【雅思课外精读】因胡德堡失踪女兵事件遭抨击，美军誓要改变

　　【雅思课外精读】因胡德堡失踪女兵事件遭抨击，美军誓要改变  *注：本文选自12月10日《经济学人》

　　The Fort Hood report

　　胡德堡报告

　　A scathing report on sexual abuse may alter army culture

　　关于性虐待的严词报道可能会改变军队文化

　　The US Army vows to change its ways in response to damning criticism on its failures at Fort Hood

　　因胡德堡女兵事件遭到抨击，美军誓要改变

图片来源网络

　　1. VANESSA GUILLéN, a 20-year-old soldier, told her mother she had been sexually harassed for months by higher-ranking soldiers at her Fort Hood army base in Texas. She had refrainedfrom reporting it out of fear of retaliation. Not satisfied with the army’s response to her disappearance in April, her family told local lawmakers and media that she had been harassed by superiors. Two months after she went missing, her dismembered body was found buried near a river 20 miles from the base. It later emerged that one of the harassing soldiers allegedly murdered her.

　　女兵瓦妮莎·吉兰现年20岁，她告诉母亲自己在德克萨斯州胡德堡军事基地被上级长官性骚扰了好几个月。因为怕被报复，她没有向上级报告此事。她于今年四月失踪，由于不满军方对此的处置，她的家人将此事透露给当地议员和媒体，称她一直受到上级的骚扰。失踪两个月后，她的尸体在距离基地20英里的一条河边被发现。后来发现，一名骚扰她的士兵涉嫌谋杀了她。

　　2. The hashtag #IAmVanessaGuillén, a military version of #MeToo, went viral. Service members and veterans shared their stories of sexual harassment and assault in the army. President Donald Trump vowed to help the family. In recent years Fort Hood’s reputation has suffered as a result of sexual assaults, suicides, murders and two mass shootings as well as busts for prostitution and child-sex rings. Spurred by the outcry over Guillén’s death and public awareness of violence at the base, Ryan McCarthy, the army secretary, commissioned an independent review of Fort Hood’s leadership.

　　军事版的“我也是”(MeToo)话题标签“我也是”(IAmVanessaGuillen)迅速在网上传播。服役人员和退伍军人分享了他们在军队中遭遇性骚扰和侵犯的故事。唐纳德·特朗普总统发誓要处理此事。近年来，由于性侵，自杀，谋杀和两起大规模枪击事件，以及卖淫和儿童性犯罪，胡德堡基地的声誉严重受损。瓦妮莎·吉兰之死引发了强烈抗议，公众对军事基地的暴力也有了新认识，陆军部长Ryan McCarthy要求对胡德堡的领导权进行独立审查。

　　3. The mostly civilian panel released its scathing report on December 8th. It found that Fort Hood’s commanders fostered a “permissive environment”, which allowed sexual assault, harassment and violence to go unchecked. The panel called for staffing changes and better programmes to protect soldiers. In response, the army removed or suspended 14 military leaders, including the major-general who headed Fort Hood at the time of Guillén’s disappearance.

　　12月8日，由平民组成的委员会发布了一份措辞严厉的报告。报告称，胡德堡的指挥官们创造了一种“放任环境”，导致性侵犯、骚扰和暴力不受控制。该小组呼吁改组工作人员，并制定更好的计划来保护士兵。因此，军方解除了14名军事领导人的职务，包括吉伦失踪时领导胡德堡的少将。

　　4. Fort Hood has much higher rates of violent sex crimes than other posts—75% higher than the army overall. As far back as 2014 the base was identified as a high-risk installation for sexual assault. The report said Fort Hood’s commanders did little to tackle the spectrum of criminal incidents. That led to underreporting of sex crimes. Like Guillén, victims feared retaliation as well as ostracism and career damage. Queta Rodriguez, a former marine who served on the committee, called the number of unreported sex crimes at Fort Hood “shocking”. The committee discovered 93 credible accounts of sexual assault among the 507women it interviewed. Of those, only 59 were reported. Of the 217 accounts of sexual harassment, only half were reported.

