 2,000 Veterans, including over 850 men, have reported experiencing military sexual trauma during Hines VA\u2019s outpatient screenings, which are required at all VA medical facilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I got discharged, I thought I had alleviated the problem, but I took it with me. I was a very outgoing person before I went into the service, but I got very much alone, disconnected from people and angry,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n Roland started drinking and soon was using marijuana, cocaine and heroin.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBack then, mental health was not something you dealt with. It was kind of taboo. When the nightmares came and I was overwhelmed with emotions, I started drinking and doing drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n This is common, Perera said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe see many Veterans who\u2019ve experienced military sexual trauma try to self-medicate with substance use,\u201d said Perera. \u201cThe problem is you might start having a drink to take the edge off, but what happens is that it\u2019s not going to be enough and over time the coping mechanism becomes a problem in itself.\u201d<\/p>\n Roland was homeless from 2004 until 2007, when a former Navy friend found him on the street during a cold Michigan day. The friend convinced him to seek help at the Dingell VA<\/a> in Detroit, where Roland spent 11 days in intensive care.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce I got stabilized, an inpatient social worker offered me a six-month inpatient program. I began to put the pieces of the life back together, building a new foundation and I started my recovery,\u201d Roland said.<\/p>\n Roland entered the VA Domiciliary Care Program and, while in the program, he was diagnosed with uncontrolled diabetes and advanced glaucoma from drug and alcohol abuse. The doctor said he would eventually go blind.<\/p>\nTrying to move on<\/h2>\n
Hitting rock bottom<\/h2>\n
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