　　胡德堡的性暴力犯罪率比其他军区要高得多——比陆军总体犯罪率高出75%。早在2014年，该基地就被认定为性侵高危场所。报告称，胡德堡的指挥官们几乎没有采取任何措施应对各种犯罪事件，这导致了性犯罪的漏报。像吉伦一样，受害者害怕报复、排斥和职业生涯受损。曾在该委员会任职的前海军陆战队员奎塔·罗德里格斯称，胡德堡未报告的性犯罪数量“令人震惊”。该委员会在其采访的507名女性中发现了93起可信的性侵犯记录，其中，只报告了59起性侵事件。在217个性骚扰案件中，只报告了一半。

　　5. The panel found an extremely high number of suicides, but because the post’s criminal investigators were inexperienced and under-resourced, contributing causes were not always examined. Fort Hood has the highest drug-test failure rate in the army. Local police describe the base as having a “thriving drug culture”, but little seems to have been done about it. The report also criticised the inadequate procedures for missing soldiers, especially when there are suspicious circumstances. The absent soldier is often labelled a deserter. More than two dozen soldiers have gone missing or died since the start of the year, including Gregory Morales, a murdered private who the army assumed went AWOL. His body was found near Fort Hood by investigators looking for Vanessa Guillén.

　　调查组发现。胡德堡自杀人数极高，但由于的刑事调查人员缺乏经验，对自杀原因的调查不够深入。胡德堡的毒品测试未通过率是美国陆军中最高的。当地警方称该基地 “毒品文化兴盛”，但警方也没对此采取什么措施。报告还指出，基地对失踪士兵的处理程序也不完善。自今年年初以来，已有20多名士兵失踪或死亡，其中包括被谋杀的二等兵莫拉莱斯，军方称他擅离职守。调查人员在胡德堡附近寻找凡妮莎·吉伦时发现了他的尸体。

　　6. The panel made 70 recommendations. Nearly half are aimed at combating sexual harassment and assault. It also recommended new procedures for missing soldiers. In response, Mr McCarthy announced that the army would take immediate action when soldiers are reported missing and formed a task force to map out a plan to tackle the problems identified in the review. Although the report focused on Fort Hood, he said, its conclusions will have army-wide implications. He predicted that the findings “will cause the army to change our culture”.

　　调查组提出了70项建议。近一半的目标是打击性骚扰和性侵犯。调查组还提出完善处理失踪士兵程序的建议。因此，麦卡锡宣布，当有士兵失踪的报告出现时，陆军将立即采取行动，军方还成立了特别工作组，制定计划解决审查报告中指出的问题。他说，尽管该报告的重点是胡德堡，但其结论将对整个军队产生影响。他预测，这些发现“将促使军队改变其文化”。

　　7. Fort Hood’s dysfunction is not unique, says Don Christensen, the air force’s former chief prosecutor who heads Protect Our Defenders, an advocacy group. Sexual harassment and retaliation cut across all services, from small air-force bases to naval ships. “It takes a crisis to move the ball forward,” he says. Joe Biden, the president-elect, has said he would take a hard line against sexual abusers in the forces.

　　美国空军前首席检察官、倡导组织“保护我们的保卫者”(Protect Our defender)的负责人唐·克里斯滕森(Don Christensen)表示，胡德堡失职并非特例。从小型空军基地到海军舰艇，各种军事机构都存在性骚扰和报复行为。他表示:“要改革，就要经历一场危机。”候任总统乔•拜登(Joe Biden)已表示，他将对军队中的性侵者采取强硬措施。

　　8. It is rare for the army to allow an independent review. Its findings are a wake-up call not just for the army, but for Congress, too, which has a history of being hesitant in pushing for change in the armed forces. Guillén’s family hopes Congress will pass the I Am Vanessa Guillén Act, which would allow outside investigators to handle military sexual misconduct.

　　军方很少允许进行独立审查。调查结果不仅为陆军敲响了警钟，也为国会敲响了警钟。国会在推动军队改革方面历来犹豫不决。吉伦的家人要求国会能通过《我是凡妮莎·吉伦法案》(I Am Vanessa Guillen Act)，允许外部调查人员调查军队的不当性行为。